Drive Brand Growth With Results-Driven CTV Advertising

While connected TV (CTV) refers to the smart TVs used to stream content, over the top (OTT) refers to the way that content is delivered over the internet. These terms are often used interchangeably, but the main distinction comes down to how this content is consumed. With CTV advertising, marketers gain access to premium ad spaces on the big-screen TV. OTT, on the other hand, refers to all multimedia content streamed to every device — including TikTok videos viewed on smartphones, YouTube clips on laptops, and more.

A CTV device is any internet-connected television device that enables streaming, including smart TVs, gaming consoles like Xbox, and set-top boxes like Roku.

Cord cutters are TV viewers who cut ties with expensive cable and satellite services in favor of flexible streaming apps like Netflix, YouTube TV, and Tubi. This term will soon describe the majority of households, with less than 50% of US homes expected to pay for traditional TV in 2025.

CTV advertising relies on an automated system that optimizes ad prices and placements. Also called programmatic targeting, this allows marketers to pinpoint their ideal buyers rather than taking the spray-and-pray approach of traditional TV advertising. What’s more, because these ads are served in data-rich digital environments, marketers can then measure the outcomes of each ad and retarget the same viewers across supplementary channels. Because CTV ads are purchased on a per-viewer basis, marketers only pay for actual views using cost per mile (CPM) rates.

Measuring the performance of such complex campaigns requires advanced marketing attribution and reporting capabilities. While metrics about things like video completion rate (VCR) are widespread in the CTV advertising world, marketers need to dig deeper to tie ad impressions to revenue. The right attribution points to track will depend on your campaign goals, which is why it’s a good idea to work with a CTV ad partner like Strategus that offers a full suite of customizable attribution solutions. From there, agencies and brands should also track conversion rates, click-through rates, return on ad spend (ROAS), geoperformance, and more — ideally through a 24/7 reporting dashboard so that campaigns can be optimized based on real-time data. 

Learn more in our Guide to CTV Measurement and Attribution.

In order to go beyond just a brand play and drive conversions with your CTV campaigns, using a clear call-to-action is essential. This could be encouraging viewers to stop by a local store, visit your website, or scan a QR code that’s embedded into the commercial. Additionally, you'll want to align with technical specs for the length (15 or 30 seconds), file format (MP4), and resolution (1080 p). See our Guide to CTV Best Practices and download our Ad Specs Companion to learn more.

The CTV ecosystems is complex, spanning countless tech providers, content publishers, and aggregators. To ensure that your ad reaches target viewers, you either need in-house expertise and resources or a managed service partner like Strategus. Reporting dashboards also help ensure ad viewability by quantifying metrics like ad impressions and video completion rate (VCR).

Unlike OTT ads on YouTube, CTV ads can not be skipped, which is why video completion rates (VRC) are more of a vanity metric that should always be high. This is also what makes CTV advertising so effective — non-skippable video ads play to viewers invested in the content, making the message stand out and stay top-of-mind

Ad-supported streaming is the future of TV. For this reason, all agencies and brands should be thinking about CTV advertising. It’s also a more affordable channel than traditional TV advertising, bringing small local businesses into the fold. We expect AI to further automate programmatic ad buying in the future — which will result in hyper-personalization, ultra-dynamic creative, and real-time testing at scale. Check out our guide on The Future of TV to learn more.

Taking full advantage of the vast CTV ecosystem requires operating from a tech- and data-agnostic standpoint. Rather than relying on a single programmatic platform, it’s a good idea to find a managed service partner like Strategus that can help take the complexity out of CTV advertising while connecting you with multiple different tech and data providers. To learn more about choosing a CTV services provider, check out our guide, 15 Questions to Ask Your CTV Ad Partner.