The Future of Television Is Connected

“It’s not TV, it’s HBO” was more than a clever tagline. In 1997 it signaled a fundamental change in how people experienced TV. But that was just the beginning. Now 20 years later the industry is moving quickly toward a new mantra: “It’s not TV, it’s CTV.”

Indeed, connected television (CTV) is heralding an even more far-reaching change in how TV is produced and delivered. Now, what was once broadcast by a network, paid for by advertising and viewed at a set time with content intended for a mass audience, has been wholly transformed. Today, TV increasingly is bespoke content, delivered over the internet and viewed at the convenience of the consumer – on multiple devices. And the content is often paid for by a combination of subscription fees and advertising.

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However, for many years now, new television technologies have been linked to a steady trend of diminishing returns and opportunities for advertisers. It seems that the more new ways there are to watch “television,” the less money there is to make from it.

Along with the changes in technology came changes in attitude. Consumers have more types of content to consume than ever before, and they’ve come to expect a lot of it for free. In many ways, CTV holds the key to unlocking the next phase of TV growth – and to finding “lost” audiences ad revenue.

Many advertisers and brands worry that they will continue to be left out in this consumer-centric model. But they shouldn’t – if they deploy the right strategy. CTV combines the best of traditional TV’s full-screen experience with the targeting power of digital. And with usage on the rise, we are finally reaching the point where TV-like audiences can be reached at scale through CTV. And, while traditional web environments create challenges for viewability such as page scrolling and tab switching, CTV emulates the traditional broadcast and cable TV experience. It provides the viewer a natural full-screen experience that lends itself to highly viewable – and much more relevant – ads.

Brands that don’t participate are in danger of losing advertising relevance and efficacy. Consider: YuMe’s recently commissioned new research that demonstrates how much more effective advertising can be on connected TV. What we found was that consumers not only pay more attention to CTV ads, but they also are viewed longer. The study concludes that viewers pay attention to a higher proportion of ads on CTV, and CTV ads deliver higher brand metrics.

In our study, conducted by Nielsen, a total of 400 respondents ages 18-54 participated by interacting with video content across CTV, desktop and mobile to compare viewability. Eye tracking was used across the three device types to capture consumers’ visual engagement with ads. Display, pre-roll and first-impression video were tested to capture CTV’s holistic ad experience.

The study demonstrated that, overall, pre-roll ad attention is highest on CTV. Eye tracking showed 89% of a CTV pre-roll ad is viewed, compared to 81% on mobile and 78% on desktop. Unaided ad recall is 73% on CTV, compared to 69% on mobile and 65% on desktop. More remarkable, almost every CTV ad meets the IAB/MRC (Media Rating Council) standard for viewability.