How is Connected TV helping advertisers and marketers to capture their audience better?

In the ever-evolving landscape of media consumption, Connected TV (CTV) has emerged as a transformative force, particularly significant for advertisers and marketers. With the rise of smart devices and increased internet access, consumers are embracing streaming platforms, offering advertisers a targeted and measurable way to connect with their audience. This shift from traditional TV to CTV provides a personalized advertising avenue, fostering a direct connection between brands and consumers. 

The Panel discussion at IAMAI’s 19th Marketing Conclave on “TV joins on the digital bandwagon with Connected TV” provided insight into the significance of CTV from an advertising and marketing perspective. 

Panelists: 

Ranjana Mangla - Sr. Vice President and Head of Ad Revenue, Sony Liv

Yatnesh Pandey - VP - Marketing, Greenply

Gaurav Kanwal - Chief Revenue Officer, Zee5

Vikram Vijay Chande - General Manager & Sales Lead India, Samsung Ads 

Moderator : Rajiv Rajagopal - National Head, GroupM

Growth of Connected TV

Experts project a steady growth of Connected TV in the coming years. Urban India has already adapted to the channel, now brands are aiming at the rural audiences. 

Ranjana Mangla of Sony Liv believes that Connected TV will grow with as much speed in rural areas as it is growing in urban areas. She said, “The primary reason for that is that CTV eases the viewing experience for the audience. They can watch the content they want, whenever they want. Good confusion is going to continue. The audience is adopting and we [network] have to be agile and study the data that is coming in.”

Yatnesh Pandey of Greenply said, “As marketers, our focus is from the consumer side of things and not from the perspective of the media or platforms used.”

Devising ads for growing audiences

Yatnesh Pandey believes that though the complexity for marketers has increased with the increase in the number of channels and the onset of the digital space, it has its advantages as well. 

He said, “Earlier, with the traditional media, the marketer would place ads based on the context of the publication. Now, with the evolving digital space, you can identify behaviours, actions, and interests while profiling the audience. From where to place an ad to whom we are placing the ad for, it has become advantageous to marketers.” 

Vikram Vijay Chande of Samsung said that the company is trying to create a unified experience for the consumers. He added “The unification of different types of content on a single platform has enabled marketers to better understand the consumers and target them better.”

Innovation influencing user experience

Innovations such as voice search, AI, and others have largely emerged in the app ecosystem. Talking about the impact of these emerging trends on the user experience, experts drew analogies and gave further explanations. 

Chande drew an analogy between the mobile ecosystem and the TV ecosystem and explained, “Before 2007, the use of apps on phones wasn’t as prevalent. It was only after Apple came up with its App Store that things took a different turn. People started micro-searching content on apps. The same thing will repeat with TV. [TV] is going to be the unifier of all the app experiences which will be unique to TV.”

Gaurav Kanwal added, “The creation of the optimal user experience is critical right now. Networks will have to focus on compiling user data from different devices to provide brands with the appropriate profile of the target audience.”

Kanwal also explained that advertisers can rely on networks for storytelling. For that they need to capture audiences which might not be as economical or successful on traditional TV. 

He said, “With as much audience on social media as there is on platforms, advertisers can combine the power of both for effective storytelling.” 

The digital space

Experts believe that not all advertisers have a strategic ecosystem for using user data. They also suggested the A&M community use OTT to create solid brand awareness. 

Ranjana Mangla said, “The challenge with digital advertising is that you lose compelling storytelling.” She says that besides its challenges CTV has helped define the audience better. 

She elaborates that CTV provides all the options from a 20-second ad to one one-minute ad with options of it being skippable and non-skippable. Thus, the digital space provides more options than its traditional counterpart. 

Vikram Vijay Chande concluded by saying that he believes ACR is going to become a very big-scale measurement phenomenon in the future. However, he emphasized the need for more unified viewership insights for advertisers. 

This panel discussion on "TV joins on the digital bandwagon with Connected TV" was moderated by Rajiv Rajagopal - National Head, GroupM at IAMAI’s 19th Marketing Conclave.