User acquisition on CTV for games and apps: What marketers need to know in 2023
Game and app marketers are looking at connected TV now for performance, but there is a lot of confusion in the market about CTV’s role. How can apps and games tap into this high-attention, high-viewability channel? How will it fit into their marketing mix? What are the challenges and potential solutions? Verve’s CTV performance team experts share our latest discoveries about this exciting new approach to user acquisition. Definitions: Linear TV vs. CTV vs. OTT Because CTV is a new performance channel for mobile apps and games, some marketers need help understanding the terminology. Let’s set the context from the start: Linear TV is traditional broadcast television with scheduled programming. Ads are served during predefined commercial breaks and sold in advance, usually as part of a bigger campaign. CTV (Connected TV) refers to internet-connected devices used for streaming video content, such as smart TVs, streaming boxes (e.g., Roku, Apple TV) or gaming consoles. CTV provides personalized, on-demand viewing without traditional commercial breaks. CTV allows for programmatic ad buys. OTT (Over-The-Top) is internet-based video content delivery, bypassing traditional TV providers. It includes services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video, accessible on CTV devices, smartphones, and more. OTT provides on-demand content with subscription or ad-supported models, revolutionizing TV consumption. CTV is a subcategory of OTT. Why use CTV for performance marketing now? For a marketer looking to drive installs, turning to CTV for performance just makes sense: buyers’ attention is shifting from traditional linear TV toward connected TV. As of last year, 92% of US households are reachable on CTV. Data from 2023 shows that 42% of game discovery can be attributed to streaming ads. Marketers should always follow the consumers. Consumer attention is shifting more and more from traditional TV to connected TV and on-demand streaming. The rapid growth of FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV), SVOD (subscription video on demand), and AVOD (ad-supported video on demand) makes this transition much easier, even eating up some attention from the UGC (user-generated content) on social media. Alexei MoltchanDirector of Product Management and Innovation, Verve While TV has been primarily a brand channel for publishers, CTV’s advantages make it a compelling option in the mobile marketing mix as a performance channel. Leveraging CTV in campaigns isn’t restricted to big brands with hefty marketing budgets like is often true for linear TV. Although CPMs from CTV are comparable to those of traditional TV, the impression quality often exceeds that of traditional TV CPMs. How does CTV fit into the mobile or gaming marketing mix? There are strong signals in the market of CTV being a channel for driving incrementality and working as an amplifier for other channels. Rather than driving direct installs, connected TV has proven as a powerful tool to move users down the funnel where they convert via other channels, as evidenced by the MMP Adjust. Big screens with no skip option are expected to eventually lead to high impact. Now that it can be measured, we have a chance to evaluate CTV’s efficiency within the full funnel. Clara MarkovichEntrepreneur in Residence, Verve Isolating CTV from other channels and relying on last-touch attribution would be misleading because (so far) the ads are not clickable, and the advertiser has limited control over which channel is the last one to contribute to that install. Measurement and attribution Major MMPs are recognizing the market’s need to measure CTV performance for gaming and app user acquisition, and are moving forward with a solid roadmap of CTV measurement features, although at a different pace. User journeys come in so many shapes and sizes. Here are just a few common examples: An easy scenario with a QR code in a CTV ad, which works as a direct link to app store CTV ad seen, user searches on app store, which results in an install which according to last touch gets attributed to organic CTV ad followed up with a banner ad on mobile, which becomes the last touch This all brings us back to the fact that the only correct approach to measuring CTV performance is looking at it from the full-funnel perspective. Advertisers and vendors turn to look at custom signals and report on assisted installs, measuring incrementality and even MMM (media mix modeling). We recommend that advertisers analyze their existing install data attributed to specific channels — before launching a CTV campaign. This lets them compare and measure the uplift caused by CTV-driven assists and installs later. It is particularly important to note that not all MMPs have the capability to present assists from a full-funnel perspective. Brayan van BronckhorstSenior Solutions Consultant, Verve Simply ignoring the channel due to the measurement complexity might be a choice for new apps and games that haven’t seen enough growth via other channels yet. However, other channels gain traction and establish benchmarks, boosting the media mix with CTV can lead to more performance. How are measurement platforms supporting CTV measurement? Verve has tested most CTV-supporting MMPs while running campaigns for our partners. At this point we are able to advise on the best MMP options for CTV and are working closely with advertisers and MMPs of their choice to ensure the best possible quality of measurement. AppsFlyer, Adjust, Singular, Kochava, and Branch are all offering certain functionality to support their publisher partners in exploring the new channel, even though not all MMPs are created equal. In terms of features and pricing, Adjust now offers a CTV-specific dashboard as an add-on solution. Other notable measurement tools are the ones providing incrementality measurement (ex. INCRMNTAL) and media mix modeling (ex. MetricWorks). Creative is key: best practices for CTV ad creative The ad needs to be next-level compelling in order for the user to take action. Best practices: Unsure whether to invest more in CTV? Start by with adjusting existing creatives but keep in mind it may happen that web creatives will not perform the same way on CTV. Make the ad entertaining – after all, this is what…
Why ad podding is the future of CTV
Spending on over-the-top (OTT) TV advertising is expected to continue its meteoric growth in 2023, as advertisers look to keep pace with consumer viewing habits while capitalizing on new opportunities in addressability. At the same time, the OTT ad space is maturing from an ad bidding and delivery technology standpoint, opening up new opportunities for publishers to reduce inefficiencies and improve monetization. In this regard, ad podding is an important OTT concept for publishers to understand as they double-down on the growing opportunity. Let’s take a closer look at the basics — and benefits — of ad podding, and why seeking out partners that offer per-pod bidding can help publishers stay ahead of the curve in OTT advertising.
What business leaders need to know about the future of television and CTV
Television has evolved dramatically over the last century. Is your business prepared for what’s to come?
