Survey Reveals Three Quarters of Marketers Say CTV Will Be Critical to Reaching Audiences in the Future

Cadent, TV[R]EV, and Brand Innovators conducted a survey of marketers finding CTV is more important than ever to brand decision-makers, with 60% expecting their CTV budget to increase year-over-year.

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Cadent

Mar 10, 2021, 08:05 ET

NEW YORK, March 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cadent, the advanced TV platform company, today released, "TV's New Wave: Marketers Take on the Shift to OTT, CTV, & Addressable," a study from Brand Innovators and TV[R]EV exploring marketer sentiment around emerging television mediums. The research shows that CTV, addressable, and advanced advertising are poised to play a major role in the next wave of growth in the TV advertising ecosystem, with 72% of respondents saying in two to five years, CTV and other data-driven TV methods of advertising will be critical in reaching brand audiences. Sixty-six percent of respondents said an audience-first TV buying approach will be table stakes in two to five years.

As consumers rapidly shift their viewing from linear TV to streaming and increase their overall time with screens, marketers and agencies understand the need to make connected TV (CTV) and other advanced advertising techniques a greater part of their overall marketing strategies, if they haven't already. Fifty-nine percent of marketers surveyed currently run CTV ads, with the top three reasons being wide audience reach, sophisticated targeting capabilities and "lighter ad loads keep audiences engaged."

Other highlights included:

Sixty-two percent of respondents said they consider television, both traditional linear TV and CTV, to be a more premium advertising environment than web videos offering mid-roll or pre-roll advertising. Two key reasons these respondents saw CTV as superior to digital video were brand safety, saying "digital video could wind up on many sites that are not brand safe or next to content that is not brand safe," and fraud, adding that "CTV has less ad fraud than online video."
There's confusion around terminology. Four out of ten respondents said OTT meant "ad-supported or subscription TV services delivered via an internet connection to any device"—through a TV, laptop, or mobile device. Fourteen percent said OTT referred to "any type or length of video programming," and 5 percent said it meant "live and/or on-demand video content from cable companies delivered via an internet connection." Thirty-five percent answered "all of the above," and 5 percent said they weren't sure what the term meant.
Cost was viewed as the key limitation to CTV advertising, with 32 percent of respondents flagging it as too expensive. Other challenges included too hard to buy at scale (27 percent) and too hard to measure (28 percent). Surprisingly, 32 percent of respondents said they were "unsure" as to what the key disadvantages of CTV advertising were.

This report is based on the results of a comprehensive survey undertaken by Brand Innovators and TV[R]EV that was sent out to over 15,000 leading brand marketers between June and August 2020.

"As viewer behavior rapidly shifts, advertisers are tasked with understanding the full benefits of CTV, OTT and addressable TV and introducing them into their media plans," said Paul Alfieri, CMO, Cadent. "Technology partners have a responsibility to provide more clarity around these mediums so advertisers can take full advantage of them and reach audiences wherever they're viewing today."

For the full report, visit http://cdnt.tv/CTVwave.

About Cadent

Cadent powers the evolution of TV brand advertising. Cadent provides marketers, agencies, operators, and media owners with data-driven solutions for buying and selling TV advertising. By connecting brands with national TV audiences across cable, broadcast and OTT, Cadent's technology improves efficiencies and boosts the results of linear, addressable, and cross-screen campaigns.Website - cadent.tv For more information, visit www.cadent.tv or follow @CadentTV.

SOURCE Cadent