How mobile marketers can master CTV advertising in 2023

3. Buy your ad inventory

   Mobile marketers have the edge over other buyers when purchasing CTV ads because they are already accustomed to the programmatic landscape. However, buying CTV inventory is still different. While major content owners, such as WarnerMedia do not always sell their inventory themselves, streaming services, like Hulu, have their own DSPs, selling their own inventory. When choosing an inventory supplier, it is essential to consider your business goals and region.

   At Adjust, we believe Your MMP’s CTV solution is only as strong as its partner coverage, which is why we’ve cultivated one of the largest CTV partner networks for our clients. Check out the article above to see which Adjust-certified DSPs, streaming services, agencies, and more, you can connect with via Adjust. And, see our article here covering What is programmatic media buying? for additional information.

4. Format for the viewing experience

   When creating a CTV ad, consider the nuances of the medium and the context of the viewer. You can get the six ad formats advertisers are working with here: Connected TV ad formats, as well as the latest CTV advertising trends. While CTV ad viewers will be viewing your ad on their TV at home, streaming devices can also include laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. Also, CTV users are increasingly active. This is something gaming apps have notices as they hop on board as CTV growth continues by increasing their apps for CTV as well as the use of gamified ads.

   Viewers will be on different devices at varying levels of engagement, so follow these general guidelines:

   Keep it short

   While it may be tempting to create CTV ads in the vein of premium television channel placements, OTT viewers have different expectations. It’s generally advised to keep your CTV ads short and to the point — between 15 and 30 seconds.

   Have the right specs

   Taken from the IAB Technology Lab, we’ve collected CTV ad specifications below:

   Size and frame rate

   • Size Ratio | 16:9, 1920×1080
   • Length | 30 seconds max, 15 or 30-second slots
   • File Format | .mp4 or .mov
   • File Size | Max size 200MB
   • Frame Rate | Must be constant; 23.98, 25, or 29.97 FPS
   • Bit Rate | Greater or equal to 2500 KBPS

   Audio specs

   • Overall Mix Level | 10db to -14db
   • Dialogue | -12db to -15db
   • Music | -18db to -22db
   • Sound Effects | -10db to -20db with occasional spikes up to -8db

   To see specs by platform, such as video specs for Hulu, Roku, YouTube, and Netflix, check out this Guide to Connected TV Video Ad Specs.

   Leverage the user interface (UI)

   When buying ads directly instead of programmatically, formatting options open up. You may be able to access in-UI and in-video banners, sponsor a free movie, place an ad on a pause screen, and more. Take advantage of any platform-specific opportunities to display your ad in a creative way.

   Avoid user fatigue with frequency and refreshes

   When planning your CTV ad campaign, it’s important to consider the frequency of ad exposure. Avoid oversaturation by setting frequency capping with your SSP. Frequency capping is the tool used to manage the number of times your ad can be viewed by a particular user daily, weekly, or monthly. Setting it too high can lead to user fatigue while setting it too low can lead to underexposure, as multiple exposures are important for user recall and action.

   Refreshing your creatives can also help avoid user fatigue. This can involve shooting multiple versions of your ad, telling a sequential story over a number of different ads, or making small variations such as overlays or end cards that evolve with time or reflect current events.

   Determine the best fit

   Adjust research has shown that over 75% of consumers engage in ‘dual screening,’ or watching CTV while using their mobile phones. Mobile marketers can make use of this dual screening by cross-targeting CTV viewers with ads on their mobile devices. Adjust’s CTV AdVision solution enables marketers to attribute mobile app installs and post-install events to ads shown on CTV devices and transform CTV into a performance channel.

   With automatic content recognition (ACR) technology, advertisers can determine which ads best fit the viewer’s current watching experience, and see who has viewed their ads and on which device, allowing them to target mobile device users based on programming they have watched on their CTV. Users are more likely to react positively when ads are relevant to the content they’ve been watching.

   Contextual targeting and sentiment analysis capabilities with your publisher can ensure your ad is shown at the right time. For example, if you were advertising a vegan recipe app, you wouldn’t want it to play during a documentary advocating the Paleo diet.

5. Pinpoint your target audience

   You can take several approaches to reach your target audience watching on a CTV device.

   • Contextual targeting:  Viewers are shown ads based on the streaming content they view most often.
   • Demographics: Ads based on genre, age, or media genre preference.
   • Channel targeting: Ads based on the app or streaming service a viewer uses.
   • Geolocation: Users are shown ads based on the region they are in.
   • First-party data: These are ads given to users based on user-specific data that is available via a CTV platform. Often vendors allow clients to bring their one first-party data for optimal targeting.
   • Second-party data: This is when ads are shown to viewers based on data from databases linked to CTV platforms.

6. Measure your campaigns

   In order to determine whether your tests, experiments, and campaigns are matching their KPIs, advertisers need measurement capabilities. Some of the options mobile marketers have to measure the impact of CTV ads on mobile include the following.

   • DSPs usually don't have additional costs beyond the master service agreement and often allow you to import your first-party data on app installs and post-install events to improve measurement and targeting. However, the data is limited to their own inventory.
   • TV attribution companies only look at your CTV campaigns, giving an isolated view. While you can analyze CTV advertising by itself, you can't measure its impact on the other running campaigns.
   • A mobile measurement partner (MMP) can provide an advanced analysis of your campaign performance, assigning credit for conversions across all marketing channels. This allows you to understand the value of your CTV campaigns in the context of your entire marketing mix.

7. Test, test, test

   While CTV may feel like linear TV, it’s important to remember it’s not. CTV is interactive, testable, and real-time, with the ability to iterate, segment audiences, and retarget viewers. Your CTV ad can be tracked, measured, and improved. As with any programmatic ad, testing your ad creatives and delivering them to targeted audiences will ensure the best performance.

   Record different variations of your ad intended for specific audiences, and A/B test the creatives to find which performs best. This also goes for finding the optimal runtime for your ad. Edit down your 30-second version to a 15-second version and test each length to determine which performs better.

With CTV AdVision, you can:

• Measure mobile installs and post-install events resulting from CTV ads.
• Connect CTV app installs to your CTV campaigns.
• See the impact of CTV campaigns on your other marketing campaigns.

Confidently invest in your OTT and CTV advertising campaigns and make CTV a mighty performance channel for your app marketing today. Request your demo now.