Study Finds Ad Execs Believe CTV Benefitted From Pandemic, Now More Effective Than Linear TV

by Joe Mandese , April 14, 2021

Connected TV (CTV) has been a major beneficiary of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now perceived as being a better media option for reaching consumers than linear TV, according to advertisers and agencies surveyed by MTM Global for video advertising developer Tremor Video and Unruly.

The research, a U.S. companion study to one released earlier this year in the U.K., is based on in-depth interviews conducted with U.S. brand marketers and media-services agencies in December, found that nearly three-quarters (72%) now deem CTV more effective than linear TV. (The comparable U.K. study found 67% of U.K. ad execs now consider CTV more effective.)

The study cites a variety of reasons for the improvement of CTV's ad industry perceptions, but one of the biggest factors was the impact of the pandemic, which both contributed to rising usage of CTV during various lockdowns, and also gave advertisers and agencies more flexibility for targeting and reaching consumers with their ad campaigns.

More than half (57%) of advertisers and 80% of media agency executives surveyed by MTM concurred that the pandemic has been a major catalyst for CTV overall.

Similar percentages said the result has been that CTV was an even more important media option for achieving their marketing goals during the pandemic.

ad buys, advertising, agency, cmmr, connected tv, covid-19, media, media buying, research, television, uk

2 comments about "Study Finds Ad Execs Believe CTV Benefitted From Pandemic, Now More Effective Than Linear TV".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, April 14, 2021 at 12:10 p.m.
Joe, if we take these findings as representative of the thinking of most TV advertisers---which I'm not sure is a valid assumption---one would expect a massive shift of ad dollars away from "linear TV" and into CTV and this should be happening right now. Yet I doubt that we will see national TV network and cable spend drop from $40 billion to, say, $20 billion this year---with all of those dollars going to CTV---even it could absorb that much new business. Instead, a continuing but modest shift will, no doubt, take place, however most brands will still to be forced to participate in corporate upfront "linear TV" deals---just they have been for many decades now. Makes you wonder why these "marketers" don't practice what they preach--or say they "think".
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Osman Ansari from Mohammad Ansari replied, April 14, 2021 at 12:31 p.m.

Ed it's a great point, CTV is like mobile a few years ago. It's where everyone is focused, there's lot of bullish sentiment in the marketplace but we're still a few years away from ad budgets catching up with consumption.