How to Get Started in CTV: The First TV Advertising Made for B2B and Life Science Companies
We’ve discussed how Connected Television (CTV) can be an important complement to B2B and life science marketers’ demand generation programs. CTV is a pay-for-performance advertising medium that is carried by the major streaming services (Hulu, Netflix, YouTube TV, Apple TV, Roku, Prime, etc.)
But many marketers are unaware of how CTV works.
CTV is accessed through video advertising platforms that specialize in this channel. The major CTV platforms, such as MNTN, Amazon, and Brid.TV, serve as the middlepersons in the CTV marketplace. The advertisers upload their ads to the platform, set a budget, and select their desired audience targets. Similar to Google Ads, the advertiser bids on available space across a range of streaming networks and channels, and the ad is automatically placed by the advertising platform when the space is secured.
When an ad is delivered to a CTV device, that device’s IP address is logged and stored. Each device that connects to that IP address within that household is also stored. This enables all household viewers to be tracked when someone uses their mobile phone to download an app or make a purchase that they saw advertised on their CTV channel.
CTV advertising platforms have automated media buying technology that optimizes campaigns multiple times a day based on the marketer’s goals. It continuously adjusts ad delivery, targeting, and bids in ways that are designed to achieve the advertiser’s objectives.
Figure 1: CTV advertising workflow
Targeting Audiences
When advertisers target viewers with CTV marketing, they can define relevant audience segments. They typically use first- and third-party data to target specific CTV audiences ─ the same way they would for any digital advertising campaign.
Most CTV advertising platforms employ first-party audience targeting tools that permit audience segmentation on their insightful actions or behaviors taken on your website. These demographics, behaviors, and actions include location, age, gender, interests, or site visits. In addition, advertisers can target their ideal customer profiles by matching them with third-party audience segments integrated in the advertising platform.
TW’s Take
The power of television advertising is now in the hands of B2B and life science marketers. It is highly targeted and available on an affordable pay-per-view basis. Unlike linear television, CTV advertising allows you to track who sees your ads and engages with your business. Marketers say they most like CTV’s ability to measure return on ad spend and cost per acquisition for their campaigns.
Check out CTV’s benefits that are unmatched by any other advertising medium.
- Advertisers bid on available space on streaming networks and channels, and the ad is automatically placed by the CTV platform when the space is secured.
- Marketers can target their ideal customer profiles using a variety of first- and third-party tools.
- Advertisers who run a CPCV programmatic campaign only pay for a view when the ad plays a certain amount of time.
- Marketers can track a wide range of digital metrics that assess a campaign’s performance.
With CTV marketing, B2B and life science marketers now can employ the advantages of television advertising using a micro-targeting and pay-for-performance model.
For more information, download our eGuide, “CTV: Television Advertising for the Rest of Us.”
