Digital advertising is evolving and the industry is keen to eliminate third-party cookies quickly, regardless of how many times the official deadlines for phasing them out gets pushed back. We’re almost there: 76% of all ad requests are already cookieless.
A number of ad channels built without cookies in mind, like connected TV (CTV) and newer iterations of digital out-of-home (DOOH) and streaming audio, are emerging as a way for marketers to connect with new and existing consumers. These changes are creating a monumental rethinking for marketers as they transition to a cookieless, multi-device, omnichannel world.
HOW DOOH, STREAMING AUDIO AND CTV CONNECT THE COOKIELESS,
MULTI-DEVICE WORLD
present
Click-through rates for video
The State of Streaming TV
The State of Streaming TV
The State of Streaming Audio
From CTV to DOOH
Full-Funnel Campaign with Streaming (CTV, Digital Audio, DOOH)
Nielsen’s two measurement currencies
Based on its TV ratings panel from
41,000 U.S. households
millions of household set-top boxes and smart TVs
Looking ahead
About VIANT
Viant (NASDAQ: DSP) is a leading advertising software company that enables marketers to plan, execute and measure omnichannel ad campaigns through a cloud-based platform. Viant’s self-service Demand Side Platform, Adelphic, powers programmatic advertising across connected TV, linear TV, mobile, desktop, audio, gaming and digital out-of-home channels. In 2022, Viant was recognized as a Leader in the DSP category, earned Great Place to Work certification and Co-founders Tim and Chris Vanderhook were named EY Entrepreneurs of the Year. To learn more, please visit viantinc.com.
About Ad Age Studio 30
Ad Age Studio 30 is the creative content arm of Ad Age. Built on the same bedrock of journalistic integrity, Ad Age Studio 30 specializes in multichannel membership content for Ad Age subscribers, as well as custom and sponsored content that resonates with our audience. To partner with Ad Age Studio 30, email James Palma at jpalma@adage.com.
The State of Streaming TV
The State of Streaming Audio
From CTV to DOOH
Full-Funnel Campaign with Streaming (CTV, Digital Audio, DOOH)
Looking ahead
During Q4 2021, the first full quarter that Viant’s World Without Cookies software was available in its omnichannel and people-based DSP Adelphic, the click-through rates of major advertising sectors increased significantly compared with cookie-based advertising in those same verticals.
HEALTH CARE/PHARMA
+167%
RETAIL
+130%
CPG
+30%
Conversion rates also increased:
HEALTH CARE/PHARMA
+240%
CPG
+30%
OVERALL
68%
HEALTH CARE/PHARMA
56%
RETAIL
76%
CPG
74%
Completion rates for video:
0.02%
OVERALL
0.02%
HEALTH CARE/PHARMA
0.01%
RETAIL
0.05%
CPG
Conversion rates for video:
Online video (OLV) conversion rate benchmarks (mobile/desktop)
0.02%
OVERALL
0.00%
HEALTH CARE/PHARMA
0.05%
RETAIL
0.05%
Entertainment
Connected TV (CTV) conversion rate benchmarks
Conversion rate is the number of times a consumer takes a desired action. Conversion rate is calculated by the number of conversions divided by the total number of impressions.
The new formula: Linear + connected TV = convergent marketing opportunities
Linear TV advertising is still a nearly $68.35 billion business, but the rise of cord-cutters and streaming options is creating a huge opportunity in connected TV advertising—an estimated $21.2 billion in 2022.
Both linear and connected TV are cookieless, meaning first-party, people-based advertising is the best approach to reach these audiences. Convergent marketing, to both linear and CTV viewers, can work alongside other omnichannel marketing efforts. Leveraging these channels simultaneously will allow comprehensive measurement of consumer actions—both online and off—to understand the true return on ad spend.
Last year, Viant introduced the New Open Web—a way for Web 3.0 to move beyond third-party cookies and focus on the next evolution in programmatic technology: people-based advertising. In Get Ready for Retail 3.0, Ad Age Studio 30 and Viant tracked the rise of e-commerce, retail media and the incredible wealth of first-party data that brands have at their fingertips. This new interactive report expands on that foundation by focusing on the continually evolving and expanding world of streaming TV, showing how brands can smartly leverage these rapt consumers across channels with people-based advertising to create full-funnel marketing opportunities beyond what has been possible thus far.
Beyond CTV, digital advertising has newer, more expansive opportunities with streaming audio (like podcasts) and DOOH. Static billboards and end-cap displays have had their day. Now, programmatic audio and visual campaigns can be launched—and accurately measured—with just a few clicks on a people-based DSP like Viant’s Adelphic.
Source: Viant Three Key Areas of Focus for Marketers in 2023, pg 4
TV's Role in an Omnichannel World
The growth of streaming is staggering. There are some 200 streaming video services available, and according to Kantar, 85% of U.S. households subscribe to at least one of them (though the household average is four streaming services).
For advertisers, this is an incredibly broad, captive audience that encompasses many channels, and thus household-level targeting is re-emerging as the metric of choice for marketers seeking to understand the effect of different channels on individuals within a household. In one Viant case study, a business-to-business digital marketing agency using first-person, people-based advertising generated an 11.5-times return on ad spend (ROAS) and a 39% lift in conversions. Considering that an estimated 94% of U.S. households are reachable through open programmatic CTV advertising, the reach and scale potential is huge.
So how does this affect advertisers? For one, budgets must be adjusted to accommodate this undeniable medium. Roughly two-thirds of advertisers surveyed by Premion said they intended to shift budgets internally, from digital, social and linear to cover increased CTV and OTT spends. Just 30% said they’d increase their overall budgets to include CTV—even though more than half of marketers said they believe traditional TV ad spends are less effective than they were five years ago.
The ability to view streaming and CTV as its own entity—as a vital component of an omnichannel campaign that merits its own funding—will almost certainly set apart the advertising winners of the next few years. Consider: A Tubi study projects that free streaming services will be accessed by half of all internet users by 2024 and that by 2026, ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) revenue will hit $31.5 billion, tripling last year’s total.
For those advertisers ignoring these trends, that’s an awful lot of eyes to leave on the proverbial table.
In July 2022, for the first time ever, streaming TV surpassed cable viewing. With a combined time of more than 190 billion minutes available across the numerous streaming platforms, Nielsen calculated that Americans spent 34.8% of their time streaming, narrowly nudging out cable at 34.4%.
Source: Viant - Omnichannel World
Measurement and attribution. They’re the most important factors in determining the success or shortfalls of a campaign, and as of late, the industry has been doing some soul-searching on which numbers are gathered, how they are analyzed and who gets to determine their value.
One cause for this upheaval has been the lack of a single currency—or data measurement base—to measure campaign performance, and especially that of omnichannel campaigns. Nielsen, the longtime keeper of the currency keys, has been on the defensive about its recent addition of a cross-platform tool to measure omnichannel digital campaigns. Critics oppose the use of two separate data sets, while Nielsen contends it prefers “to work openly with the entire industry to get to the best measurement solution.”
WHO IS BEING COUNTED
A “big data” alternative from Nielsen One, its next-gen cross-platform measurement solution, which incorporates data from
This has opened the door to other networks to create or partner with tech companies to fashion their own measurement services. When Netflix was looking to partner with a measurement firm to help develop its first ad-supported service, it chose, in what was called “a surprise upset win,” Microsoft over more expected options like Google or FreeWheel.
Also joining the fray: Kroger, which boasts the country’s largest supermarket retailer loyalty program, expanded its private programmatic marketplace in September 2022 to include video and CTV inventory. It plans to use its massive first-person data from some 60 million households to fuel a measurement-rich retail media network for marketers.
In addition, Nielsen and Roku announced an expanded partnership to address overlapping reach across the four main screens that households employ: linear TV, CTV, desktop and mobile. Called Nielsen Four-Screen Ad Deduplication, the tool is meant to measure consistency across screens and keep track of which ads are seen on which screens.
Comscore
Comcast’s Effectv uses Comscore as its Nielsen alternative, which covers 66 markets and nearly 35 million subscribers by using impressions as the common currency denominator.
Video Amp
Backed by ViacomCBS, VideoAmp offers second-by-second ad viewership data. VideoAmp also brokered a deal with Comcast to incorporate its aggregated set-top box data, giving it “audience-based impression-level measurement currency.”
The leading measurement alternatives
NBCU certified iSpot.tv, which crunches real-time second-by-second data as its national cross-platform measurement partner.
iSpot.tv
The benefit of adding extra channels? For advertisers, these streaming services offer a more focused, targeted audience strategy that can utilize programmatic buys without paying network premiums. For networks, the benefit lies in maximizing impressions on otherwise idle content. These networks have massive libraries of television shows, specials, movies, etc., just collecting dust, but by packaging like content together on niche channels, they can offer their backlog of entertainment for free in order to improve views and impressions on their platforms.
Think of it as Nick at Nite on steroids.
While the streaming wars are often centered around the Big Five players—Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max—there are dozens of popular, smaller streaming services that cater to niche audiences (not to mention a little service called AppleTV+).
Among these, free ad-supported television (FAST) channels are surging. A recent Variety report estimates that U.S. ad revenue from FAST will top $6 billion by 2025. And considering that three-quarters of consumers aren’t bothered by ads as long as they aren’t paying for the content, it seems as though traditional network services can’t create FAST channels fast enough.
In fact, the most popular FASTs are offshoots of established media networks—like Pluto TV (ViacomCBS), Xumo (NBCU), Tubi (Fox) and Peacock (NBCU)—or catalog holders, like the Roku Channel (RokuTM), Freevee (Amazon) or Samsung TV+ (Samsung).
GETTING NICHE
Top Niche Audience Channels
One exciting, mostly untapped brand integration opportunity is directly partnering with streaming platforms to create original content. This isn’t simply paid product placement, like with Netflix’s use of Eggo waffles or New Coke in “Stranger Things.” We’ve seen examples like last year’s Roku show “The Show Next Door” with Randall Park, sponsored and made in partnership with Maker’s Mark, or Anheuser-Busch’s “Not a Sports Show,” hosted by Lil Rel Howery for Ficto.tv.
The idea isn’t that these shows become the next “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” (though imagine if that Netflix hit was created in partnership with a major java brand). It’s that their target audiences—say, anyone who likes watching comedians chat and grill their sports heroes—will have a higher brand recall following seamless product integration combined with a 30-second ad spot.
Because of this, a number of media networks like Roku, Hulu and WarnerMedia, are creating in-house brand studios to help facilitate these types of partnerships that go beyond the traditional 30- or 45-second spot.
For a less creation-heavy option, in-show solutions are becoming increasingly popular for ad-supported streaming TV. Split-screen and dynamic overlay placements have been found to be advantageous when used strategically by brands, within the context and suitability of the show.
Brands as TV Creators
Most commonly spoken languages in the U.S. besides English and Spanish
NOT YOUR MOM'S QVC
With the explosive growth and variety of TV channels, U.S. networks are finally investing in non-English language channels and programming. Considering that more than 67 million residents speak a language other than English at home, the potential for communicating with these populations in their preferred tongue is muy bien.
Streaming services aren’t just buying up rights to global hits like Korea’s “Squid Game” or Germany’s “Dark,” the way Netflix has. They’re bulking up their channel offerings as well. In 2021, YouTubeTV added Univision, UniMás and Galavisión to its base plans, while FuboTV offers more than 40 Spanish-language channels, including sports hubs like Zona Fútbol and Fox Deportes.
Other streaming platforms have created non-English language verticals with easily searchable content. Hulu boasts a number of Telemundo telenovelas and Spanish-language kids programming, while SlingTV offers Great Wall TV, which provides access to more than 20 channels in Chinese, Mandarin, Cantonese and Taiwanese.
Non-English Language TV Push
Most spoken languages among U.S. citizens
Digital ad calls per 30 minutes during programming (all devices)
Bonus intel!
The future of streaming sports is large and lucrative, even if only for the biggest events of the year. Fox is already deep into planning its official Super Bowl LVII broadcast for February 2023, but services like Hulu+, SlingTV and FuboTV are also making deals to stream football’s biggest night.
But as more streaming platforms maneuver to get into the game, the lines between linear and streaming are blurring. This year, Amazon began streaming NFL’s “Thursday Night Football,” while Apple TV+ took over Friday Night Baseball. And beginning in 2023, HBO Max will begin an eight-year, $200 million deal for the exclusive streaming rights of the U.S. Women’s and Men’s National Soccer Teams.
Streaming Sports
When consumers are streaming sports on TV, they’re also scrolling various sites and apps on a companion device, like a smartphone or tablet.
Regular season
Super Bowl LIV
Average Program
During the game
Commercial/channel flipping
Commercial/channel flipping
During the game
Commercial/channel flipping
During the program
11.1
11.2
9.6
8.5
9.7
9.2
Source: TV's Role in an Omnichannel World, Adelphic by Viant, April 2020
10 minutes
TikTok recently increased its video length limit from 3 minutes to
Short but Sweet
One of the biggest streaming success stories thus far has been the short-form video app TikTok. It’s not all dance memes and hilarious cultural commentary: The advertising potential behind “TikTok famous” products has driven millions in sales for smaller, direct-to-consumer brands, making it the most valuable platform for DTC advertising.
Now, TikTok is looking to expand its influential, billion-monthly-viewer platform from handheld screens to full-size TV screens. It has already made strides with CTV apps for Samsung, Fire TV, Vizio and Google TV, but if TikTok wants to go big by going into the home, the social app most preferred by Gen Z will have to age up to compete.
TikTok’s main competition? YouTube Shorts, which has the added benefit of being owned by Google. In terms of time spent streaming, YouTube is already the second-biggest CTV player, behind Netflix.
Short-Form Streaming
practically an eternity in short-form content time. But just because the extra minutes are available doesn’t mean they’re necessary—or advisable.
A quarter of the platform’s best-performing content stays within that time span.
21 and 34 seconds
Nearly half of TikTok users surveyed told the platform that videos longer than one minute stressed them out, so what should advertisers aim for? According to the same report, the optimal video length for a TikTok video is between
When you think of livestream shopping, images of late-night ShamWow infomercials or neighborhood moms frantically trying to sell LuLaRoe inventory out of their storage rooms. But this isn’t your parents’ HSN or QVC. Besides, both of those companies, which are the longtime faces of live shopping, are rebranding in this age of constant at-your-fingertips consumerism. Walmart, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are also investing, but QVC—the market leader in live shopping for 30-plus years—is repositioning itself to appeal to millennials and change the way e-commerce looks.
Livestream shopping is relatively new in the U.S., but in China it’s already a $300 billion commerce segment and is estimated to double to $600 billion by 2023. Though the U.S. won’t hit those numbers anytime soon, it’s still expected to reach $25 billion by 2023. Not too shabby!
Amazon has been chief among the U.S. companies that are embracing livestream shopping. Its stream hosts include a variety of influencers from TikTok and TV, and a handful of Amazon-shoppable brands like Vahdam, Joovy and BioTrust have launched their own channels on the site.
Livestream Shopping
Entertainment + Shopping = Livestream Shopping
Amazon Live shoppable video.
Click here to see more.
Triller livestream shopping event featuring Lance Bass, JoJo and Brandy.
Click here to see the replay on YouTube.
Shoppable live fashion show and adopt-a-thon, hosted by Arielle Vandenberg.
Click here to view the event.
The State of Streaming Audio
Streaming audio is more than SiriusXM and iHeart radio stations or Spotify playlists. A major player in digital audio is podcasts, which account for a quarter of the time listeners spend with audio streaming. That’s currently a $2 billion advertising market that is growing exponentially.
Terrestrial AM/FM radio, which according to Pew Research has generally remained at a very steady 90% and more of weekly radio listeners over the past decade, took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was largely attributed to the sudden lack of daily commuting, but the rise of digital audio, and podcasts in particular, are taking a good share of listening time.
Source: Digital Audio Advertising: A 101 Guide, pg 4
Number of Americans age 12+ who listened to at least one podcast per month
9%
2008
41%
2021
One reason digital audio is appealing to advertisers is because its listeners are tuned in. Even if they are multitasking, they are actively listening to their preferred pod or stream. Four-fifths of all time spent with digital audio happens on mobile devices, meaning listeners are using the medium for entertainment while they do fairly mindless activities, like household chores or walking the dog.
Other pluses to advertisers on digital audio include the proven benefits of personalized host endorsements, how easily audio ads can complement TV or omnichannel efforts, and the ability to align your messaging with the most engaging and relevant content, reaching consumers where they are.
So, how does one go about looking for the right digital audio partner? First off, you’ll need a demand-side platform (DSP). With the proper DSP, direct and programmatic purchasing aren’t mutually exclusive, which gives advertisers the freedom to (1) craft bespoke deals with providers; (2) access a larger variety of audio inventory across platforms, devices and types of digital audio; (3) proffer better price buys and inventory across programmatic; and (4) have access to advanced targeting and measurement features, often through a suite of tools that allow you to make decisions and alter campaigns in real-time.
Source: Digital Audio Advertising: A 101 Guide
Source: Digital Audio Advertising: A 101 Guide
TERRESTRIAL RADIO
DIGITAL AUDIO
SELECTIVE TARGETING
Local station and basic parameters such as demo
Available on listening players
(car, in-home)
Hyper-localization at scale
1:1 audience hyper-personalization
Available across multiple devices and channels
Offers mood-themed playlists
Podcast granularity at scale
Digital video companion banners to drive users to action
Mobile conversions
Often celebrity-driven
Audio stores better in memory
Audio instills emotion
Allows listeners to use imagination to create own image of product or service
MORE MEASURABLE
Fits into omnichannel marketing strategies
Known reach and frequency
Reach extension
Frequently and repeatedly reaching your audience for increased awareness
INCREASED FREQUENCY
Digital flexibility and dynamic pricing
Optimization across audio suppliers, audiences, channels, devices, etc.
Requires fewer resources
More affordable rates to reach target audiences vs. other channels
COST- EFFECTIVE
Omnichannel MTA reporting
Real-time optimization based on actual results such as online and offline conversions
Results for radio ads available daily
If the message is not working in a week or two, a new radio spot can replace it
MEASURABLE RESULTS
65%
made an impulse purchase based on a DOOH ad
59%
say DOOH displays improved their shopping experience
Number of shoppers who
Now, taking all that we know about streaming video and how successful CTV campaigning can be, how can those principles be applied on a wider scale, away from a viewer’s home screen?
Enter digital out-of-home. The channel is one of the fastest-growing advertising sectors, with an estimated $19 billion projected for 2022 global spend—a figure that is expected to triple by the end of the decade. DOOH advertising can be deployed nearly anywhere, and advancements in display screen technology have allowed for better, brighter panels and more affordable pricing for campaigns. And because digital campaigns are more fluid and easily tweaked than static displays, brands can change their messaging based on external or ever-changing factors like the weather, stock prices, sports scores, countdowns and more.
But how does one quantify the data for consumer priming on a roadside billboard compared with an office waiting room, or compared with a grocery aisle display screen? The answer, in a nutshell, is mobile data.
By leveraging anonymized mobile location data and device IDs, Viant’s omnichannel, people-based DSP Adelphic can analyze and better understand how consumers move through the world, including when and how they encounter specific DOOH displays and what their post-exposure behavior is. This is done in a consumer-friendly and privacy-compliant manner that the public appreciates.
Source: Intro to DOOH paper, Viant
From CTV to DOOH
84%
are likely to consider a future purchase of a brand they saw advertised through DOOH
impression counts
A DSP must be able to process a one-to-many channel like DOOH, in addition to the usual 1:1 reporting.
What to look for in a DSP when focusing on DOOH
A DSP must be able to run media and creative against relevant data points like time and geo-location that are important during DOOH bid requests.
Targeting
A DSP should be able to retarget mobile devices or other channels and layer data-driven attribution for in-store visits versus outside displays.
Connectivity to mobile
For full-funnel marketing goals, moving consumers from awareness to conversion is fully possible within any of these digital streaming ecosystems, especially when livestream shopping and other shopping-based networks are factored in. But for the larger majority of brands, creating a comprehensive, omnichannel approach to streamed advertising is the best way to yield results.
Full-Funnel Campaign with Streaming (CTV, Digital Audio, DOOH)
All toads are frogs,
but not all frogs are toads.
Similarly, all FAST has AVOD,
but not all AVOD has FAST.
CTV advertising provides data on impressions, reach and scale, and allows marketers to collect detailed insights on exactly how their campaigns are impacting consumer behavior. Brands can target different households differently, even if those households are technically watching the same program. And the attribution tools available—such as analyzing correlated outcomes based on search queries, website visits or social media mentions after an ad runs—can help inform a brand’s next steps.
Because e-commerce continues to grow exponentially, shopper marketing has needed to find a way to keep up. Enter retail media networks, the latest player on the omnichannel advertising scene. The appeal to advertisers is immediate: By utilizing retail media networks, marketers can access the same first-person data that is often reserved just for brands, and they can then leverage that data to other channels, such as CTV, digital audio or DOOH.
Full-funnel marketing? More like full-circle opportunity.
Linear + connected TV = convergent marketing
If you’re still reliant on third-party data in any capacity, treat it like that bad habit you’re resolved to quit—kick it to the curb. First-party data is the only privacy-safe solution, and it offers a positive consumer experience while providing marketers with the tools to foster loyal, lifetime customers.
LOOKING AHEAD
For 2023, where should advertisers focus their energy and budgets?
1. First-party data strategies.
2. Television convergence.
3. The rise of retail media networks.
Linear TV is still a highly important advertising space, but CTV cannot be ignored, and there is no need for marketers to choose one over the other.
Source: Viant Three Key Areas of Focus for Marketers in 2023, pg 6
Retail Media Network
Source: World Economic Forum and Visual Capitalist, Dec. 20, 2021
Source: World Economic Forum and Visual Capitalist, Dec. 20, 2021
This is where the viewers are, and since CTV offers better targeting and audience segmentation in addition to being considered premium, this is where advertisers want to be as well. Think of it as…
1. Integrated ad experiences on CTV are being led by free ad-supported television (FAST) and ad-supported video on demand (AVOD).
2. Programmatic streaming audio provides similar opportunities as CTV in terms of selecting your target audience down to age, location and interests, and then can determine a precise reach and frequency course of action.
As a baseline, it can garner awareness at scale. But with the right targeting and metrics, DOOH has the ability to guide the customer journey all the way from the front door to the checkout aisle.
3. DOOH allows marketers to scale messaging in real-time with varying ads across a multitude of screens.
Remember:
:
'Summer Eats With Ayesha Curry'
'NYX Professional Makeup Live: Throwback Edition'
Petco, 'The Perfect Fit'
estimated
Viant’s
$21.2 billion
Full-Funnel Campaign with Streaming
(CTV, Digital Audio, DOOH)
muy bien.
muy bien.
$68.35 billion
If someone bought olive oil a month ago, they likely will be ready to buy another bottle in, say, the following month. Two weeks before that purchase, brands can run a top-funnel CTV campaign to that past/potential customer through a retail media network like Target, then retarget across mobile and, finally, inspire purchase with in-store displays when the time is right.
Leveraging identity resolution capabilities within a people-base DSP, brands can create targeted CTV campaigns to drive awareness as well as mid-funnel retargeting messaging to reach those consumers across their devices (laptops, tablets, etc.).
Source: Viant Three Key Areas of Focus for Marketers in 2023, pg 6
Source: Digital Audio Advertising: A 101 Guide