CTV Advertising 101

Are We Back to Commercials?

For a while, streaming felt like the escape hatch from traditional TV advertising. We cut the cord. We paid for ad-free plans. We got used to watching episode after episode without being interrupted by a car dealership, insurance company or snack brand.

And even before that, TV advertising was pretty straightforward: buy a commercial spot during the local news, a popular show or a certain time slot and hope the right people were watching.

Now, somehow, the two worlds are meeting in the middle. More people are watching television through streaming services, smart TVs and internet-connected devices. And where audiences go, advertisers are usually not far behind. 

So yes, commercials are “back”.

But instead of simply buying airtime and hoping for the best, advertisers can now reach viewers with many of the targeting capabilities we associate with digital marketing.

CTV stands for Connected TV. In simple terms, it refers to television content delivered through an internet-connected TV or streaming device. CTV advertising allows brands to place video ads inside that streaming experience.

It’s the familiar television commercial, updated for the streaming era.

Traditional television advertising has always had one major strength: attention. A commercial fills the screen with sight, sound and motion. The tradeoff was targeting. Advertisers typically bought airtime based on the program, time slot, market and broad assumptions about who might be watching.

CTV changes that equation by combining the impact of a big-screen commercial with many of the targeting and measurement capabilities marketers are used to seeing in digital campaigns.

To the viewer, yes. To the marketer, there is a lot more happening behind the scenes.

Because streaming is digital, advertisers can often target audiences using factors such as geography, demographics, interests, behaviors and other available audience data. Instead of starting with, “We want to advertise during this show,” we can start with, “We want to reach this type of customer.”

Depending on the platform and campaign, advertisers may also be able to measure impressions, completed video views, website activity and conversions. So while the person sitting on the couch simply sees a commercial, the campaign itself is behaving much more like digital advertising that we use on Google, Facebook, or YouTube.

CTV is not reserved for national brands with massive advertising budgets. Geographic targeting can allow local businesses to focus campaigns on specific cities, ZIP codes or markets they actually serve instead of paying to reach a broad television audience filled with people who may never become customers.

CTV does not have to operate on its own. In fact, one of its biggest strengths may be how well it fits into a larger digital strategy.

Someone may see your brand while streaming a show at night, encounter it again on social media the next morning and later search for your business. That positions CTV not as simply another place to run an ad, but as another way to reinforce a brand across multiple touchpoints.

Advertising has a funny way of coming full circle. We moved from traditional TV to streaming because viewers wanted more control over what they watched. Now, as advertisers, we have more control over who sees their commercials, too.

So apparently, commercial breaks are cool again. And if you’re wondering whether CTV should have a place in your marketing strategy, let’s talk.