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

An integrated omnichannel strategy serves as the foundation for success in the modern marketing world. This guide takes a deep dive into the complexities of crafting an effective 

, showcasing its pivotal role within the overarching omnichannel approach. Understanding the essential nature of an omnichannel strategy, tailored to ensure a consistent brand experience across diverse channels, is crucial for engaging today's multifaceted consumer.

 underscores, the proliferation of smart TVs has reached an impressive 61.9% in H1 2023, indicating a 5 percentage point YoY increase and a substantial surge from 43.1% in 2019. These numbers underscore the ubiquity of smart TVs, now a dominant force in households across income levels.

Furthermore, the data illuminates the significant surge in average US time spent consuming online TV and streaming, reaching 1:50 in H1 2023. This noteworthy statistic positions the US as the second-highest among tracked countries, trailing only Saudi Arabia. The upward trajectory in time spent with online TV and streaming, soaring by 34.1% since 2019, highlights the growing influence and appeal of CTV.

The eMarketer insights also reveal the pervasive nature of on-demand and streaming service viewership across demographics, transcending age, income, and household locations. Notably, Gen Zers lead the charge with an impressive penetration rate of 97.4% for ages 16 to 24. Even age cohorts traditionally considered below the tech adoption curve, such as ages 55 to 64, boast a robust 87% penetration. As we delve into how to integrate CTV strategy into your omnichannel strategy, these statistics underscore the profound reach and impact this channel brings to the forefront. Now, let's explore the practical steps to harness the potential of CTV in your comprehensive marketing strategy.

Let’s start with the basics – de-siloing the two major TV platforms. Understanding the synergies between Connected TV (CTV) and traditional linear TV is a smart onramp to crafting an integrated marketing campaign. Rather than being adversaries, these channels can be powerful partners, each bringing its unique strengths to the table. Linear TV, with its expansive reach, continues to be a juggernaut, capturing the attention of diverse audiences. In contrast, CTV offers a more personalized viewing experience, allowing advertisers to tailor content to specific audience segments.

Our TV+ advertising platform sheds light on the current landscape, revealing that the total time spent by P2+ on Linear TV and ad-supported Connected TV is 3 hours and 54 minutes. Notably, 79% of this time is dedicated to Linear TV, highlighting its enduring significance. However, the remaining 21% on ad-supported Connected TV signifies a substantial and growing share, underscoring the increasing relevance of CTV in the media landscape.

Further insights from our platform emphasize the nuanced viewing habits of households. Approximately 27% of households are exclusively reachable through ad-supported CTV, indicating a trend of cord-cutters or cord-nevers. On the flip side, 57% of households are reachable by both Linear and Connected TV, illustrating the hybrid nature of many households' TV setups. Notably, CTV proves to be a more efficient avenue for reaching a significant portion of this audience.


Crucially, consumers perceive it all as TV, and this perspective necessitates a holistic approach for marketers. Achieving a comprehensive view of their entire TV campaign becomes imperative, incorporating de-duplicated cross-channel reach and frequency metrics. This approach enables marketers to measure performance across the entire spectrum of TV, ensuring a nuanced understanding of their campaign's impact and efficiency. As we delve into the integration of CTV into the broader marketing strategy, these insights illuminate the evolving dynamics of the TV landscape.

Integration with Overall Marketing Strategy

To harness CTV's full potential, it's imperative to seamlessly integrate it into your broader marketing strategy. As your messaging unfolds across the immersive CTV landscape, aligning with your brand's storytelling ethos, it simultaneously harmonizes with strategies on other owned, earned, and paid channels. This cohesive messaging approach ensures a consistent brand narrative that resonates across channels.

The precision applied to audience targeting in social media campaigns can enhance your approach by refining audience segmentation for CTV. When you use precise targeting on social media to reach specific demographics or interests, you can apply these refined audience segments (when available from 3rd party audience providers) to your CTV targeting strategy. This alignment not only improves audience engagement but also streamlines the execution of marketing initiatives. It ensures that your CTV campaigns are more focused and resonant, reaching the right viewers with greater efficiency.

Moreover, overarching campaign objectives should be a shared beacon guiding each channel, whether it's fostering brand awareness, driving sales, or highlighting a specific product. This comprehensive alignment isn't just about uniformity—it's about crafting a holistic customer journey. Understanding CTV's role in the broader narrative allows strategically placed touchpoints to seamlessly integrate with other channels, crafting an interconnected experience that resonates throughout every customer interaction.

Creative Synergies and Cross-Channel Impact

Unlock the full potential of your creative assets by seamlessly integrating them across channels. Repurpose engaging CTV creatives in other platforms such as social media or display advertising to amplify your message. This not only ensures a consistent brand narrative but also maximizes brand visibility across diverse touchpoints.

Moreover, it's not just a one-way street. Consider leveraging user-generated videos from your influencer channels as valuable raw materials for your CTV creative. This bidirectional approach allows you to tap into the authenticity of user-generated content while maintaining a cohesive brand story.

Integrating CTV with your social media strategy means combining the strengths of both channels to create a more powerful and cohesive brand presence. By aligning your CTV campaigns with your social media efforts, you ensure that the messages and stories you tell on each platform work together harmoniously. This coordination fosters a stronger connection with your audience, making your brand more memorable and impactful. In essence, it's about using the unique advantages of CTV and social media in tandem to provide viewers with a complete and unified brand experience.

But it doesn't stop there. CTV creative isn't confined to the TV screen; it can be a catalyst for actions on other devices. Drive viewers to your website or a landing page specific to a TV promotion, building retargeting pools for other channels. Incorporating QR codes in CTV creatives further minimizes friction across devices, creating a seamless user journey and amplifying cross-channel impact.

Attribution and Media Mix Modeling Across Channels

Understanding the impact of Connected TV (CTV) within your broader marketing mix is crucial for effective attribution and media mix modeling. Attribution in CTV involves assessing how specific touchpoints contribute to the customer's journey and identifying the role CTV plays in driving actions. Media mix modeling, on the other hand, evaluates the overall effectiveness of different channels in influencing audience behavior. In an integrated marketing campaign, various channels work synergistically, contributing touchpoints that collectively persuade the audience to take desired actions.

In the context of CTV attribution, it's essential to embrace multi-touch attribution models. These models go beyond simplistic, single-channel measurements, recognizing that customer journeys are complex and involve interactions with multiple channels. By examining touchpoints across different channels, including CTV, marketers gain a more nuanced understanding of how each contributes to the conversion process. Multi-touch attribution provides insights into the interplay between CTV and other channels, helping marketers identify patterns and refine strategies.

Media mix modeling takes a holistic approach, considering the cumulative impact of touchpoints across diverse channels. Evaluating the combined influence of CTV, display advertising, paid search, and other channels provides a comprehensive view of the marketing ecosystem. Marketers can then make informed decisions about budget distribution and optimize campaigns based on the collective impact of these touchpoints. This integrated approach ensures that CTV attribution is part of a broader strategy, recognizing the interconnected nature of touchpoints in the customer journey and maximizing the impact of every channel in the marketing mix.

Embrace the Versatility of Connected TV in Modern Marketing

Connected TV is a versatile and indispensable tool in modern marketing, seamlessly integrating into your broader strategy. By understanding its complementarity with linear TV, cross-device engagement capabilities, and potential for creative synergies, you can unlock the full potential of CTV. As the marketing landscape evolves, CTV stands as a practical and indispensable asset for brands aiming to connect with their audience across multiple touchpoints.

Ready to make CTV play a shining role in your integrated marketing campaigns? 

Reach out to one of our experts to get started

An integrated omnichannel strategy serves as the foundation for success in the modern marketing world. This guide takes a deep dive into the complexities of crafting an effective Connected TV (CTV) strategy, showcasing its pivotal role within the overarching omnichannel approach. Understanding the essential nature of an omnichannel strategy, tailored to ensure a consistent brand experience across diverse channels, is crucial for engaging today's multifaceted consumer.

Strategic Integration: CTV Marketing Strategy in the Omnichannel Landscape

With the growing complexity of digital advertising, crafting an effective streaming strategy is more crucial than ever. A well-defined 

 not only propels your brand into the spotlight but also ensures that every investment, message, and campaign aligns seamlessly with overarching goals. It helps you focus on what’s important. In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the core components of building a streaming strategy that not only captures attention but drives meaningful results. From defining goals to outmaneuvering competitors, we'll unravel the secrets to a robust streaming strategy.

What is Strategy, and Why Does it Matter?

At its core, a strategy is the blueprint that guides your efforts, aligning every move with your business objectives. Precision is paramount in streaming advertising, so a well-crafted streaming strategy ensures that your campaigns resonate cohesively with your audience, maximizing impact and ROI.

The Building Blocks of a Streaming Strategy

1. Why (Goals): What is the Ultimate Goal of My Streaming Campaign?

At the heart of any streaming strategy lies a clear understanding of your goals. Are you aiming for brand awareness, increased traffic, boosted sales, or perhaps app installations? Defining these goals provides a roadmap for your entire campaign. Your goals act as the guiding star, shaping every decision and tactic in your streaming strategy.

When it comes to measuring success in streaming, key performance indicators (KPIs) such as site visits, revenue generated from users exposed to CTV ads, and return on ad spend (ROAS) become essential benchmarks. For instance, if your primary goal is brand awareness, you might track metrics like unique reach and frequency to ensure your message is resonating with a broad audience. On the other hand, if your focus is on driving sales, KPIs such as conversion rates and attributed revenue can gauge the impact of your streaming efforts on the bottom line.

In essence, the ultimate goal of your streaming campaign sets the tone for the entire journey. It dictates not only the metrics you measure but also the strategies you employ to achieve success. Whether you're in pursuit of broader brand recognition or aiming for tangible business outcomes, clarifying your goals is the first step towards building a streaming strategy that delivers meaningful results.

2. Who (Target Audience): Who Exactly Am I Trying to Reach?

Understanding your strategic audience goes beyond basic demographics. Fully defined buyer personas are crafted based on a deep understanding of your viewers, incorporating industry best practices. Employ a mix of qualitative and quantitative research to gather demographic information such as age, gender, location, and income. However, the essence of best practices lies in delving into psychographics—attitudes, values, interests, and lifestyles. Utilize surveys, interviews, and social media analysis to gather this data effectively.

Creating impactful B2C buyer personas involves crafting detailed narratives for each persona, incorporating their challenges, aspirations, and pain points. This process humanizes your audience, allowing you to connect with them on a deeper level. For a streaming strategy, align your campaign messaging with the interests and preferences of your buyer personas.

These buyer personas should also guide your campaign targeting strategy, identifying the platforms, genres, and specific content that resonate with your audience. This not only maximizes the impact of your streaming efforts but also influences how you measure your reach metrics. An integration of buyer personas, targeting strategy, and industry best practices ensures a cohesive approach, enhancing the precision and impact of your streaming campaigns.

3. What (Message in Creative Strategy): What Value Does My Message Deliver?

The heart of your streaming campaign lies in your creative strategy's message. It's not just about what you say; it's about the value you deliver to your audience. Center your message around addressing the jobs-to-be-done for your viewers—the fundamental problems or tasks they're seeking solutions for. This business-oriented concept ensures that your creative strategy speaks directly to their needs, positioning your brand as the answer they've been looking for.

Craft a compelling message by understanding the brand attributes most appealing to your audience. Identify what makes your product or service unique and desirable, differentiating you from the competition. Your streaming campaign should be more than information; it should tell a story that resonates with your audience's values and aspirations.

Promotions play a crucial role in delivering value. Go beyond standard advertising and create promotions that resonate personally with your audience. Utilize limited-time offers, exclusive deals, or tailored promotions that align with your audience's preferences. These promotions become an integral part of the value your message delivers, creating urgency and excitement. Ensure your core message is memorable, succinct, and aligned with your brand identity, leaving a lasting impression that associates key values with your brand.

4. When (Timing, How Long, How Often): When Should My Campaign Run, and How Frequently?

Timing is a critical element to define in your streaming strategy. Consider your product's nature and determine the most opportune moments to showcase it. Some products benefit from a continuous, always-on campaign, providing a steady presence in consumers' minds. Others find success with seasonal bursts, strategically aligning with periods of heightened interest.

The temporal considerations extend to the duration of your campaign. Decide how long it should run for optimal results—whether a continuous, ever-present approach or a seasonal, intermittent schedule aligns with your goals. Additionally, carefully choose the frequency of your campaign to strike the right balance, ensuring your message remains impactful without overwhelming your audience. The 'when' factor involves a practical balancing act between timing, campaign duration, and frequency goals, ultimately shaping an effective streaming strategy.

5. Where (Media Buying Avenues): Where Can I Find My Strategic Audience on TV?

Determining where your strategic audience can be found in the vast landscape of Connected TV (CTV) is a pivotal aspect of your streaming strategy. Simulmedia, as a trusted partner, can assist in pinpointing the ideal places to connect with your audience on TV. The CTV supply chain is dynamic, so it's essential to comprehend the diverse avenues available for media buying.

Understanding the distinction between publishers and sellers is crucial to navigating the CTV ecosystem well. Publishers create and produce content but also sell ad inventory, while sellers distribute the content through their apps and sell some percentage of the ad inventory within that content (depending on their licensing agreement with the content producer). Marketers must decide whether to engage directly with content producers for a more tailored association or explore different distributors, including Ad-Supported Video on Demand (

) apps, Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (

However, navigating multiple points in the supply chain comes with its challenges. Marketers should be mindful of potential over-frequency issues that may arise when working with various sellers, as one seller may not have visibility into where another places your ads. Striking a balance between targeted association and avoiding over-frequencing becomes a crucial consideration in optimizing media buying strategies within the intricate CTV landscape.

6. How (Campaign Strategy): How Can I Optimize Campaign Strategy Across the Funnel?

A successful CTV campaign strategy requires a nuanced understanding of your target audience and product. Upper-funnel campaigns serve as the launchpad, strategically casting a broad net for brand awareness. Addressing key questions about your audience and product lays the foundation for impactful campaigns. This approach involves considering geographic priorities, leveraging 

 for precision, and recognizing the intricate landscape of demographic targeting.

In the realm of demographics, a tailored strategy is essential. While a broad approach may suit mass appeal, certain products benefit from a more nuanced demographic targeting approach. Understanding the multifaceted nature of your audience's behavioral characteristics is also crucial. This insight allows for finely-tuned outreach strategies that create a profound connection with diverse consumer segments.

 through content genres becomes vital. With the challenges posed by the demise of third-party cookies, genres act as effective proxies for audience profiles. Aligning your brand with specific content genres that resonate with your target audience ensures contextual relevance. Additionally, identifying viewer behavior and leveraging this insight for lookalike modeling can be a powerful strategy – and Simulmedia 

In essence, optimizing your campaign strategy involves answering crucial questions, tailoring your approach at each stage of the customer journey, and ensuring a cohesive and effective streaming strategy. From casting a broad net for brand awareness to delving into nuanced demographic and behavioral targeting, a comprehensive strategy is the key to streaming success.

7. How Much (Investment, Cost per Reach Targets): How Much Should I Invest, and What Are My Reach Targets?

Strategic investment planning for the streaming channel requires a comprehensive understanding not only in comparison to linear TV but also concerning other advertising channels. The high-impact nature of TV advertising, which often radiates a halo effect on other channels, emphasizes the need for a thoughtful allocation of resources.

In this context, utilizing planning tools and media mix models becomes instrumental in determining the optimal budget for each channel, including the Connected TV (CTV) channel. Simulmedia, serving as a strategic partner, 

 into the distribution of the audience between linear TV and ad-supported CTV. This collaborative effort ensures that the investment is tailored to the audience's media consumption patterns, maximizing the impact of the streaming strategy across diverse channels.

To further refine this strategic investment, it's imperative to formulate clear 

 goals. Understanding the desired reach and impact of your CTV campaign allows for precise calculations that guide the allocation of resources. By establishing these goals, marketers can measure the effectiveness of their streaming strategy and fine-tune their approach for optimal outcomes.

8. Against What (Competitor Analysis): What Are My Competitors Doing, and How Can I Disrupt?

A thorough analysis of competitors' CTV efforts is imperative to formulate a disruptive and impactful CTV strategy. Understanding the reach and success of competitors in the CTV landscape sets the stage for strategic maneuvers that can elevate your brand's share of voice and market presence.

Gauging a competitor's advertising reach within the shared target audience may present challenges, but 

 unlocks valuable insights. With a clearer picture of competitors' strategies, the next step involves the implementation of conquesting campaigns. This strategic approach entails targeting the same audience reached by competitors, not only disrupting their established share of voice but also amplifying your visibility among potential customers. The choice between a red ocean strategy, amplifying spend in DMAs where competitors dominate, and a blue ocean strategy, focusing on less-contested territories, provides a tactical framework to strategically position your brand and outmaneuver competitors in the competitive CTV landscape.

Conclusion: Navigating the Streaming Waters with Precision

The streaming world continues to evolve at a hectic pace, and so precision and strategy are the keys to success. Crafting a streaming strategy that aligns with goals, resonates with your audience, and outmaneuvers competitors ensures your brand stays ahead. As you embark on your streaming journey, let these questions provide direction to thinking about your streaming strategy and propel your brand to new heights of visibility and engagement.

Ready to elevate your streaming strategy with hard-to-get viewership and competitive data? 

A well-defined strategy not only propels your brand into the spotlight but also ensures that every investment, message, and campaign aligns seamlessly with overarching goals. It helps you focus on what’s important. In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the core components of building a streaming strategy that not only captures attention but drives meaningful results. From defining goals to outmaneuvering competitors, we'll unravel the secrets to a robust streaming strategy.


Building a Solid Streaming Strategy: A Quick Guide

For advertisers who work in Connected TV (CTV), crafting a successful campaign involves understanding the nuances of the customer journey and tailoring a 

 accordingly. Let's embark on a journey through the layers of CTV campaigns, exploring how marketers strategically navigate the upper and lower funnels to achieve optimal results.

Casting a Broad Net: Strategies for Upper-Funnel Campaigns

Upper-funnel campaigns act as the dynamic launch pad for building brand awareness and engagement. Here, marketers strategically cast a broad net to captivate attention and forge an extensive audience base. An effective approach to crafting upper-funnel campaign strategies involves thoughtful consideration of the target audience and the promoted product or service. By answering key questions about these elements, you lay the foundation for a well-rounded and impactful campaign.

As you navigate these questions and their respective answers, consider their amalgamation. This process might yield diverse strategies for multiple upper-funnel campaigns, each tailored to resonate with specific aspects of your audience and product or service.

What are the geographic priorities and constraints of the campaign?

Determining your campaign's geographic priorities and constraints is a pivotal step, whether you're making a grand entrance with a brick-and-mortar store in the Chicago metropolitan area or strategically concentrating advertising efforts in Northeastern major metropolitan areas where your restaurants flourish.

Geographic targeting, often called geotargeting, ensures your message resonates within specific markets or city centers. This approach is particularly beneficial for brands with a regional focus, allowing them to concentrate their efforts where it matters most. For CTV advertisers, understanding 

 and how it can elevate your campaigns becomes pivotal to crafting targeted and impactful strategies.

With geotargeting, precision is the key. Different geotargeting strategies allow marketers to fine-tune their approach based on specific geographical parameters. Marketers can narrow their audience down to designated market areas (DMAs), cities, regions, zip codes, and more. This granular level of targeting becomes crucial when a product or service is only available in specific parts of the country. Geotargeting, in essence, ensures that advertising efforts are not squandered in areas where the product or service cannot be serviced effectively.

Example: Consider a local restaurant chain utilizing geographic targeting to reach potential customers within a 10-mile radius. By promoting daily specials and exclusive offers, the restaurant maximizes the impact of its CTV advertising, resonating specifically with the local audience.

How would you demographically describe your target audience(s)?

In defining your target audience demographically, moving beyond conventional boundaries is crucial. While age and gender are common considerations, the spectrum of demographic data is vast, encompassing marital status, household size, ethnicity, income level, education, professions, and more. Many products, in fact, cater to multiple target audiences, each with unique demographic characteristics and distinct values tied to your product. The level of specificity or broadness in your approach hinges on the nature of your product and the nuances of each audience segment.

For some products, a broader approach may prove advantageous, especially when aiming for mass appeal. Targeting broad demographic groups, like adults 18+ or parents with kids, becomes a strategic move to maximize reach and establish a foundation for widespread brand recognition. Conversely, when a product is designed to resonate with distinct and diverse consumer groups, fine-tuning your demographic targeting becomes paramount.

Example: Imagine a skincare brand with a product line tailored for both young adults battling acne and mature individuals combating signs of aging. In this scenario, a nuanced demographic targeting strategy involves tailoring ads to reach both age groups distinctly. By doing so, the brand speaks directly to the unique concerns of each demographic, fostering a deeper connection and resonating more effectively with its diverse consumer base.

What behavioral characteristics does your target audience(s) exhibit?

When delving into your target audience, it's essential to transcend conventional demographic constraints. Your customers are intricate beings, reflecting a kaleidoscope of behavioral characteristics—personal intricacies like affinities, hobbies, and interests; behavioral nuances encompassing lifestyle, habits, and propensities; diverse consumption habits like ownership, purchase behavior, and brand preferences; and even experiential stages that encompass past behavior, life moments, and micro-events. Let's encapsulate this rich mosaic of human subtleties under the term "behavioral characteristics."

Deciphering and harnessing these diverse behavioral characteristics unlocks the potential for finely-tuned outreach strategies, forging a profound connection with your audience. It's not merely about demographic labels; it's about unveiling the triggers that spark their consideration of your product.

Example: A travel agency collaborates with a third-party audience provider. By tapping into the provider's insights, the agency targets individuals immersed in extensive research about various European destinations. This strategic alignment with behavioral characteristics ensures that the CTV campaign resonates with aspiring European vacationers, effortlessly promoting the agency's enticing and affordable packaged trips to diverse European destinations.

What types of content genres make sense with your product or service?

With the demise of third-party cookies, achieving accurate behavioral targeting is becoming increasingly challenging. Fortunately, genres can serve as effective proxies for audience profiles, offering a workaround in this evolving landscape. For instance, individuals passionate about home decor might find themselves engrossed in home makeover shows, while those eyeing new kitchen aids might gravitate toward cooking shows.

 becomes a beacon for marketers seeking precision. Aligning your brand with specific content genres that resonate with your target audience provides a contextual relevance that transcends traditional cookie-based approaches. This strategic immersion places your brand seamlessly within the consumer's chosen narrative.

Example: Consider a fitness brand utilizing CTV contextual buys by sponsoring health and wellness content. They can do so by working within publishers’ genre-specific private marketplaces. By intertwining its message with content that already captivates viewers focused on well-being, the brand not only ensures contextual relevance but also establishes a genuine connection within a shared narrative. This strategic alignment enhances the impact of the brand's message, fostering a deeper resonance with the audience.

What viewing behavior do your best customers exhibit, and can we find more like them?

Answering this question may seem daunting, but fear not—collaborating with a trusted partner like Simulmedia can illuminate the way. Just 

Take a moment to ponder your digital footprint, from your main website to microsites and apps. At a fundamental level, placing a pixel on your site or leveraging your Mobile Measurement Partner to profile app users opens a window into the TV consumption habits of your audience.

For more precision, especially if your site boasts significant traffic, we can delve deeper. Imagine understanding the TV viewership behavior of individuals who have added items to their shopping cart—a level of specificity that transforms targeting strategies. Additionally, your CRM holds a treasure trove of data, allowing us to profile the TV viewership behavior of customers in your database.

Once armed with the profile of an anonymized pool of your visitors or customers, we can employ the power of lookalike modeling. This strategic approach involves identifying new prospects exhibiting similar behavioral patterns, effectively expanding your reach with precision.

Example: Picture an online fashion retailer utilizing CTV lookalike modeling. By targeting audiences mirroring the TV consumption patterns of their most loyal customers, this retailer not only expands its customer base but does so with surgical precision, ensuring the outreach aligns seamlessly with the preferences of their existing audience.

Are There External Factors, Such as Seasonality or Weather, That Make Your Product More Appealing?

Understanding the impact of external factors like seasonality and weather is crucial for an effective CTV advertising strategy. Seasonal and weather targeting provides a powerful way to stay relevant by aligning your CTV campaign with consumer needs influenced by seasons or weather conditions. It enhances personalization and focuses your CTV advertising efforts by allowing you to tailor your CTV buys based on the regions or times where your product is most relevant. Additionally, it enables adaptability by allowing you to respond to changing consumer behavior in real time.

Example: A travel agency might use CTV advertising to promote sunny destinations during especially cold days during the winter months, or a streaming service could highlight cozy content on rainy days. By leveraging external factors in CTV advertising, marketers can tailor campaigns with precision, ensuring maximum impact and relevance.

Who Are Your Competitors Currently Reaching with Their Advertising, and Does It Make Sense to Target Them as Well to Increase Your Share-of-Voice?

Understanding your competitors' reach in advertising is crucial for devising a strategic campaign that enhances your share of voice. While it might be challenging to gauge a competitor's reach in their shared target audience, 

Once you have your hands on these insights, conquesting campaigns come into play. By strategically targeting the audience your competitors are reaching, you not only disrupt their share of voice but also increase your own visibility among potential customers. You can tailor your approach based on market conditions — a red ocean strategy involves dialing up spend in specific DMAs where competitors dominate the share-of-voice, intensifying the competition. On the other hand, a blue ocean strategy focuses on DMAs where both you and your competitors have a low share of voice, presenting an opportunity to capture market share in less contested territories.

Example: Consider a scenario where a new streaming service aims to challenge an established competitor. By employing a conquesting campaign, the newcomer strategically increases its CTV advertising spend in DMAs where the competitor holds sway. This red ocean approach not only disrupts the competitor's dominance but also elevates the newcomer's share of voice, making waves in the competitive landscape.

Creative and Media Strategies: Crafting the Message

Diversifying creatives for different audience segments, paired with optimizing media plans, enhances the effectiveness of upper-funnel campaigns, by ensuring a dynamic and resonant message that captivates diverse viewer preferences.

Example: A car manufacturer tailors its creatives differently for families, adventure seekers, and tech enthusiasts, optimizing media placement for maximum impact.

Metrics in this phase focus on reach and frequency, aiming to keep the brand top-of-mind and capture early interest in the sales funnel. They often can extend to mid-funnel metrics, such as site visitation or app installs.

Precision Targeting: Strategies for Lower-Funnel Success

In the lower funnel, where the goal is to transition prospects into valued customers, precision targeting takes center stage. This phase hinges on refined strategies, directing efforts towards high-intent audiences and actions that propel conversions. A powerful tool in this arsenal is CTV retargeting, a strategic approach that capitalizes on the familiarity already established with potential customers.

 operates on the principle that targeting those who have visited your site or app yet haven't completed a purchase and those who have encountered your CTV ad but haven't taken action yet can significantly amplify conversion efforts. The effectiveness of retargeting lies in capturing the attention of individuals who have already shown interest, ensuring your brand remains top-of-mind during their decision-making process.

Example: Consider an e-commerce platform leveraging CTV retargeting. For those who visited their site without making a purchase, a strategic retargeting campaign nudges them towards making a transaction, gently reminding them of the brand and encouraging them to return. Simultaneously, for those who have seen their CTV ad but have yet to take action, a well-timed retargeting effort keeps the brand in their consideration set. It's a delicate balance, avoiding over-frequency while strategically using retargeting to remain present in the consumer's mind at the critical moment of purchase intent.

Metrics in this phase focus on lower-funnel metrics such as successful purchases and transactions or leads generated from form fills.

The Harmonious Symphony: Crafting a Holistic CTV Strategy

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.

In conclusion, CTV campaigns are a multifaceted landscape, offering marketers a spectrum of strategies to capture and engage audiences across different stages of the customer journey. By tailoring campaigns to each phase, marketers can unlock the full potential of CTV advertising, creating a seamless and effective brand narrative.

For advertisers who work in Connected TV (CTV), crafting a successful campaign involves understanding the nuances of the customer journey and tailoring a CTV strategy accordingly. Let's embark on a journey through the layers of CTV campaigns, exploring how marketers strategically navigate the upper and lower funnels to achieve optimal results.

Unveiling the Spectrum: Navigating Through Different Types of CTV Campaigns

 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.

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.

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