
At the recent Beet Retreat 2023 in Santa Monica, a fireside chat featuring Kimberly Gilberti, Experian’s Chief Product Officer, shed light on how connected TV (CTV) is changing content delivery and introducing a profound shift in audience engagement and advertising strategies. In this blog post, we’ll recap Gilberti’s discussion about advertising on CTV.
CTV’s transformative impact on media consumption
CTV brings together the nostalgia of traditional television and the cutting-edge capabilities of digital targeting, opening new doors for advertisers to connect more meaningfully with audiences. This integration heralds a new wave of viewer engagement opportunities. The revolution goes beyond altering content consumption modes; it fundamentally transforms how audiences interact with media. Advertisers now have the tools to forge deeper, more personalized connections with their audience, thanks to CTV.
“The evolution of media is exciting, offering endless opportunities due to the vast inventory and engaged audiences. The key to using this is understanding the consumer, the ‘who’ behind the viewing.”
kimberly gilberti, chief product officer
The evolution of advertising on CTV
In CTV, traditional advertising strategies are being re-evaluated. Advertisers must pivot to meet changing viewer trends, focusing on campaigns that resonate on a personal level and harness the targeted delivery capabilities of the medium.
Data and technology stand at the forefront of advertising on CTV. Effective collection, analysis, and application of audience data are crucial for creating impactful CTV campaigns. Advanced analytics tools are essential in deciphering complex viewer habits. Companies like Experian are key players, offering the necessary tools and insights for advertisers to navigate the CTV space effectively.
“Experian’s unique data assets are incredibly valuable. We understand consumers wherever they are, connecting the offline and online worlds. Our database, rooted in real people’s information, is extensive and privacy-focused, covering virtually every U.S. household.”
kimberly gilberti, chief product officer
The complexities and opportunities in advertising on CTV
Even though the CTV landscape is filled with vast opportunities and significant challenges, one major hurdle is accurately identifying viewers within shared household accounts, complicating targeted advertising on CTV efforts. Additionally, the fragmentation of content across multiple streaming platforms amplifies the challenge of reaching specific audience segments. The presence of ‘walled gardens‘ adds another layer of complexity in achieving a comprehensive understanding of audience behavior across different platforms.
Despite these challenges, the potential for effective, personalized advertising on CTV is immense. Key to unlocking this potential is the accurate measurement of ROI and the alignment of content with viewer preferences. These areas of focus underscore the need for sophisticated identity resolution and audience analysis solutions.
Collaboration is the key to unlocking CTV’s potential
The future of advertising on CTV relies on collaboration. Joint efforts from advertisers, agencies, technology providers, and publishers are essential for sharing data and insights while maintaining consumer privacy. This collective approach is pivotal in tackling the challenges of advertising on CTV and harnessing its full potential.
As the industry dives deeper into the CTV landscape, insights from Beet Retreat 2023 and leaders like Gilberti underscore the importance of understanding and engaging with your consumers. The collaborative efforts of the industry, bolstered by technological and data-driven expertise, are critical in capitalizing on the power of CTV.
Experian’s Collaboration solution connects our client’s and partner’s data to unlock more robust insights, smarter activation, and more holistic measurement for online and offline media efforts. To learn more about what our data collaboration services can do for your business in this new era of CTV, visit our website or connect with a member of our team today.
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Twenty years ago this week, the first mobile text message, or SMS, was sent by British engineer Neil Papworth. Today, Americans are texting more than ever and among young adults, many of whom were not yet born when the first message was sent, texting is almost as common a mobile activity as talking. And why wouldn’t it be? According to the latest Simmons National Consumer Study, 48% of adults ages 18-to-24 say that a conversation via text message is just as meaningful as a telephone call. A similar share of adults ages 25-to-34 feel the same way. Regardless of age, texting is still, technically, the second most common activity that Americans engage in on their cell phone after talking. During a typical week, 95% of mobile adults talk on their mobile phone, while 59% text. Among adults ages 18-to-24, however, 89% talk on their phone and 85% text. Despite the increasing availability of mobile chat or instant message applications, texting remains the dominant means for exchanging short messages. Only 8% of all mobile adults use their phone to IM or chat. The fastest thumbs To get a more in-depth understanding of the texting habits of adults today, we leveraged data from the Simmons Connect mobile panel of 1,485 U.S. smartphone owners. Hands down, young adults text more than any age other age group. During a typical month, in fact, smartphone-owners ages 18-to-24 send 2,022 mobile text messages and receive another 1,831 for a combined total of 3,852 texts sent and received. With every age bracket we move up, the number of mobile texts drops by roughly 40%. For instance, smartphone owners ages 25-to-34 send, on average, 1,110 text messages a month and receive another 1,130 for a combined total of 2,240 messages. We are also able to leverage the Simmons Connect smartphone panel to understand mobile calling behaviors. The data shows that while young adults hold the record for the most text messages sent and received, they actually make and receive few calls, by comparison. During a typical month, smartphone owners ages 18-to-24 make 119 calls on their mobile phone and answer another 64 calls. Adults ages 35-to-44 make and receive the most calls on their mobile phones in a given month. (Call counts do not include inbound and outbound calls that go unanswered.) Text around the clock Unlike television and radio, which have peak hours for reaching consumers, mobile text messages reach Americans throughout the day, providing advertisers with a medium to connect with consumers any time they want or need. No surprise, young adults are the most likely to send and receive mobile text messages throughout the day. The smartphone panel data shows that during every hour between 8:00 A.M. and midnight, more than half of young smartphone owners are both sending and receiving mobile text messages. Even when most of us are asleep, young adults’ smartphones continue buzzing from inbound texts. In fact, 37% of 18-to-24 year-old smartphone owners receive texts at 4:00 in the morning. By comparison, just 20% of smartphone-owners ages 25-to-34 years-old receive texts at this late (or early) hour as do 17% of those 35-to-44, 15% of those 45-to-54 and 10% of those ages 55 and older. Better to send or to receive? During overnight hours, the share of young smartphone owners who send texts surpasses the share who receives them. However, by 8:00 A.M., the difference between those two figures narrows to the point that they are nearly equal. In fact, from noon until 11:00 P.M., young adults are more likely to send mobile text messages than they are to receive them. Call or text? While texting is still a secondary use of mobile phones after calling, that’s not the case all day, especially among young adults. In fact, while smartphone owners ages 18-to-24 are more likely to make an outbound call than they are to send a text from their phone between 7:00 A.M. and 10:00 P.M., they are more likely to send a text between 11:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M., during hours when they might understandably wake the recipient. That should help us all sleep a little better.