Take a moment to compare and contrast the elements of a 1960s American living room (think Mad Men) to your own modern-day home. The layout looks largely the same: couch, rug, maybe some art, and – of course – a TV.

What’s changed dramatically is the digital technology, or software, powering the TV: from content delivery and ad-serving through to the dynamic relationship between viewers and their, rightfully named, “Smart TVs.” The advancement of Smart TV tech has put the consumer firmly in the driver seat of the viewing experience.

Gone are the days of strict appointment viewing. The empowered consumer has eagerly embraced this new world. With nearly 97% of audiences streaming, just 3% of consumers are only watching via linear, according to Samsung data. 

And despite this shift in consumer behavior, just 15% of TV dollars are being transacted digitally (ad-serving for CTV is all done through programmatic).

As consumers have shifted their viewing patterns the broadcasters have seen a new revenue stream.  For most consumers, the TV environment involves cable, streaming subscriptions, and AVOD channels.  Each entity creating multiple apps with increasingly limited data being shared.

Because of this, one of the biggest challenges for CTV stems from the fragmentation of applications and services, such as measuring reach and frequency across platforms/publishers, according to IAB. At the same time, the majority of ad buyers anticipate a merged linear TV/CTV marketplace in the coming years.

When in the Land of Fragmentation…

While consumers have embraced this digital revolution, the ad industry has been slower to move. Dollars are earmarked as CTV, but in practice, transacted as if they were digital display or linear TV buys.

If we continue to apply TV best practices to CTV environments, or retrofit a display playbook for CTV instead of rewriting the playbook, we’re missing out on the efficiency, precision and valuable data that programmatic CTV ad buying brings to the table.

CTV is not just another digital channel. From an ad format perspective, there is no comparison between a 300x250 box and a 15- or 30-second commercial with sight, sound, and motion, delivered on the largest screen in the home. Like traditional TV, CTV delivers high-impact viewing moments to a consumer’s living room, but CTV can do so much more.

The one constant across all of the different ways that consumers view content on the largest screen in their home is the TV itself.  Smart TV’s with their built in ACR (automated content recognition) systems offer advertisers the most holistic view of a household’s content consumption whether the content is linear, streaming, or gaming.  The idea that TV and digital data could coexist as one data set had previously been unthinkable.  With the sophistication of automation increasing and the reach of buying platforms expanding, programmatic advertising now offers a path forward where advertisers can cover the breadth of the market in a way that was previously impossible when managing manually.

Arming Yourself with Automation

Several manufacturers in the space have rolled out tools to help advertisers plan, allocate, and buy both linear and CTV inventory.  Upfront buys could similarly be fulfilled by those companies with scaled TV viewing data versus relying on IO's and post measurement solutions or programmatic platforms still utilizing bid request data to guess at household exposure.

Beyond the obvious efficiencies programmatic advertising delivers, it allows for brands to secure incremental reach opportunities for campaigns running across multiple platforms. Additionally, ACR based programmatic buying ensures that duplication and waste is minimized.

CTV represents the best of TV (most impactful screen in the house!) and digital (real-time/targeting/attribution) to deliver a better consumer experience.  Advertisers should too.