Originally appeared on VideoNuze
Connected TV (CTV) is a leading platform in digital advertising, combining the precise targeting of digital ads with the broad reach and storytelling power of traditional TV. This creates an immersive experience that offers full-funnel marketing results. As consumer time spent watching CTV has doubled over the past five years and linear TV viewing patterns have shifted, advertisers now see CTV as essential for reaching and engaging audiences.
Of those CTV users, viewers increasingly choose to watch content with ads. By 2025, free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) viewers will increase to 49% of CTV users, further highlighting the opportunity for marketers to captivate audiences in ways standard digital display ads can’t match. With the explosion of consumer time spent and advertising dollars following, making CTV more addressable and targeted requires a combination of identity and audience.
Historically, the IP address has been the most popular way to target a household with a CTV (e.g., LG, Samsung, Vizio device) or streaming platform (e.g., Disney+, Paramount+, Roku, Amazon Prime, etc.). As IP addresses continue to fluctuate in terms of durability, consistency, and type, including the increased adoption of IPv6, we have seen a new incumbent enter the CTV ecosystem: Unified ID 2.0 (UID2).
UID2 stands out as a particularly valuable tool for CTV advertisers. It provides a standardized way to identify and target users across CTV and traditional channels like display and mobile while respecting consumer privacy. Given that purchases might not occur on CTV, UID2’s ability to link ad exposure on CTV to conversions on other devices is crucial for demonstrating a CTV campaign’s true impact.
Authenticated audiences are key to CTV’s appeal
A significant advantage of CTV is its high rate of logged-in, authenticated users. This provides marketers with reliable first-party data for targeting and measurement purposes. UID2 benefits from this since it’s a universal identifier based primarily on first-party data, such as people’s email addresses and phone numbers.
Authenticated viewers can also be connected across different devices, enabling marketers to understand the full customer journey, which helps attribute conversions more accurately to CTV ads.
Key advantages of CTV for digital marketers
- Superior viewing experience: Larger screens and a captive audience watching high-quality on-demand content
- Authenticated users: Enables precise audience targeting, more personalized ad experiences, and enhanced cross-device attribution
- Value exchange: Viewers get cost-effective content with personalized ads, leading to higher engagement
“Authenticated viewers and universal IDs like UID2 are revolutionizing CTV advertising, enabling the effective delivery of personalized content and ensuring strong engagement for marketers; Paramount is committed to optimizing across platforms and will continue to utilize tools and advancements that maximize reach for our partners and improve the user experience for our viewers.”
Travis Scoles, Executive Vice President, Paramount Advertising
The role of universal IDs in CTV advertising
Universal IDs, like UID2, play a critical role in CTV by ensuring consistent user identification across platforms while respecting privacy. Adoption of UID2 is gaining traction in the TV industry, with brands such as AMC Networks, Disney, Dish Media, FreeWheel, NBCUniversal, Roku, and Paramount integrating it into their digital advertising ecosystem. As authentication increases across traditional digital and mobile apps, especially CTV, universal IDs like UID2 enable cross-device and cross-channel identity strategies without cookies. This is especially important as traditional identifiers like third-party cookies and IP addresses face an uncertain future.
Better understand and reach your audience with identity graphs
For CTV ad spending to catch up to time spent with CTV, the industry must use these authenticated signals and universal IDs. Identity graphs, like Experian’s, integrate various identifiers (e.g., universal IDs, CTV IDs, IP addresses), allowing CTV platforms to understand relationships between households, individuals, and devices. This understanding enables:
- Publishers using universal IDs can make advertising on their platform more addressable, which will lead to higher demand.
- Marketers can achieve greater precision with cross-device targeting, cross-channel frequency management, and more holistic measurement since conversions often happen on non-CTV devices.
- Viewers receive a more personalized ad experience (without seeing the same ad repeatedly), which will increase engagement with a marketer’s campaign.
Watch our Ask the Expert video with The Trade Desk to deepen your knowledge on CTV advertising and UID2.
Latest posts
Coffee drinkers in America Coffee plays such an integral part of every day life in America that it may be safe to say that coffee helps the United States go round. In fact, fully 60% of all U.S. households use either whole or ground coffee beans at home. Experian Simmons extensively reviewed the American coffee drinker for this report which features detailed insights into the coffee-drinking American. In addition, we compare the patrons of Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, the leading players in the battle for brew. Coffee in the Home The average U.S. household that uses whole or ground coffee consumes 4.2 cups per day. In total that’s about 280.5 million cups of coffee consumed at home by Americans each day or about 102 billion cups per year. Among households that use coffee, 89% stock regular coffee and 46% stock decaf.* Among households that use coffee, 84% use pre-ground coffee and 26% use whole bean coffee at least some of the time.* Instant Flavored Coffee Over a quarter of households (27%) stock instant coffee. Sixteen percent of households use instant flavored coffee. The most commonly used flavors among instant flavored coffee drinkers are: Older Americans More Likely to Drink Coffee Fifty-seven percent of adults ages 18-24 live in households that use coffee, but 25 to 34 year olds are the least likely to stock coffee in their cupboards with only 54% reporting they use whole or ground bean coffee at home. Coffee Use Increases with Household Income Seventy percent of Americans who report annual household incomes of $150,000+ drink coffee compared with 54% of those with household income less than $25,000. Dunkin' Donuts Vs. Starbucks Dunkin' Donuts 11% of American adults go to DD Between 9.15.08 and 9.15.09 the share of DD customers who go there 6+ times a month is up 11%* DD consumers are 41% more likely than the average adult to be registered Independents and 9% less likely to be registered Republicans Starbucks 13% of American adults go to Starbucks Between 9.15.08 and 9.15.09 the share of Starbucks customers who go there 6+ times a month is down 22% Starbucks consumers are 11% more likely to be registered Independents and 11% more likely to be registered Republicans Coffee Drinkers Are Coffee Drinkers A majority of coffee-drinking Americans are loyal to their franchise. However, there are a considerable number of Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks consumers who jump between coffee houses. How Often Americans Order Their Coffee The majority of both Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks customers visit each chain between one and five times in a typical month. Learn more about Simmons consumer research and studies.
Two-thirds of U.S. Households Use Coupons Two-thirds of American households (67%) use coupons. And while the vast majority of households using coupons (87%) say they use them to save money, 30% also say that coupons are a way for them to try out new products. Newspapers are still the number one coupon source with 70% of coupon households still getting their coupons from a newspaper. The Internet is growing as a coupon source. A quarter of coupon households get coupons online today, up 46% in the last three years. What Americans Buy With Their coupons Nearly half of all American households use coupons to buy food/grocery products making them the most common items purchased with coupons followed by cleaning products and beauty/grooming products. Seven percent of households buy tobacco using coupons. Where Are Coupons Redeemed? Given that half of U.S. households use coupons for food/grocery products, it’s no surprise that 60% of all households redeem coupons in supermarket, grocery or convenient stores. While only a quarter of all households use coupons at restaurants/fast food chains, that number has risen by 9% since 2006, when 23% of households redeemed coupons at restaurants. Coupons Attract New Consumers With the start of the holiday shopping season around the corner retailers want to make sure consumers visit their store and/or website. One way to drive consumer traffic is with coupons. Close to 50 percent of American adults say they are likely to be drawn to a store they don’t normally shop at by a coupon. The Experian Simmons retail shopping segment known as Mall Maniacs make up just 12% of all shoppers, but that group is 82% more likely to be drawn to a new store by a coupon. Percentage of U.S. Adult Population by Shopping Segment Mall Maniacs and Status Strivers are 66% and 26% more likely, respectively, to appreciate getting emails that announce new products and services. Identifying these consumers is key to maximize online marketing dollars. Additionally, with more and more consumers shopping online, companies should ensure that coupons are redeemable both online and in-stores.
Definition of an NHL and Non-NHL fan The behaviors and preferences of National Hockey League (NHL) and non-NHL fans are compared in this report. Below are the definitions of each consumer type: NHL fans are 18+ adults who are either “very”, “somewhat”, or “a little bit” interested in NHL Non-NHL fans are 18+ adults who are “not at all” interested in NHL Who Are NHL Fans? Compared to 2006, there are 11 percent more American adults who are NHL fans*. And with 52 percent of its fans under the age of 45, the NHL’s fan base is – for the most part – young. NHL Fans Are Educated and Well Paid NHL fans are more likely than non-NHL fans to have graduated college and attained a graduate degree. The benefits of their higher education is clear as NHL fans are 64 percent more likely than non-NHL fans to personally earn an income of $150,000 or more annually. Next we’ll examine a few luxuries NHL fans enjoy: home-ownership, watches, and vehicles. Home Owners Seventy-seven percent of NHL fans own their place of residence. The graph below charts the percentage of NHL and non-NHL fans who own any resident type (includes house, condominium, co-op and mobile home). As illustrated, there are more NHL fans than non-fans who own homes that value at $300,000 or more. Watches Twenty-six percent of NHL fans purchased a watch for themselves or someone else in the last 12 months and their tastes are not cheap. NHL fans are 2.6 times more likely than non-fans to have spent $500 or more on a timepiece. Vehicles Similar to their watch purchasing behavior, NHL fans are willing to splurge on their vehicles. For their most recent vehicle purchase, NHL fans were 13 percent more likely than non-NHL fans to spend over $30,000. Internet Purchases NHL fans spend big online. During the last 12 months, NHL fans spent a total $9.9 billion on Internet purchases. Among those who made a purchase in the last year, NHL fans are 25 percent more likely than non-NHL fans to spend $1,000 or more online during the year. In fact, 41 percent of NHL fans who shop the Internet spend at least $500 online a year. Business Purchase Decision Makers The previous slides established that NHL fans have expensive taste and aren’t troubled spending extra to purchase personal items. However, can the same be said for business-related purchases? Indeed it can. Not only are there more NHL fans than non-fans making business purchase decisions, they’re also 54 percent more likely than non-fans to spend $100,000 or more on office products. Conclusion The National Hockey League has a growing fan base that doesn’t mind spending extra for products and services.