Alex Perrin, GM of trading strategy at The Trade Desk, shares his CTV tips for remaining agile during the end-of-year crunch.
The move toward Connected TV (CTV) can present tremendous opportunities for marketers. The abundance of data, coupled with premium inventory, can put you in a position to make better investment decisions both before and during your campaigns. While this is a major opportunity, many marketers are just beginning to take notice and therefore may be missing out on chances to get the most out of their Connected TV campaigns this Q4.
You have a few different options for purchasing ads on CTV:
While most budgets are already committed by the time Q4 rolls around, last-minute changes and incremental opportunities make it important for traders to remain agile. We spoke to our GM of trading strategy, Alex Perrin, to get some strategies aimed at helping you get the most out of your CTV campaigns in Q4.
Be ready to adapt
Supply-and-demand economics are often the most drastic in Q4. Due to year-end sales, holidays, and extensive retail advertising, there might be times when a publisher can’t fulfill their PG commitment.
In cases where your PG deals are not scaling, be ready with a backup plan! Consider leveraging private marketplace (PMP) deals or any open-market inventory that can provide additional scale.
Be prepared to justify your value
Keep in mind that when demand is high and supply is low, costs per mille (CPMs) are likely to rise. Consider leveraging insights into performance and taking advantage of the flexibility that PMPs and the open market offer. By making value-based decisions and setting bids based on expected contribution to performance, you can help show that your team is investing deliberately.
Leverage frequency controls
We’ve all had the experience of being oversaturated with ads. This can annoy consumers and waste your budget. When buying Connected TV on The Trade Desk through PMPs and the open market, you can control for frequency down to the minute. While you may not be able to control frequency on PG, you can count your PG impressions toward shared frequency settings across other channels and markets to avoid oversaturation. Consider looking at your reach and frequency reporting to work toward an effective frequency. If you find that you’re hitting the same households too often, you can reallocate that budget to expand your reach.
In addition, frequency controls can allow you to reallocate potentially wasted ad spend into new inventory sources. This can increase your reach and further help you find value in challenging environments. While CPMs may rise, this incremental reach can help decrease your cost per unique household.
Consider innovating with new channels
In many cases, you can access the same premium publishing partners you tap in to on CTV on other channels, like desktop and mobile. Consider cloning your CTV ad groups and adjusting your channel mix. This can allow you to expand your reach while lowering CPMs, all while maintaining the same audience and inventory targeting your brand is comfortable with. If you’re looking to keep video completion rates (VCRs) high, consider using Quality Alliance VCR to lock in the most-engaging content.
We have an abundance of data to help you make informed decisions on CTV. To learn more or get started, contact your account manager at The Trade Desk.