Traditional linear TV remains a vital channel for broad audience engagement and impactful creatives. However, in the data-driven marketing era, measuring the true impact of these campaigns on crucial metrics is challenging. Marketers struggle to understand how TV ads influence actions like website visits amid a complex marketing landscape with multiple competing channels. The rise of CTV adds further complexity. While Simulmedia offers "

," this blog focuses on challenges unique to traditional linear TV attribution. Simulmedia's Incremental Lift Studies for Linear TV provide clarity by disentangling the web of advertising influences. This feature empowers marketers to accurately assess the impact of their traditional linear TV campaigns, offering a methodology that separates signal from noise. By making data-driven decisions, Simulmedia's 

 optimize the effectiveness of traditional linear TV campaigns.

What is Incremental Lift Measurement and why it matters

Lift measurement quantifies a marketing campaign's additional impact on desired outcomes. 

 aim to precisely measure added conversions and conversion rates from TV advertising. These studies compare exposed group (TV ad viewers) and a control group (non-viewers) using deterministic attribution for accurate measurement.

Traditional attribution and media mix modeling face challenges assessing TV campaign impact, particularly for linear TV, due to shared limitations:

Inability to Account for External Factors: 

Difficulty distinguishing TV ad impact from concurrent events leads to imprecise measurements.

Over-reliance on Short-term Data Spikes: 

Focusing on short-term spikes neglects long-term impacts, missing valuable insights for effective decisions.

Media mix modeling demands substantial resources, limiting accessibility, especially for smaller businesses.

Built for specific timeframes, media mix models lack adaptability for emerging trends or market shifts.

Simulmedia's Incremental Lift Studies provide a refreshing alternative to overcoming these challenges. By bypassing traditional attribution methods and resource-intensive media mix modeling, these studies offer a cost-effective, flexible, and precise approach for assessing TV campaign impact in today's complex marketing landscape.

 are synthetic control groups, transforming how marketers gauge their TV campaign impact. This method lets advertisers craft a control group mirroring the test group via advanced statistical techniques and user data—without physically splitting these groups per campaign. This offers an accurate, statistically identical comparison, eliminating costs tied to running PSAs for control group creation, making A/B testing cost-effective.

Choosing a synthetic over a hold-out group stems from linear TV's unique nature, where budget decisions aren't at the individual level. Creating a pre-campaign hold-out plan with similar granularity and control proves challenging. In a landscape valuing accurate measurement, synthetic control groups give marketers a potent tool to confidently attribute observed lift to TV campaigns, minimizing control group expenses. This precise method empowers advertisers, unlocking traditional linear TV campaign potential, and facilitating data-driven decisions with unmatched confidence, optimizing marketing efforts for superior results.

Benefits of Incremental Lift Studies for Linear TV

 enhance the effectiveness of TV advertising campaigns in several ways:

Comparing statistically identical test and control groups enables the pinpointing of the true impact of a TV campaign, eliminating external influences for a clear cause-and-effect relationship.

Purpose-built Synthetic Control Group for TV: 

Our methodology ensures the synthetic control group mirrors the test group, considering demographics and viewership behavior, providing precise measurement while minimizing confounding factors.

Merging Linear TV Reach with Digital Attribution: 

Seamlessly combining the expansive reach of linear TV with precise, deterministic digital attribution offers a comprehensive picture of campaign performance, leveraging our viewership panel.

Confident Measurement of Incrementality Across Web Outcomes: 

Incremental Lift Studies facilitate the measurement of a TV campaign's incremental impact on various web outcomes, offering insights into actions such as website visits and app installs.

Identification of Incrementality Parameters: 

Dissecting campaign performance by network, daypart, and creative empowers advertisers to optimize targeting, maximizing the effectiveness of advertising efforts.

Simulmedia's Incremental Lift Studies provide advertisers with a comprehensive, flexible, and precise approach to measuring the true impact of linear TV campaigns and making data-driven decisions for superior results.

Unlocking the power of Incremental Lift Studies for Linear TV

 effectively, grasp the essentials of initiation and result interpretation. Follow this guide for a seamless experience:

Activate the SM Pixel on your website or employ Kochava integration for in-app events.

Share target metrics with your client success manager.

Define your target audience and intended budget; consult your client success manager.

Notify your client success manager about your interest in an Incremental Lift Study.

We create a synthetic control group by simulating a plan on unexposed households, matching them to your network allocation and exclusion list.

Interim results will be accessible in a Tableau dashboard after two days.

Your dedicated Customer Success Manager will share the final report shortly after the attribution window ends.

Results are finalized at the attribution period's end; expect no further dashboard updates.

The dashboard details the linear TV campaign summary, including incremental lift %, incremental conversions, and the cost per incremental conversion. Remember that "conversions" represent the action you chose to track – which could be website visits, app installs, or actual purchases and transactions.

The dashboard provides a side-by-side comparison of the control group attributes versus the test group attributes.

Drill-downs to the network level provide insights on publishers delivering more incremental lift, facilitating plan optimization. Breakdowns are also available per daypart and creative.

With these insights, embark confidently on your journey into Incremental Lift Studies for Linear TV, unlocking valuable information for better results.

Unveiling the mechanics: How Incremental Lift Studies work

Curious about the inner workings of Simulmedia's 

? Let's delve into the process that empowers marketers to confidently uncover the true impact of their TV campaigns.

We kick off by setting up the SM Pixel on the client's website or integrating with Kochava for mobile app attribution. After the campaign, we analyze impressions on our viewership panel to assemble the 'exposed' group.

Step 2: Creating the Synthetic Control Group.

With the exposed group in sight, we simulate media plans adhering to the campaign's criteria to craft a synthetic control group—no need to physically split groups per campaign, saving costs.

Step 3: Ensuring Statistical Representativeness.

Demographic data overlays both groups, ensuring shared characteristics. Our post-stratification algorithm guarantees statistical representativeness in geographic location, demographics, and viewership patterns.

Step 4: Running Deterministic Attribution.

We finalize by running deterministic attribution at the Household IP level, using the Simulmedia Pixel or MMP integrations for conversions, precisely measuring the TV campaign's impact.

We compare conversion rates between the test (exposed) group and the synthetic control group, providing a clear view of the incremental lift generated by the TV campaign.

To guarantee the representativeness of both groups, we employ advanced methods:

We create multiple simulated plans to ensure the control group mirrors the viewing habits of the test group. This rigorous process eliminates individuals unlikely to have seen your ad, such as cord cutters or households on your suppression list.

Simulmedia applies sophisticated techniques, including Weighted Attribute Matching, ensuring the control group shares the same demographic and geographic attributes as the test group, leaving no room for discrepancies.

With these meticulous methods, Simulmedia ensures Incremental Lift Studies provide unparalleled precision and statistical representativeness. This rigorous approach empowers advertisers to confidently attribute observed lift to their TV campaigns, setting us apart in the industry. Marketers can optimize their traditional linear TV campaigns with unwavering confidence, leading to superior results

Unlock the future of TV measurement with Simulmedia's Incremental Lift Studies

 equip you with the tools to unlock your TV campaigns' true impact. Bid farewell to uncertainty and embrace the future of measurement. By leveraging this innovative feature, you can make informed decisions for better results, elevating your marketing efforts. Don't let uncertainty hinder you from harnessing the incredible power of TV advertising. The future of measurement is here, and it's time to embrace it.

Ready to elevate your TV advertising? Reach out to your dedicated Customer Success Manager or email us at 

 to learn more and get started. Your success in the world of TV advertising awaits.

Traditional linear TV remains a vital channel for broad audience engagement and impactful creatives. However, in the data-driven marketing era, measuring the true impact of these campaigns on crucial metrics is challenging. Marketers struggle to understand how TV ads influence actions like website visits amid a complex marketing landscape with multiple competing channels. The rise of CTV adds further complexity. While Simulmedia offers "Incremental Lift Studies for CTV," this blog focuses on challenges unique to traditional linear TV advertising. Simulmedia's Incremental Lift Studies for Linear TV provide clarity by disentangling the web of advertising influences.

Measure the true impact of TV with incremental lift measurement

 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?

Most CTV campaigns don’t get optimized properly. Often, programmatic buyers take a set-it-and-forget-it approach: they set up their CTV campaigns and let them run so they can move on to setting up their next campaign. Several marketers and traders that we’ve spoken to only sporadically optimize them.

Even more sophisticated programmatic buyers feel frustrated with the state of affairs. They may use their demand-side platform’s automated optimization capabilities but feel they have little control and no visibility into the AI’s decisioning. The auto-optimization either works or doesn’t, and extracting learnings about why things do or don’t work is difficult.

Manual optimization is tedious and suboptimal. 

We noticed that many traders were spending a lot of time – about 65% of their time based on industry benchmarks – on manual optimization. Someone’s kept busy allocating budget from line item to line item daily. This work is understandably tedious and error-prone. Plus, humans take lunch breaks, sign off for the day, and sometimes make typos that misallocate funds to a poorly performing line item.

Manual optimization is also limited to the line items you set up – and unless you’re setting up thousands of different line items to capture the combinatorial of each individual parameter (daypart, creative, app, device, etc.) – your manual optimization at the macro line item level is simply not going to compare to optimizing at the micro parameter level.

Many vendors say, “Just trust the AI,” giving you no transparency into the black box workings of their optimization algorithms. So when things don’t go as planned, you’ll have no visibility into the adjustments the algo has made, no idea why things are going awry, and no clue how to course-correct.

Optimize CTV as easily as your paid social campaign with TV+ Automated Performance Optimization

We’re excited to release our Automated Performance Optimization (APO) engine as part of 

. APO makes optimizing your CTV campaigns as easy as you would optimize your paid search campaigns – switch on automated optimization and let the machines get to work.

The APO engine automatically allocates your budget across different parameters (dayparts, apps, publishers, etc.) depending on which parameters drive the best outcomes. You can choose which metric to optimize against: from mid-funnel engagement metrics like cost-per-unique-visitor or cost-per-visit to lower-funnel action metrics like cost-per-conversion.

Track the APO’s allocation decisions and see how it drives your KPIs. APO allocates budgets automatically across different parameters such as apps, publishers, creative, and dayparts. You can easily see which parameters are driving the allocation decisions on a daily basis throughout the life of the campaign.

With Automated Performance Optimization, you can...

Performance Optimization helps you achieve your performance goals faster and more efficiently. To do so, we harness the power of machine learning to analyze web traffic and conversion patterns to optimize campaign parameters that maximize conversions. Because our optimization engine is continuously running, it’s always learning, always experimenting, and always calibrating. All of this has the cumulative effect of hitting your KPIs faster.

Track optimization against multiple KPIs. 

Depending on your business model, conversion funnels can get complicated. Though our Optimization Engine optimizes based on a specific metric, you can still monitor and report on how your campaign is tracking against multiple action/conversion KPIs.

 TV+ APO gives you a full reckoning of all budget allocation decisions it makes. So if you want to see how much lift the APO is delivering, check – you can see that. If you want to see which publishers and dayparts are receiving more budget from the APO, check – you can see that as well.

Monster.com further tunes their already well-tuned acquisition machine

Just ask our client, online recruitment company Monster. Thanks to our fine-tuned performance strategy, Monster, who already had a very low cost per unique visitor (CPUV) for jobseekers, looked to Automated Performance Optimization to lock in their gains and prevent the decay of their CPUV metric.

To their surprise and delight, APO lowered their already low CPUVs by shaving off an additional 20%! To read more about it, 

Smart balancing between exploration and exploitation

Our algorithm continually balances between exploration and exploitation and applies gradual improvements to remove early biases and achieve the global optimum. Budgets are also re-allocated across different participants within the exploration and exploitation sets.

Let’s see it in action using the diagram below.

How to Get Started with Auto-Optimization

Getting auto-optimization up and running on your next CTV campaign is straightforward. Work with your Client Success Manager, who can guide you!

. As a prerequisite, you’ll want to ensure that your tags are all set up on your website or app to track the events you will optimize on. You’ll want to determine the primary KPI/event (cost-per-visitor or cost-per-action) that you want to optimize. We generally limit optimization metrics to ones with a conversion rate > 0.1%

Sit back, and have the Machine Learning powered optimization drive efficient performance. 

When the campaign launches, your Client Success Manager can switch on the auto-optimization engine. TV+ pulls the tracked web/app data in real time into the machine learning optimization engine and pushes out reallocation decisions daily. The engine looks at parameters like publisher, daypart, creative, and app to determine how to make the next allocation decision.

Monitor results and optimized parameters in real time. 

After an initial “learning period” – usually about seven days, the Automated Performance Optimization starts reallocating a portion of your budget to better-performing line items, usually 20% daily. However, you can work with your CSM to adjust that. You can monitor the real-time results throughout the flight of the campaign.

We’ve always taken a perspective of designing our tools to be purpose-built for CTV and with transparency in mind. That’s allowed us to create an CTV optimization engine that’s unique to what’s out in the market. How exactly?

Unlike other DSPs’ optimization algorithms, the TV+ Optimization Engine is not a black box. You can track how it re-allocates budget over time based on a specific metric while monitoring performance against other action or conversion KPIs. APO allocates budgets automatically across different parameters such as apps, publishers, creative, and dayparts. You can easily see which parameters are driving the allocation decisions on a daily basis throughout the life of the campaign. Why does that matter? So you can see and validate what is working, and learn more about what drives performance for your audience along the way.

Most DSPs won’t tell you how much lift their optimization engine brought to your campaign. With TV+’s Automated Performance Optimization, we can isolate an unoptimized control group and compare its performance to an optimized test group and tell you exactly how much lift APO is driving.

Enable Automated Performance Optimization on every CTV campaign

Are you ready to take your company's growth to the next level? It's time to stop guessing and start optimizing with the full power of CTV! To turn on Automated Performance Optimization on your next CTV campaign, talk to your Client Success Manager or contact sales@simulmedia.com.

TV+'s New Automated Performance Optimization: Designed for Transparency from the Ground Up

How Monster Improved Performance with TV+’s Automated Performance Optimization Feature

Monster, an online employment solution, is no stranger to Simulmedia. Since 2019, the online job board has leveraged our TV+ platform to shift from big-brand advertising to an audience-based approach to TV.

Monster had seen remarkable success with its linear campaigns — specifically reducing the cost to drive website visitors. With this in mind, Monster was curious to see if they could mimic the same results on connected TV.


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.

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.

Driving Awareness and App Activity for CTV Platform’s Miniseries

The Challenge

Reaching Custom Target Audience for Original Miniseries Debut

The Solution

Targeting Likely Viewers With a TV Campaign Across 48 Networks

The Results

Simulmedia Drove Tune-In Awareness and Generated Desired Digital Outcomes