Author: Dave Marquard, Head of Product at Premion

With the phasing out of third-party cookies, marketers are reevaluating media investment allocations and the priority platforms for effective targeted advertising. Connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) channels have always been cookie-less environments, instead relying on privacy-safe household level identifiers — and are poised for accelerated growth in a cookie-less era.

As the fastest growing advertising medium, CTV advertising combines the best of digital — with its audience targeting and measurement capabilities — and the best of the big screen TV experience in long-form, lean-back premium and brand-safe content. According to eMarketer, 83 percent of U.S. households are projected to be CTV households this year. Furthermore, U.S. CTV ad spending is projected to reach nearly $21 billion this year, and will grow at an annual rate of 23 percent to reach $100 billion in 2030, according to a June 2021 BMO Capital Markets report. Moreover, IAB's "Video Ad Spend 2020 and Outlook for 2021" report notes that more than a third (35%) of buyers expect to increase CTV video ad spending in 2021.

In the wake of new consumer privacy changes, we’re also seeing a revival for contextual advertising. While streaming TV advertising allows for contextual, it’s not bound by the limitations with cookies, making advanced precision targeting possible. With the ability to target by location, interests and behaviors, CTV and OTT channels leverage offline data sources and empower marketers to truly follow their audiences, plan with data-driven targeting, and measure with outcomes-based performance in a brand-safe and fraud-free environment.

Here are some ways that marketers are leveraging the power of streaming TV to reach highly engaged audiences in a targeted and measurable way.

Target Local Audiences at Scale

The ability to geo-target and use dynamic creative makes OTT campaigns highly compelling for data-driven marketers that need the agility to respond to changing consumer behaviors and optimize spending. Advertisers can target local audiences at scale by designated market area (DMA), states, and ZIP codes, as well as combine geo-targeting with behavior and interest categories. With addressable targeting, viewer data is captured and analyzed into audience segments and applied to campaigns. And with dynamic ad insertions, advertisers can easily swap out creative to deliver a personalized, localized, and relevant OTT advertising experience.

Reach High Valued Audiences with Precision

Unencumbered by the recent consumer privacy changes and cookie constraints, CTV is not only a great alternative to mobile but offers richer audience insights that are invaluable for advertisers to find and reach qualified audiences. For instance, automotive advertisers can now leverage automotive insights, such as specific auto-intender segments and vehicle sales data, to gain a complete understanding of audience behaviors and connect OTT viewership to direct business results like verified new car sales.

Drive Outcomes with Closed-Loop Attribution

With new attribution capabilities, exposure to CTV ads can be matched to sales data to determine how many new sales were generated by a streaming TV campaign. For instance, with the resurgence of travel and live experiences, travel marketers can leverage advanced destination attribution to drive measurable outcomes. They can now understand where their visitors are coming from, how far they’ve traveled, how long they stay, how often they repeat their visit and more. Having timely attribution insights that provide actionable, measurable visitor metrics allow travel brands to analyze media effectiveness and prove the efficacy of their media investments.

The sunsetting of third-party cookies offers a timely opportunity for marketers to change old habits and find more effective ways to connect and engage with their audiences — and CTV is now cemented as an essential and winning channel for both brand building and performance marketing.