In the dynamic realm of CTV, many advertisers are limiting brand exposure to so-called premium inventory from Netflix, Hulu or Max. But they’re missing out on the huge opportunities provided by smaller, long-tail CTV players.
Advertisers will often give their tech vendors broad “block lists” of CTV channels where they don’t want ads to appear, or create overly restrictive “inclusion lists” of approved channels. Additionally, advertisers are increasingly doing direct publisher deals with the likes of Hulu, which, by default, block everything else.
This rigid approach of excluding the long tail of CTV is a hangover from a linear age when audiences tended to cluster around a small subset of wildly popular shows. The idea of “premium,” however, is subjective in a climate packed with vast amounts of content catering to diverse and passionate audiences.
The long tail of streaming is expanding quickly. Providers beyond the top six apps now capture 75% of new CTV hours. Smart advertisers should respond in kind, exploring the myriad of untapped content that lies beyond the frontline chorus.
In search of greater value
With heavyweights such as Disney+ and Netflix entering the race for CTV ad dollars last year, the market has been quick to swoop in on headline inventory. This has led to competition and high costs. (Netflix has been reported to have CPMs of over $40.) Meanwhile, smaller contenders further down the chain are sitting on unmonetized content.
Brands can execute a major advantage here by moving into space that is less crowded. In the expansive territory of long tail, there’s a big opportunity to connect with target audiences in meaningful ways, too.
Take Tubi, a platform that lacks the brand recognition of Prime or YouTube but is hugely popular among millennials and specific ethnic minority groups. It also has a light ad load of between four and six minutes of ads per hour.
Arguably, mid-to-long-tail inventory like this offers advertisers greater value for the money, as well as the ability to stand out in an underpopulated domain. It’s a route into spending ad dollars more efficiently while connecting with new, overlooked audience subsets.
More importantly, CTV long tail also offers advertisers the chance to align with niche content interests across multiple verticals. Combined with low ad loads, this creates unparalleled potential for in-the-moment engagement. Media company Tastemade, for example, is a mainstay for home chefs, creating powerful cut-through for kitchenware or dish detergent brands.
Play for attention
Increasingly, today’s ad market is focused on quality attention metrics, which chimes nicely with the less saturated content of long-tail CTV. A new wave of developments in AI explains why.
Thanks to the proliferation of tools such as natural language processing and computer vision, advertisers now have the ability to understand video content and brand suitability on a granular level (e.g., by surfacing a diapers ad for CTV during a mother-and-baby scene).
By measuring attention on CTV in real time, brands can take this capability one step further and optimize campaign performance based on the content categories that resonate most with viewers.
This approach often reveals curveballs, such as a pizza brand that performs well in health and fitness categories or a beauty product that drives high completion rates within fine art or finance content.
Broadening the focus to long-tail CTV means expanding the ability to meet consumers when they are giving their full attention. Advertisers have greater scope to experiment with the relationship between attention, performance and niche content segments. And with sharper alignment, there may also be an opening to drive lower-funnel, more shoppable tactics, like a scannable QR code for a gym membership ad that surfaces during a specific moment of a sports and fitness show.
A diverse field
The world of CTV is evolving fast, and there is evidence that advertisers are starting to reach beyond the best-known brand names. According to eMarketer, around $10 billion in ad spend now goes to “other” smaller CTV contenders, such as Asian-focused streamer Rakuten Viki.
To really flourish, however, brands must do away with blunt CTV block lists or inclusion lists and embrace the full diversity of a brave new CTV world, with the possibility of higher attention, engagement and value in untapped ad space – a world that also enables the contours of a more equitable, compelling CTV ecosystem, with room for all players involved.
“On TV & Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video.
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