Marketers must return to incrementality to maximise CTV campaigns: Gijsbert Pols

Marketers need a measurement solution that allows them to drill down to see which of their marketing campaigns were impacted by CTV, asserts Gijsbert Pols, Director - Connected TV and New Channels, Adjust. In this interview with Adgully, Pols adds that this way, they can answer questions like, “Did a user see an ad on Hulu in the user journey and then finally convert after seeing an ad from the same campaign on Instagram?” In doing this, marketers can utilise these insights to identify which CTV touchpoints are worth investing in, and can optimise their CTV campaigns accordingly.”

A veteran in digital measurement, Pols has developed Adjust’s connected TV measurement offering, making the company one of the key innovators in the CTV industry. Excerpts from the interview:

How are campaign metrics and performance tracked and measured on CTV?

Generally, marketers evaluate the success of their campaigns by their conversion rates, or the ratio of impressions and clicks on the one hand and product adoption on the other. This works perfectly well for performance channels such as search and social, and can be used to measure CTV campaigns.

Having said that, the bulk of CTV’s added value is in its ability to drive users from the upper to the lower marketing funnel. CTV boosts your output, but most of the time it does so indirectly. Any measurement solution for CTV must acknowledge and show this. At Adjust, we’ve seen our clients greatly benefit by rendering CTV impacts visible with our comprehensive measurement solution – AdVision.

How could advertisers and marketers optimize their campaigns on CTV?

For marketers who wish to maximise their CTV campaigns, I’d suggest returning to the topic of incrementality. Marketers need a measurement solution that allows them to drill down to see which of their marketing campaigns were impacted by CTV. This way, they can answer questions like, “Did a user see an ad on Hulu in the user journey and then finally convert after seeing an ad from the same campaign on Instagram?” In doing this, marketers can utilise these insights to identify which CTV touchpoints are worth investing in, and can optimize their CTV campaigns accordingly.

What are the advantages smart TVs/ CTVs provide vis-à-vis traditional TV for advertisers?

First, your users are more likely to be viewing via connected TV than traditional TV. eMarketer research shows that in 2023, non-pay TV households will surpass pay TV households in the US, and we can expect other markets will follow this trend. In other words, more viewers will spend their time streaming via smart TVs and CTV devices than they will watching cable. Second, marketers’ targeting capabilities on CTV are greater. They can target a specific audience with a relevant ad, thereby increasing their campaign’s success. Third, as CTV advertising is digital, marketers can see their campaign’s results in real-time, providing full transparency when connecting ad spend to outcome.

Ad-supported video is the new hot thing in streaming, with many major streaming services considering the option. Is AVOD the future? Will it supplant SVOD or will both models co-exist?

There’s no question that AVOD channels are growing, taking a chunk of the market away from SVOD as users wish to save money amidst the economic downturn. While I predict both models will co-exist, the market’s competition will only increase as users determine which subscription channels they wish to pay for and which AVOD or FAST channels have the content that they’re willing to watch ads to view.

What are your future growth plans globally?

Our ambition is clear: We want to become the market leader for CTV measurement.

What are the trends in the segment? How will machine learning, AI, etc. shape up future areas such as contextual targeting, personalisation, etc.?

Contextual targeting is an interesting case because it caters to the industry shift toward privacy and, compared to other channels, it can be done in a much better way on CTV because of all the additional data that becomes available. This data, in its turn, can facilitate AI and machine learning. On top of that, the streaming offering is rapidly diversifying, not only because of AVOD but also because of the availability of white-label streaming technology offered by companies such as Wurl. So, I think we are pretty close to a very precise contextual targeting, reaching out to very specific audiences with effective messages in a fully automated way.