The rise of Connected TV (CTV) has been a shot in the arm for brands on the hunt for high-impact impressions in an advertising market that is dangerously close to stagnation in the UK. In AA/WARC’s latest Expenditure Report it was revealed that a decline in TV ad spend is being compensated by increased investment in ad-supported video on demand (AVOD), as brands follow consumers’ gradual and inevitable transition away from linear. However, as advertisers flock to CTV, they find themselves struggling to navigate a data ecosystem that feels more like a desert than fertile new land.
This may come as a surprise given CTV’s similarities to mobile, where data flows in abundance, even with Apple’s restrictions to ID-level targeting. Both operate through devices and apps, but where they diverge is in the availability and accessibility of data. Equipment manufacturers and, to a lesser extent, streaming providers are holding their assets close to their chest, perhaps seeking to avoid the commodification which devalued data on mobile and the open web.
While this guardedness is understandable, it is impeding cross-platform measurement and targeting capabilities, making it challenging for buyers to deliver consistent ROI while driving up CPMs for sellers.
To solve this problem, brands need to explore how adtech can bring life to this parched ecosystem, allowing data to flow to those who need it without compromising its value or its safety.
Lack of identity spine weakens CTV’s cross-platform capabilities
ID solutions are perhaps the most essential adtech solution for delivering effective targeted CTV campaigns, as they allow brands to identify users across different platforms and devices. With ID solutions, brands can deliver relevant ads to consumers no matter where they are, ensuring they reach the right audience at the right time.
For example, an ID solution can help advertisers pseudonymously recognise a user who watches a show on a connected TV and then clicks on a social media ad on their phone by linking the user’s CTV device ID with their mobile advertising ID. Being able to consistently recognise users is also vital for universal frequency capping and limiting ad exposure across platforms to maximise incremental reach. The advertiser can also deliver relevant ads on other connected devices that the user interacts with, providing a personalised and sticky experience across devices.
Unfortunately, with so many Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) in the market offering their own variation of device IDs and strictly controlling access to them, CTV lacks the identity spine needed to deliver accurate frequency control and measurement. The static nature of big-screen TVs has seen IP addresses stand in as identifiers, but this falls apart the moment a brand wants to measure outside of the CTV ecosystem (for example, in a cross-channel campaign that also targets mobile and web) or target an individual rather than a household.
Data exchanges are a bustling market of consumer insights
Data exchanges are marketplaces that act as intermediaries between data owners and buyers, making it easier for brands to access the information they need for effective targeting. Data exchanges can offer a range of data types, including demographic, behavioural, and location data.
For the media owners that set the boundaries of what is possible in CTV campaigns, data exchanges offer an opportunity to apply data targeting to campaigns — à la programmatic deals. This, in turn, increases the value of their inventory to a wider range of advertisers.
Brands, meanwhile, can use data exchanges to overcome limitations within their own data. This is particularly useful for brands that have been unable to use first-party data to make up for the shortfall of data availability in the post-GDPR era, as is the case for many CPG brands, for whom TV is a key touchpoint.
Most of all, CTV needs technology to empower data collaboration
The best way to help brands quench their thirst for data in the CTV ecosystem is to open the floodgates of data collaboration. If all siloed pockets of data (whether first, second, or third-party) along with all identifiers and ID-enriching signals can be unified and appropriately pseudonymised, the limitations of each component part can be overcome. Overlapping audiences between brands and platforms can be segmented and targeted not just within CTV, but across the wider advertising ecosystem.
Clean rooms are one of the ad tech solutions built to facilitate data collaboration. These are secure environments that allow brands to share and analyse data without accessing it directly, with cryptographic scrambling preserving user privacy and data ownership while still delivering valuable insights. In the UK, CTV broadcaster Channel 4 and retail media network Nectar used a clean room to discover shared audiences.
However, clean rooms are far from plug and play. Both parties must have their data organised to be compatible with the clean room they are using, which does not guarantee compatibility with any other clean rooms the brand may want to use. It is a significant investment of time, resources, and money to set up a clean room, and data sets must be regularly re-matched to ensure insights are up to date. Then, after all of that, there is no guarantee that anything actionable can be taken out of them.
Data collaboration, then, must not be limited to certain tools but be embraced at a cross-platform, cross-solution level. ID resolution and data exchanges can make more data available on CTV, while data collaboration tools can facilitate the smooth exchange of first and second-party data between the supply and demand side. A dedication to interoperability and an acknowledgement that no single approach can solve the ecosystem-level data drought will be necessary for CTV to thrive.
As CTV continues to grow and evolve, the role of adtech solutions in unlocking the full programmatic potential of the ecosystem will become increasingly important. With the right adtech tools, the promise of a CTV ecosystem that delivers the best of both linear TV and digital advertising can be realised. It will take collaboration, a more open attitude to data sharing, and perhaps some consolidation for us to bring life to CTV’s data desert.