 is paramount for digital advertising success. This comprehensive guide delves into the intricacies of crafting a winning strategy for Connected TV (CTV) and Over-The-Top (OTT), shedding light on the importance of precision and adaptability in the ever-evolving landscape.

Grasping the Core of Strategy: Defining Strategy and Its Significance

Essentially, a strategy functions as the guiding framework for your actions, ensuring that each step is in harmony with your business goals. In the context of streaming advertising, precision is crucial. This segment will delve into the fundamental aspects of a streaming strategy, underscoring the importance of a meticulously designed plan that connects seamlessly with the audience, guaranteeing optimal influence and return on investment (ROI).

Marketers face a pivotal decision in choosing between CTV and OTT campaigns, as each comes with distinct characteristics. The primary consideration revolves around screen size and user experience. CTV campaigns are designed for the big screen, offering an immersive, lean-back experience. In contrast, OTT campaigns extend across various devices, accommodating on-the-go and interactive viewing experiences on smaller screens.

Marketers need to decide which platform aligns better with their campaign goals and audience preferences. Opting for CTV ensures a focus on the premium, larger screen experience, while OTT caters to the flexibility demanded by smaller screens and diverse devices.

Adding to the complexity, vendors often use the terms CTV and OTT interchangeably, leading to potential confusion for marketers. Understanding the distinction is crucial, especially since CTV advertising tends to be more expensive due to its exclusive focus on larger screens. Marketers must be clear about what they are paying for and choose the platform that best suits their campaign objectives and target audience.

This section takes a top-down approach, addressing the fundamental questions of why, what, when, where, and how of CTV strategy:

Why (Goals): Clarifying the ultimate goal of your streaming campaign.

Clarifying the ultimate goal of your streaming campaign is the foundational step. Defining the objectives of your streaming initiative, whether centered on brand awareness, increased traffic, enhanced sales, or app installations, establishes a clear roadmap for the entire campaign. Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as site visits, revenue generation, and return on ad spend (ROAS) become pivotal benchmarks for gauging success.

Who (Target Audience): Understanding the target audience through detailed buyer personas.

Gaining insight into your target audience involves developing detailed buyer personas through a blend of qualitative and quantitative research. This process goes beyond demographic information, delving into psychographics to foster a deeper connection with viewers. Aligning content with buyer personas not only shapes campaign targeting strategy but also ensures a cohesive and resonant approach.

What (Message in Creative Strategy): Crafting a compelling message that adds value and resonates with your audience.

The heart of a streaming campaign lies in the creative strategy's message. Craft a compelling message by addressing the fundamental problems or tasks your audience seeks solutions for. Promotions that resonate personally with your audience add value to your message, creating urgency and excitement.

When (Timing, How Long, How Often): Determining your campaign's optimal timing, duration, and frequency.

Timing, duration, and frequency are critical elements. Consider the nature of your product and determine the most opportune moments to showcase it. Whether adopting a continuous or seasonal approach, finding the right balance ensures your message remains impactful without overwhelming your audience.

Where (Media Buying Avenues): Identifying strategic places to connect with your audience in the CTV landscape.

Pinpointing the ideal places to connect with your audience in the CTV landscape is pivotal. Understanding the CTV supply chain, differentiating between publishers and sellers, and navigating potential challenges ensure effective media buying strategies.

How Much (Investment, Cost-per-reach Targets): Strategically planning the investment and setting cost-per-reach targets.

Strategic investment planning involves understanding audience distribution between linear TV and CTV. Utilizing planning tools and media mix models ensures optimal budget allocation. Clear cost-per-reach goals refine the investment strategy for optimal outcomes.

Against Whom (Competitor Analysis): Analyzing competitors to disrupt and increase brand visibility.

Thorough competitor analysis is imperative for a disruptive CTV strategy. Understanding competitors' reach and success sets the stage for strategic maneuvers, including conquesting campaigns that target the same audience, disrupting competitors' share of voice, and amplifying your brand's visibility.

How (Campaign Strategy): Optimizing campaign strategy across the entire funnel.

A nuanced understanding of the target audience and product is crucial for a successful CTV campaign strategy. Tailoring strategies at each stage of the customer journey, including geographic priorities, demographic targeting, and contextual relevance through content genres, ensures a comprehensive and effective streaming strategy. Let’s next dive into the specifics of designing CTV campaigns to support the strategy.

Designing CTV Campaigns to Support the Strategy

Strategic Harmony: Crafting a Holistic CTV Approach for End-to-End Growth

To craft a holistic CTV strategy that sustains growth across the entire customer journey, marketers need to take a holistic approach to campaign planning by considering both upper and lower-funnel campaign strategies:

Upper-Funnel Campaigns: Strategies for building brand awareness and engagement.

Upper-funnel campaigns serve as the launchpad for building brand awareness and engagement. Marketers strategically cast a broad net, capturing attention and forging an extensive audience base. Crafting effective upper-funnel strategies involves answering key questions about geographic priorities, demographics, behavioral characteristics, content genres, and viewing behaviors.

Lower-Funnel Campaigns: Retargeting high-intent audiences for lower-funnel success.

In the lower funnel, precision targeting takes center stage, directing efforts toward high-intent audiences. CTV retargeting becomes a powerful tool, capitalizing on established familiarity with potential customers. Metrics in this phase focus on lower-funnel metrics such as successful purchases, transactions, or leads generated from form fills.

The key to CTV success lies in orchestrating a balanced approach across the entire customer journey. While optimizing for lower-funnel conversions is vital, neglecting the upper funnel can stifle long-term growth. Crafting a holistic strategy sustains growth by continually feeding the marketing funnel with new prospects and awareness.

Elevating CTV Advertising: Strategies for Creative Excellence

Crafting diverse and compelling creatives is instrumental in making a lasting impression on your audience. This facet of your upper-funnel campaign involves tailoring creatives for different audience segments, ensuring a resonance that goes beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. By diversifying your creatives, you create a tapestry of messaging that captures the attention of varied viewers, each with their unique preferences and interests.

Advertisers used to the linear TV world need to recognize the opportunities presented in the CTV world by dynamic ad insertion technology. This technique enables advertisers to serve personalized ads to viewers in real-time, tailoring the content based on their interests and behavior. This seamless integration into live or on-demand video content, whether on CTV devices, streaming services, or OTT providers, empowers advertisers to create targeted and relevant ad campaigns. By utilizing data such as device type, geographic location, and viewer behavior, advertisers can deliver ads that speak directly to the unique characteristics of their audience. This approach not only enhances the relevance of the message but also provides the ability to measure and analyze the performance of each ad, optimizing for the best results. Dynamic ad insertion is a linchpin in CTV advertising, offering a more personalized and engaging experience for viewers and, consequently, improving the effectiveness of advertising efforts.

Mastering video advertising on CTV is the pinnacle of creating an impactful and memorable brand presence. Given that CTV advertising revolves around video content, it's crucial to ensure that your video ads are not only engaging but of high quality. Platforms like Roku and Amazon Fire TV provide a myriad of targeting options, allowing advertisers to tailor their video ads to specific demographics and interests. Video advertising's versatility, whether in pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll formats, enables advertisers to choose the level of engagement that aligns with the content and viewer behavior. With a higher retention rate than text or banner ads, video advertising on CTV becomes a powerful tool for enhancing brand awareness and recall. The storytelling capabilities of video content make it an effective medium for conveying messages, demonstrating products, and creating a lasting impact on the audience.

CTV Targeting Mastery: Precision Strategies for Impactful Campaigns

 strategies is integral to a successful advertising campaign. Each element, from geographic priorities to behavioral nuances, contributes to a finely-tuned outreach plan. Here's a focused exploration of key aspects empowering advertisers to unlock the full potential of CTV targeting:

Determining the geographic priorities of your campaign is foundational. 

 ensures precision by narrowing down the audience to DMAs, cities, regions, or zip codes. A local restaurant, for example, can maximize CTV impact by reaching potential customers within a specific radius.

Moving beyond age and gender, a nuanced demographic approach involves considering marital status, income, and more. Tailoring ads to reach distinct demographic groups, as seen with a skincare brand targeting both young adults and mature individuals, fosters a deeper connection.

Understanding personal preferences, lifestyle habits, and experiential stages is crucial for impactful CTV targeting. This involves delving into a rich mosaic of human subtleties, utilizing third-party data providers like Nielsen, TruAudience, or comScore to enhance insights into different demographic groups and their viewing habits. For example, a travel agency aligning with individuals researching European destinations can use this data to create a highly targeted and effective CTV campaign.

Behavioral insights from third-party data empower advertisers to optimize ad delivery for maximum impact, ensuring that CTV advertising budgets efficiently reach the right audience. This precision not only deepens the understanding of the audience but also increases the likelihood of conversions by reaching the right people at the right time.

 becomes paramount, allowing marketers to align their message with specific content genres. Genres serve as effective proxies for audience profiles, offering a workaround for precise targeting. A fitness brand sponsoring health and wellness content ensures contextual relevance and a genuine connection.

Profiling the TV viewership behavior of customers and identifying similar prospects is powerful. Lookalike modeling allows for precision expansion, as seen with an online fashion retailer targeting audiences mirroring the TV consumption patterns of their loyal customers.

Retargeting in CTV Advertising: Engaging the Interested Viewer

Retargeting in CTV advertising is a powerful strategy aimed at individuals who have previously interacted with your brand or website. This approach significantly enhances the likelihood of conversions by reaching an audience that has already shown interest in your products or services. Utilizing cookies, pixels, and tracking technology, 

 is executed on platforms like Roku or DV360, optionally combining various targeting options such as demographics, behavior, and frequency capping for maximum effectiveness.

 requires a well-prepared foundation. Ensuring that your website and other platforms are configured appropriately to collect and store data is crucial. Technological infrastructure must be in place to track and target users seamlessly. This strategy not only boosts brand reach by reconnecting with users but also serves as a versatile tool for promoting new products, offering special deals, and improving overall return on investment (ROI).

In mastering these CTV targeting strategies, advertisers can navigate the complexities of the advertising landscape with precision, ensuring that their campaigns resonate, engage, and drive impactful results.

CTV Strategy in Multi-Channel Integrated Marketing

Aligning campaigns on Connected TV (CTV) with broader marketing strategies is pivotal for shaping a unified customer journey, ensuring enduring impact and engagement. Employing an integrated marketing approach to CTV involves delivering a consistent brand experience across diverse channels, a critical element in captivating the multifaceted modern consumer. CTV takes center stage as a linchpin in this strategy, seamlessly blending traditional TV's influence with the digital realm's interactive dynamics.

Recognizing the synergies between CTV and traditional linear TV is foundational. Rather than being in competition, these channels function as potent allies, each contributing unique strengths. While linear TV commands extensive reach, capturing varied audiences, CTV provides a more personalized viewing encounter. Insights from our TV+ advertising platform underscore that 21% of the total time spent on Linear TV and ad-supported CTV marks a substantial and growing share. A more in-depth analysis reveals that 27% of households are exclusively accessible through ad-supported TV, highlighting the trend of cord-cutting. CTV stands out as an efficient channel for engaging a significant portion of the audience.

Seamless Integration with Overall Marketing Strategy

Realizing the full potential of CTV demands its seamless integration into broader marketing strategies. Crafting a cohesive messaging approach across channels ensures a resonant and consistent brand narrative. Applying the precision honed in social media campaigns to CTV targeting refines audience segmentation. Aligning overarching campaign objectives facilitates a holistic customer journey, seamlessly intertwining touchpoints across channels.

Creative Synergies and Cross-Channel Impact

Maximizing creative assets involves seamless integration across channels. Repurposing CTV creatives on platforms like social media amplifies the message, ensuring a coherent brand narrative and maximizing visibility. Harnessing user-generated videos from influencer channels for CTV creatives taps into authenticity while upholding a cohesive brand story. Integrating CTV with a social media strategy forges a more potent and cohesive brand presence, nurturing a robust connection with the audience.

Attribution and Media Mix Modeling Across Channels

Understanding CTV's impact within the broader marketing mix is central to effective attribution and media mix modeling. Embracing multi-touch attribution models and considering the cumulative impact of touchpoints across diverse channels provides a comprehensive perspective on the marketing ecosystem. Media mix modeling evaluates the collective influence of touchpoints, empowering marketers to make informed decisions about budget distribution and campaign optimization. This integrated approach acknowledges the interconnected nature of touchpoints, maximizing the impact of every channel in the marketing mix.

In essence, CTV emerges as a versatile and indispensable tool in modern marketing, seamlessly integrating into broader strategies. Recognizing its complementarity with linear TV, leveraging cross-device engagement capabilities, and tapping into creative synergies enable brands to unlock the full potential of CTV, establishing meaningful connections with their audience across myriad touchpoints.

Conclusion: Navigating the Future of Streaming with Precision

In conclusion, this comprehensive guide has unraveled the secrets of crafting an effective CTV strategy. Precision, adaptability, and a holistic approach are key elements for success in the evolving streaming landscape. As you embark on your streaming journey, let these insights guide you to new heights of visibility, engagement, and success. Connect with your audience seamlessly, making every touchpoint resonate with your brand's narrative. The future of streaming awaits, and with a well-crafted strategy, your brand can lead the way into this exciting frontier.

 for TV and streaming advertising provides unified access to premium linear and CTV inventory across all networks and publishers. 

Developing a robust strategy for CTV advertising is paramount for digital advertising success.. This comprehensive guide delves into the intricacies of crafting a winning strategy for Connected TV (CTV), shedding light on the importance of precision and adaptability in the ever-evolving landscape.

Crafting a Winning CTV Strategy: A Comprehensive Guide

How a Leading Cable Network Drove Tune-In For Their Holiday Movies With Simulmedia's TV+

With the holiday season fast approaching, a leading cable network was eager to promote its premiere of several seasonal movies airing on linear TV. How could the network reach the right viewers and drive tune-in?

The cord-cutting revolution is officially here. A look at the numbers is telling: U.S. adults will spend 

As the playing field changes, marketers and advertisers must adapt — or risk falling behind. But it's easy to get lost without understanding the terms, strategies, and tactics that make up this ecosystem.

Whether you're just starting or looking to jog your memory, we'll cover everything you need to know about CTV advertising to set your campaigns up for success.

Connected TV (CTV) refers to any internet-equipped device connected or embedded into a TV set for streaming video content. Think of smart TVs, gaming consoles, and streaming devices such as the Amazon Fire Stick.

https://iabtechlab.com/blog/ott-vs-ctv-what-is-in-a-name/

Is connected TV the same as over-the-top? What about streaming? 

Contrary to popular belief, connected TV (CTV), over-the-top (OTT), and streaming are not interchangeable terms

 CTV is the television device used to watch video content over the internet, while OTT is the method for delivering video content. Streaming, on the other hand, includes data or content transmitted through a continuous stream and can include content beyond video.

An iPhone, for instance, can be referred to as a streaming device. If you use your iPhone to watch a TV show, that video content is delivered via OTT. It would be wrong to call this device a connected TV because it does not connect to a television.

In other words, all connected TV is over-the-top, but not all over-the-top is connected TV.

As more and more consumers cut the cord on traditional cable TV and move towards internet-based viewing options, CTV advertising has become an increasingly important tool for marketers looking to reach their target audiences.

Exploring a new approach can come with excitement and anxiety about the unknown, so let's break down the terminology advertisers need to know.

AVOD, SVOD, FAST — the acronyms dominating the CTV space are enough to make any marketer’s head spin. Fear not, we have you covered.

Think of this as a quick cheat sheet rather than a rule book. Just as TV continues to evolve, so too do the terms industry leaders use.

An umbrella term used to encompass all non-traditional television

: A TV advertising solution that 1) targets specific households based on their demographics, habits, and interests instead of the program they're watching 2) is often injected by the cable/TV provider's set-top box 3) is typically provided by MVPDs (multichannel video programming distributors)

The convergence of all forms of TV — linear, connected TV, and OTT. In this unified space, ad buying can take place across all screens, platforms, and channels. At present, this is more of an idea than a reality, but the industry is moving closer to this future as technology advances.

: A television — or device connected to a television — able to stream video content from the web

: An over-the-top content distribution model where users have free access to linear (or FAST) channels and on-demand video content

MVPDs (multichannel video programming distributors): 

A traditional pay-TV provider such as a cable or satellite TV company

: The delivery of video content over the internet through any device

A television equipped with an internet connection, either through an ethernet port, built-in wifi or both

: Data or content transmitted through a continuous stream

: Content consumed on demand at any time, anywhere, and on any device. There are three types of video-on-demand, including:

, where consumers watch ads to access free or discounted streaming content

, where viewers access on-demand video content in exchange for a recurring rate or subscription

, where consumers purchase streaming content on a pay-per-view basis

vMVPDs (virtual multichannel video programming distributor): 

Digital pay-TV providers that deliver live TV just as MVPDs do — but over the internet, removing the need for a cable or satellite set-top box

What are the benefits of connected TV advertising?

Connected TV is rapidly emerging as a key part of any marketer's media mix — and for good reason.

Households are cutting the cord at an explosive rate. Just take a look at the numbers:

: More than two-thirds of the US population will use CTV in 2023, and more than 85% of US households will have at least one internet-connected TV set this year.

The trend shows no signs of slowing down, and providers are taking notice. Amazon Prime, for instance, put its streaming capabilities to the test during a live stream of Coachella's main stage. Live sports, news, and other content once exclusive to cable TV are joining the mix too.

The takeaway? If advertisers are to reach viewers where they're watching video, they need to be on CTV.

Optimize campaigns with real-time analytics

Connected TV bridges the gap between traditional TV's massive reach and digital marketing's targeting and measurement capabilities. The result: A growth channel full of measurable outcomes, from tracking the return on your advertising budget to attributing ad viewers to website visits.

This is especially important in today's economy. Advertisers and brands can make more impactful investments and continuously optimize their performance with greater transparency into their campaign's performance by leveraging the real-time analytics CTV offers.

CTV advertising campaigns reach the right viewers and capture their full attention. According to Statista, video completion rates on CTV average out to 

It's all thanks to the unique traits CTV brings to the table. Take precise targeting, for instance. Data-driven insights and powerful technology ensure that the ads shown are relevant to the viewer's interests. With highly personalized ads, viewers are more likely to engage with and watch CTV ads to completion.

Another factor contributing to high completion rates is TV's inherent "lean back" viewer experience. Whereas those on the phone actively scroll through content and are ready to skip through ads with the swipe of their thumb, TV viewers sit (or lean) back to enjoy content and are less likely to click to scroll through an ad. Plus, on-demand video requires the viewer to specifically request the content, meaning they often have no choice but to watch the ad — otherwise, they can't watch their programming.

Because audiences are more fragmented than ever, there's been a push for new measurement solutions that determine the effectiveness of TV advertising based on business metrics — rather than GRPs (gross rating points) and basic demos.

This is where connected TV comes into play. From tracking conversions to measuring brand lift and beyond, connected TV's robust targeting and reporting capabilities give marketers a complete picture of how their campaigns perform, transforming TV into a full-funnel performance marketing channel.

Common performance metrics for CTV campaigns include:

: the percentage of viewers who watched a video ad from beginning to end

: how many viewers of your ad go to your website/install your app

: how many people saw the ad on TV and then added items to their cart, registered for an account, or started a form — — usually on a different household device

Advanced measurement techniques, such as attribution modeling, can help advertisers understand the impact of their CTV campaigns on downstream engagement, actions, conversions, and revenue.

CTV advertisers can buy inventory in a variety of ways. Let's break it down by first looking at the two buckets comprising this process: Non-programmatic and programmatic.

Source: https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IAB_Digital_Simplified_Programmatic_Sept_2013.pdf

In non-programmatic advertising, negotiations take place directly with the publisher. This process is entirely manual. Think of phone calls, emails, and insertion orders. As we drill further down, we can see that two types of non-programmatic deals take place.

: A direct deal where publishers guarantee premium inventory to advertisers — specifically first or last break ad slots.

: An agreement between the advertiser and publisher to run a specific ad campaign on the publisher's inventory. Here, the buyer guarantees they will spend a particular amount on the publisher's inventory over a determined period and negotiated rate. The publisher, on the other hand, promises a certain number of impressions as part of the rate.

Programmatic advertising, on the other hand, involves ads typically purchased using automated buying techniques and software.

A one-on-one deal combining the benefits of programmatic advertising with the assurance of guaranteed inventory. The publisher agrees to deliver a set number of impressions, while the advertiser agrees to pay a fixed price. The publisher then reserves inventory for the advertiser rather than sending it out to auction.

: Invitation-only marketplaces that allow advertisers to purchase ad inventory from a select group of publishers. In this case, inventory is only available to a select group of buyers. This guarantees the inventory will be available to purchase but does not guarantee it will be sold to a certain buyer. In fact, it is possible to have a private marketplace deal with a floor price that does not win very many auctions. Why? A private marketplace buyer will get a "floor price," or the lowest price they are allowed to offer for any ad. It's possible, though, a higher bidder may come in and win.

Within the private marketplace, a publisher can give a buyer priority and exclusive access to certain inventory if they have agreed upon a preferred deal. This allows the buyer to check the inventory before they buy it. If not, it is then made available to everyone else in the private marketplace, and then open auction.

: This comes to mind for most when they think of programmatic advertising. At its core, it is an open marketplace where multiple advertisers can bid on the same inventory, and the highest bidder wins the impression. Buyers beware — purchases can be risky. Information about publishers here is often limited, increasing the risk of fraud.

It's common for advertisers to confuse real-time bidding with all programmatic. Remember that purchasing can happen ahead of time, such as with programmatic guaranteed deals. In other words, not all programmatic deals involve real-time bidding.

The TV ecosystem has seen an explosion in ad-supported streaming apps in recent years: Disney+, Pluto TV, Hulu, Peacock, and Netflix are just some of many examples.

The cost of advertising on streaming services can vary widely depending on the platform and the specific advertising package purchased. For example, Hulu offers various ad formats, including standard video ads, interactive ads, and sponsored content, with prices ranging from a few cents per impression to several dollars per thousand impressions. Similarly, Peacock offers both traditional and native ads, with costs ranging from around $15 to $30 per thousand impressions.

What are the different ways to target on CTV advertising?

Finding where viewers watch video is easy with CTV advertising. But what about finding the right audience?

CTV's targeting abilities make it possible, even easy, to do so. The channel uses a mix of data to target audiences at a granular level. Here are a few targeting strategies that marketers use:

Data that is collected directly from customers or users of a product or service.

Data about individuals and their behavior that is collected by a third party rather than by the company or organization that is doing the targeting.

: Displaying ads to users based on the program, genre, and streaming app they are watching.

 Targeting users with location-based data. The two terms are similar, but they differ in their scope.

Geotargeting users various data to reach users within a defined area regardless of their exact location.

Geofencing, on the other hand, is more precise. In this instance, the advertiser sets up a virtual boundary around a physical location. When a user physically enters the geofenced area, they are served targeted ads.

Serving ads to people who have previously interacted with a brand or website with the goal of bringing them back to complete a desired action.

 Identifying a group of individuals who share similar characteristics or behaviors to a company's existing customers and then target advertisements to this group.

: Limiting viewing methods to specific device types, such as connected TVs, streaming devices, mobile, browsers, gaming consoles, or device manufacturers, like LG, Vizio, and Samsung. This can look like serving ads on gaming consoles only or excluding ads from being shown on a Fire Stick.

This is especially important in today's economy. Advertisers and brands can make more impactful investments and continuously optimize their performance with greater transparency into their campaign's performance.

A common mistake advertisers make is over-targeting. Narrowing your audience segments to niche demographics often leads to missing out on relevant audiences that convert. Instead, go wider to find as many high-converting media fragments as possible.

What are the main CTV advertising formats?

Marketers can serve ads to users within the CTV space using standard video ads and several ad formats specific to CTV.

In-stream video ads are a type of digital advertising format displayed within video content that can be either skippable or non-skippable. Skippable in-stream video ads allow viewers to skip the ad after a few seconds, while non-skippable ads require viewers to watch the entire ad before continuing to the video content.

Pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads all fall under in-stream ads.

Just as the name suggests, these ads differ in when they're shown. Pre-roll ads play before the main video content. Mid-roll ads play in the middle of the video content, and post-roll ads play after the video content.

Another benefit of connected TV advertising is the ability to use interactive formats, including interactive overlays and companion banners. Use this to your advantage — these ad formats allow viewers to engage with the ad in a way that feels more natural and less disruptive, increasing the chances that they'll convert.

Note that these are specific to publishers, meaning they can't be scaled across media buys.

Mastering CTV advertising: Guidelines to get started

From understanding common terms to learning new tips and tricks, we cover everything you need to stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of connected TV.

The Ultimate Guide to Connected TV Advertising

With the decline of third-party cookies and advancements in AI and machine learning, contextual advertising is enjoying a resurgence among advertisers and audiences alike. Studies show an estimated 

 are more comfortable with contextual ads than behavioral ads.

But while contextual targeting has been well-established in online advertising, emerging channels like Connected TV (CTV) are still navigating the implementation of contextual solutions and discovering the best approaches to make it work effectively.

How will contextual advertising fare in the future? Will contextual data play a bigger role in CTV’s future? We’ll dig into the benefits, roadblocks, and nuances of contextual targeting to help you better understand what makes this targeting strategy so popular.

To understand how contextual targeting works in connected TV, let’s first break down how this strategy works in the display world.

In display advertising, contextual targeting works by crawling web pages and analyzing their text, including factors such as the text, keywords, images, and overall theme. Demand-side platforms then pass the web page through a semantic engine to categorize the page into specific topics, as well as make sure the page doesn’t contain words that could be deemed inappropriate.

CTV advertisers share the same goal as their display counterparts when contextually targeting users: Connect with their target audience in the midst of content that is highly relevant and likely to resonate with the message. The actual process, though, looks a lot different. Publishers are often tasked with categorizing shows into genres, where they decide on whether the contextual information will be available on the bid request. When buyers evaluate the bid request, they can glean if the proper contextual information is available to contextually target users.

Otherwise, publishers can establish genre-specific private marketplaces with select buyers and demand-side platforms. Within these marketplaces, buyers will only receive contextually relevant bid requests.

What are the benefits of using contextual targeting in CTV?

Contextual targeting has taken a backseat to first-party audience targeting. 

, advertisers believe advertiser first-party data activation holds the greatest promise, while contextual advertising trails far behind.


Advertisers have been eager to granularly target users using the massive amount of data available on connected TV — from device IDs to household IP addresses and more. First-party audience targeting, though, requires an enormous amount of site traffic. Unless you’re a large-scale enterprise, your brand is limited to the audiences that visit your site. In other words, first-party data doesn’t scale well for everyone. To make matters worse, third-party cookies are seemingly on their way out.

Because of these factors, connected TV advertisers are reconsidering contextual targeting. Why?

By utilizing contextual data, advertisers can still target relevant audiences without relying on individual user information.

 Some industries already have a head start — finance, healthcare, and other verticals with sensitive information often leverage contextual ads to avoid violating policies.

Contextual targeting can be more accurate than household IP addresses.

 For instance, contextually targeting a show popular with adult women means you’re more likely to reach the wife or mother within the household. On the other hand, if you blindly target the household IP address, you won’t know who in the household you’re reaching.

Finally, contextual targeting helps address brand safety concerns.

 By excluding ads based on the content context, advertisers can have more control over where their ads are displayed, reducing the risk of associating their brand with undesirable content.

What are the challenges of using contextual targeting in CTV?

One major shortcoming of CTV is the need for more transparency. Apps and publishers store video content on their content management systems, sometimes behind closed platforms — making it harder for data providers to analyze videos and determine their context.

To make matters worse, publishers have yet to agree upon a singular content taxonomy. Because there is no way to crawl video content, publishers categorize content themselves — and inevitably create their own taxonomy. For instance, while one publisher may classify their live sports event as “sports,” another may note it as “football” — and another may refer to it as the “NFL.”

While the road ahead is anything but straightforward, advertisers are hopeful the industry will improve over time. “By the end of the year, I don’t think scale will be a problem anymore. You’ve got to walk first, before you can run. And we’ve just getting to walking now,” said Lynn Chealander, director of product management at Xandr to 

Unleash the Power of Targeting on Connected TV

As the popularity of CTV continues to rise, embracing its targeting capabilities, like contextual targeting, will be essential for advertisers aiming to stay ahead of the curve.

Now that you know how to target viewers on CTV contextually, you can start to put your knowledge to work. Leverage all connected TV has to offer, from advanced targeting to precise measurement and more, using Simulmedia’s TV+ platform. From retargeting to building custom lookalike audiences and beyond, TV+ helps advertisers get in front of their ideal audiences to maximize reach and drive conversions.

Unlocking the Power of Contextual Targeting in Connected TV

Retargeting has long been a powerful tool in every digital advertiser’s toolbox, allowing brands to hone in on lower-funnel customers.

Targeting capabilities on CTV advertising

 are taking this strategy to the next level. Now, advertisers can retarget audiences wherever they are, from mobile to web to television — creating true cross-device coverage for your campaigns.

CTV retargeting refers to serving a follow-up ad to a user previously exposed to a brand. This can include showing a CTV ad to:

A viewer that has previously visited the advertiser’s site or mobile app

A viewer already exposed to an ad on a different channel

A viewer that has recently visited an advertiser’s physical store and is in the advertiser’s CRM system

Audience segments can be incredibly granular here. For instance, you can retarget based on the user’s behavior on your website – what categories they browsed through or whether they added items to their shopping cart but didn’t check out, allowing advertisers to hone in on viewers with the highest chance of converting, and even to serve a more personalized CTV creative.

Advertisers primarily use retargeting to locate audiences that have given clear signals they are in-market and considering a brand. By retargeting these audiences and increasing the frequency of advertisements served, advertisers can ensure a brand stays top-of-mind and increase their chances of converting. For instance, whether you’re looking to advertise a new deal or remind shoppers of their abandoned cart, let them know while they watch their favorite show for a truly cross-device experience.

This is just one example of how advertisers can retarget audiences who are highly engaged with your brand, which leads us to our next point…

Digital advertisers have historically relied on third-party cookies on the web or device identifiers on mobile apps to retarget users.

To understand how retargeting on connected TV differs, it helps to know how third-party cookies work in the digital world.

When a user visits a site, a small piece of code (called a pixel or cookie) is placed on their browser.

This cookie can then observe their browsing behavior — even once they leave the site. The cookie gathers information about their behavior and interests as the user browses various sites.

When the user visits a site in partnership with the retargeting platform used, such as Google Ads, Criteo, or AdRoll, the retargeting platform can recognize the user — all thanks to the cookie installed.

Now, the retargeting platform can identify the user and glean their interests and behavior. The platform can use this information to serve a retargeting ad personalized to the user.

CTV uses the same mechanism. Again, a pixel is installed on the advertiser’s site. However, this pixel does not continuously collect information about the user once they leave the site. Instead, the tag identifies the user, and then immediately traces that information out to the retargeting platform’s device graph. The graph is based on all of the IPs the user transmits while interacting with the site. Using this data, the platform can determine which connected TVs to retarget.

In other words, display advertisers retarget using third-party cookies that solely interact with the device where the website visit occurred. On the other hand, connected TV retargeting leverages device graphs that connect to all of the devices and IP addresses within the user’s household.

Retargeting works well by itself or in tandem with other strategies. By looking at the demographic information of users who have engaged with an ad, an advertiser can also create a lookalike audience to build out a new target audience. In other words, data gathered for retargeting is also highly useful for building out a campaign and extending reach to a broader audience, this time equipped with more insight into who is likely to engage and, hopefully, convert.

 of those who visit your site are not ready to make a purchase. TV is one of the most effective advertising formats, making it the perfect channel to re-capture your audience’s attention. By retargeting on connected TV, advertisers can reconnect with and push interested customers further down the funnel.

Connected TV retargeting also aligns with the modern consumer’s cross-device experience. From mobile to web to TV and beyond, users shift from one device to the next — and even sometimes use them simultaneously. Retargeting allows advertisers to create a truly cross-device experience and engage with audiences wherever they are.

Retargeting certainly has its benefits. As we’ve seen in the display and mobile world, though, advertisers can fall into pitfalls if they’re not careful. Display advertisers have historically overdone retargeting, leading to frustration among consumers. According to InSkin Media, when consumers see as few as five repetitive targeting ads, 

Choice Hotels Gives Bookings a Boost With Simulmedia

The Challenge

Standing Out in a Crowded Hotel Marketplace

The Solution

Data-Optimized Ad Delivery to Generate Long-Term Loyalty

Custom Targeting

Data-Optimized Delivery

The Results

More Travelers Made the Right ‘Choice’ Thanks to Simulmedia