The pledge stems from the fact that consumers and marketers have more choice than ever before. First and foremost, consumers want great programming. Once they’ve identified the entertainment service with the programs they want to watch, they weigh the value exchange between cost (e.g. free or paying a subscription fee) and experience (e.g. ad supported or ad-free, amount of ads, etc.) and make a choice based on what best fits their needs.

From a marketing perspective, they want their ads to break through to the right audience, at the right time with the goal of driving their business outcomes. Conventional wisdom holds that brands should benefit from a less cluttered ad environment, as their messages have more of a chance of resonating.

However, historically, CTV as an advertising channel has suffered from poorly constructed ad breaks, ad repetition and frequency-capping issues. So, even with fewer ad impressions being delivered overall, the user experience in streaming can be inconsistent, or even irritating — threatening to place the medium’s viability as a premium ad vehicle in question.

Delivering less, but more intentional, ads

Fortunately, as CTV has evolved it has granted marketers tools to measure the effectiveness of ad spend with more sophistication. With the ability to more accurately target, deliver and measure ads, one of the most significant learnings has been that less is more.

CTV has helped marketers understand that premium experiences that do include advertising can deliver benefits to both consumers and advertisers. And, given consumers’ high expectations about the content they watch on their screens, it’s not enough to simply run fewer ads. The ads that are run should be intentional and additive.

A restrained, nuanced approach doesn’t automatically mean that brands must compromise in how they connect with viewers. When executed well — ideally by blending strong creative messaging, optimal frequency and recency, and smart data-driven decisioning — streaming ads can deliver a greater impact in a shorter time.

Last year, WarnerMedia conducted proprietary research to help quantify some of these principles. The research focused primarily on the brand exclusive content takeover.

The results were validating, as consumers clearly recognized the special treatment a lower ad load afforded them. Seventy-four percent of those surveyed said they appreciated that brands made their ad experience shorter.

Overall, the advertisers’ takeover treatment yielded a sizable payoff. For example, compared to traditional ad placements, advertisers enjoyed a whopping 37% jump in unaided recall and a 21% spike in brand recognition.

Captivating consumers through thoughtful ad execution leads to genuine engagement

By delivering a more curated, thoughtful ad execution, advertisers stand out …read more

Source:: Digiday