Navigating complexities of CTV measurement: Ensuring effective ROI on campaigns

Advancements in Connected TV (CTV) analytics and measurement tools, particularly those that include attention measurement, play a significant role in shaping media planners’ decisions to invest in CTV advertising in several ways. Overall, advancements in CTV analytics and measurement tools provide media planners with the necessary data and insights to make more informed decisions, optimize campaign performance, and justify investments in CTV advertising as an integral part of their overall media strategy.

In this two-part series, Adgully explores the inimitable advantages offered by CTV, and the kind of strategies media planners should prioritize to leverage the opportunities presented by the surge in CTV usage.

Also read:

Next-gen opportunity: Why CTV is a must-have for media planners in 2024 media landscape

These analytic advancements are providing deeper insights, increased transparency, and the ability to optimise campaigns in real-time, hence these tools are making CTV a more attractive and quantifiable option, leading to increased investment and confidence in the medium for media planners, observes Krishna Menon, Chief Operating Officer, QYOU Media India.

In India, the measurement and analytics space is evolving, says Prabhvir Sahmey, Senior Director, Samsung Ads, India. According to him, a big shift will be needed across planning tools to now accommodate for insights and signals coming in from connected TVs. TV is also a household device. At any given point in time there could be more than one person viewing content on the big screen. “In the future, I think, there will be a shift from device reach to more of a people based multiplier,” Sahmey added.

Any advertising that is done today, is done with the aim of being measurable and ROI-driven, points out Nikhil Kumar, Chief Growth Officer, Mediasmart, an Affle company. He reckons that investment in CTV advertising has been growing as brands who would traditionally advertise on television now have a more measurable medium that combines the benefits of storytelling and measurability of programmatic advertising.

“CTV advertising offers rich insights in key brand KPIs, allowing advertisers to track viewer behaviour and engagement in real time, as well as track conversion metrics. Additionally, features such as CTV’s app measurement, engagement sync, household sync, and offline sync enable advertisers to track installs and in-app events of both CTV and mobile apps in real time, as well as track footfalls. Going beyond the traditional metrics, we have also seen that through brand lift studies that advertising on CTV has not only shown a significant increase in brand awareness, but also proven impact on purchase intent, message association, and brand favorability,” he says.

Siddharth Dabhade, Managing Director - South Asia, MiQ, says that attention measurement tools provide validation of ad effectiveness by quantifying viewer engagement and attention levels. This data helps media planners demonstrate the value of CTV advertising to clients and stakeholders, fostering confidence in investment decisions.

According to Dabhade:

Advanced analytics tools provide insights into how audiences engage with CTV content. This includes data on viewing habits, content preferences, and interaction patterns.
Media planners can use this information to tailor ad placements and messaging for maximum impact.
Attention measurement tools allow media planners to assess how attentive viewers are during ad placements.
Real-time analytics enable media planners to monitor campaign performance and make adjustments on the fly.

Measurement and fragmentation

Measurement and fragmentation are potential challenges in CTV placements. How can advertisers/ media planners address these challenges while ensuring effective ROI on their ad campaigns in the CTV space?

CTV advertising is a growing space, and as it continues to evolve, some of the challenges around measurement, standardisation, and fragmentation will be addressed, says Nikhil Kumar. However, he adds, it is important for advertisers to navigate through the complexities of this landscape by choosing the right DSPs/ advertising partner who has the expertise and experience to unify reach across all platforms.

“For instance, one of the biggest challenges can be around the fragmented OS environment, which makes it difficult to optimize ad formats for different technical specifications. Additionally, syncing CTV ads with ads on other connected devices can increase engagement and make the medium more ROAS-driven. This is possible only when the programmatic players give transparent, unified reach across multiplicity of screens. Outcome-led advertising that integrates fragmented consumer journeys will also offer advertisers the right data tools to retarget their users between CTV and apps to prompt action. This agile approach, supported by transparent reporting and strategic partnerships with attribution and measurement partners, can empower advertisers to better navigate the fragmented landscape with confidence and precision,” he says.

These challenges are getting narrowed down rapidly as the industry is understanding and witnessing the growth of this medium, says Krishna Menon.

“We have already learnt that now Nielsen, BARC and many more prominent bodies are working on developing more advanced and effective measurement tools for rich data insights for both brands and advertisers. We can all stay informed about new technologies, measurement solutions, and industry best practice. Advertisers and media planners can successfully navigate the challenges and unlock the true potential of CTV advertising for maximising ROI,” concludes Menon.

As all these platforms transition to digital, advertisers stand to gain significant advantages by employing ad serving for their campaigns, says Prabhvir Sahmey. “This shift allows them to glean valuable insights spanning various devices and platforms. Without ad serving, it becomes exceedingly challenging to attain such comprehensive insights. Consequently, buyers are constrained to focusing solely on reach and cost efficiencies across devices,” he says.

The Indian marketing community is becoming rapidly aware of the power of connected TV, points out Siddharth Dabhade, adding, “They understand this is a big game changer, as TV has always been the big daddy of media in India, especially for brand-building, and now TV is going completely digital. Advertisers and media planners need to invest in advanced analytics and measurement tools to ensure effective ROI on campaigns. These tools can provide insights into audience behaviour, ad performance, and attribution across various CTV platforms and devices.”

According to Dabhade, advertisers need to implement cross-platform tracking solutions to understand how CTV advertising complements other channels in the media mix. This can help in assessing the overall impact of CTV campaigns on brand awareness, engagement, and conversions.

“Shift the focus from traditional metrics like impressions and clicks to outcome-based measurement metrics such as conversions, sales lift, and brand lift. Advertisers need to partner with unified advertising platforms that offer access to multiple CTV inventory sources through a single interface. This simplifies campaign management, improves efficiency, and helps mitigate fragmentation challenges,” Dabhade adds.

Dabhade says that MiQ has strong capabilities in CTV analytics with the ability to measure the following:

Impressions
Completed Views
VTR
Reach
Frequency
Device makers (Sony, Panasonic, Xiaomi, etc.)

Advertisers who work with MiQ get a unified solution that is unique in the Indian market, as it offers:

Unified Buy: Access across Premium Apps (YouTube + OTTs) + exclusive OEM inventory
Unified Measurement: Across all channels measurable by DCM
Unified Reach and Frequency Management
ACR DATA with exclusive access.