The CTV/OTT advertising industry: What lies ahead in 2022

The increasing amount of money being spent on Connected TV advertising is attracting new players to the market. We will look at how this will affect the content, services, and technology offered on CTV platforms.

In 2021, more money was spent on advertising than ever before. This is expected to continue in 2022 as the global ad market reaches over $700 billion. People are spending more time watching videos, so it's no surprise that a lot of advertising money has gone towards video ads. This trend is only going to continue in the years to come.

Brands and advertisers need to stay ahead of the game by continuing to leverage this growth. They should do this by figuring out what consumer preferences are and adapting their strategies accordingly.

Emerging channels and the growth of CTV

Since the start of the pandemic, the world has been experiencing a massive change in how content is consumed. Connected TV (CTV) has become one of the most popular platforms. This is because CTV is the largest screen in people's homes and it provides a lot of advertising space. Advertisers can use different methods to reach people, such as premium quality ads, unskippable content, and creative formats.

TV advertising is becoming more popular. The companies that make TV shows are making a lot of money from advertising. This is because people are watching TV on devices that don't have cookies. Cookies are used to track what people do on the internet, but people can't be tracked on TVs.

This high demand for CTV on both the advertiser and audience fronts will see adtech partners improve measurement, data, and delivery of supply. Besides expanding services through innovation and end-to-end solutioning, the industry will also witness more partnerships and acquisitions as companies join forces and leverage each other's unique capabilities.

84% of buyers who are spending more on CTV say that privacy is the reason. The trend of people spending more on CTV is going to continue in 2022. This is because of all the new players in the CTV industry. This will force the industry to look again at how identifiers work and how buying across different systems and/or walled gardens can be made easier.

Contextual targeting and the cookies future

There has been a focus on targeting solutions that don't use third party cookies or personally identifiable data. This is because of increased privacy regulation and needs.

As contextual targeting tools become more sophisticated, marketers can better connect with audiences, even within CTV and video environments, via more relevant advertising. This is done by mirroring contextual targeting on linear TV and programmatic display. In addition, standardisation and new technologies that tap into publisher-direct data will see CTV and video inventory packaged into bundles, based on content-level attributes such as genre and rating, that will enable programmatic scalable buying opportunities.

This will improve the contextual experience for CTV, and video and ads will be better aligned with what audiences are already watching. For example, if a viewer is highly interested in cooking programmes, serving an ad for kitchenware or products right after would definitely increase advertising effectiveness.

Another way that data is being used to target audiences more accurately in a GDPR-compliant manner is through the use of Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) data. ACR data identifies the content and ads being watched on a CTV, which can help marketers better understand consumers’ viewing habits.

One of the key benefits of collecting and analyzing ACR data is consumer privacy. This is because ACR data is collected without using cookies. Another benefit of ACR data is that it can provide valuable information about people's TV-viewing habits.

The creative comeback

Creative has always been a key element in advertising success. In fact, a Nielsen study found that creative is responsible for a whopping 47% in advertising sales uptick. However, as consumers become increasingly digital-confident, their habits will challenge standard video practices, especially with emerging channels such as CTV and its unique properties.

Creativity is a key element in advertising that still works well. In fact, it is responsible for 47% of the increase in advertising sales. As consumers become more confident with digital media, they will challenge standard video practices. This will be especially true with new channels such as CTV that have unique features.

In order to stay ahead of the curve, it will be increasingly important for brands to use data-driven creativity in order to connect with audiences on a deeper and more meaningful level. In order to truly stand out, brands need to start leveraging content-testing tools in their marketing mix. By doing so, they can better measure consumer responses to video campaigns and make the necessary optimizations to maximize the impact of their content across multiple screens.

Metrics, such as emotional engagement, purchase intent and brand favourability, can help us understand changing consumer trends across different demographics and cultures.

Make buying more interesting and easier

Since the pandemic, 70 million more people have started shopping online in Southeast Asia. Consumers in this region, even the older generation, are becoming more familiar with the digital world. This has led to viewers being drawn to ads that are easy to watch and helpful. A lot of brands are already seeing people buy things after clicking on shoppable ads. So how can we make it easier for people to buy things?

People are using QR codes more often to buy things. For TVs, this is good because people are already using their phones while watching TV. So if they see a QR code for a product, they can just scan it and buy it right away. This makes buying things easier.

As new technologies emerge and people get used to them, personalisation will become more popular in video-led environments. People will be able to choose the colors and designs of products, and play around with different combinations as they interact with brands. This will give them a large-scale digital retail experience through their TV.

Next-generation video technology, like virtual and augmented reality, can create immersive experiences that transport people into a brand's environment. They can experience all of their senses in this new world, which can create a much more powerful connection to the brand. For example, imagine 360-degree videos with 8D audio that make you feel like you're right in the middle of the action. Or a virtual world where you can interact with branded environments and other people through your personal avatar, making it harder to tell what's real and what's not.

Nowadays, people are watching videos on all types of screens, including their mobile phones, tablets and TVs. Brands need to be where consumers are, and that includes within the growing CTV space – a standout within the already flourishing video market. Advances in technology will continue to allow marketers more opportunities to engage their audiences with video. This is due to its ability to tell breathtaking stories and keep people engaged. Additionally, technology is changing so quickly that it allows marketers to meet the ever-changing demands of consumers.

In order to be successful in the year ahead, advertisers and publishers need to use the latest technologies and growing formats to get consumer attention. They also need to use data-driven insights and metrics, which are now available, in order to make the buying experience easy and more interesting.

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