What Mobile Marketers Need to Know to Drive Performance with Connected TV

Over The Top (OTT) streaming services have attracted more consumers than ever before as they’ve sought t on-demand entertainment in a socially distant world — four times more, in fact, according to our new consumer research. But as people embrace streaming on their mobile devices and Connected TVs (CTV), it also means there are a plethora of new opportunities for marketers to reach a fast-growing audience. 

If performance is important to your marketing strategy, you can no longer afford to ignore OTT and the CTV ad ecosystem. But be aware that this is more than just a new twist on the TV model. 

Our latest research reveals a radical global shift in OTT streaming consumption patterns across regions and generations. This is a dynamic that requires a new mindset — and new data — to address the opportunity and measure the results. By knowing how and when consumers stream, as well as which channels drive the most value and deliver the highest marketing impact, the potential to build a large user-base with high lifetime value (LTV) is huge. 

3 things Mobile Marketers should know about consumer streaming

• Most users stream on mobile at least once a day — Consuming streaming content has become a daily habit for people across the globe. A whopping 93.75% of Chinese users say they stream at “every day to once a week” — compared to the U.S. (69.4%) it’s clear that China has fully embraced the streaming revolution. Gen Z also leads the way with an average of 90 minutes per session, but users across all age groups stream for at least an hour at a time.
• Users are willing to spend on streaming — Streaming services have proven that people are willing to pay for content. Korea ($42.68/month) and  the U.S. ($33.58/month) lead the way in spending. Millennials and Gen Z are also big spenders when it comes to streaming content, but those 55 and older are increasingly willing to pay. Research from The Trade Desk also shows that approximately 27% of U.S. households plan to cancel their pay-TV package in 2021, which is roughly double the number of those who did so in 2020.
• How we watch TV is changing — More than three-quarters (76%) of all respondents use their mobile phones while watching TV. This has potentially huge impacts for creative marketers who can use their data to create a whole new and interactive brand experience across two devices. 

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Reimagining marketing for connected TVs

In many ways, Connected TVs present marketers with the best of two worlds — the opportunity to be associated with the high-quality content associated with television and the accountability and measurable results of the web. This is an important development that allows cash-strapped marketing departments to better understand how their television ads are performing and plan accordingly. 

It is, therefore, no surprise that advertisers are already shifting budget to CTV, with eMarketer estimating that U.S. CTV ad spending will increase to $11.36 billion in 2021. (Pro-tip: Fraudsters are following the money and it’s important to fight bots and fraud to protect your budget and your data integrity.) However, changing consumer behavior allows marketers to take this a step further. In the U.S., 82.62% of people say they use a mobile phone while watching television, giving strategic marketers a new way to build immersive, cross-device experiences. 

Consider this: People who use their mobile phone while watching TV, say they commonly use social apps (77.90%), banking apps (51.37%), gaming apps (51.07%), food delivery apps (28.20%), utility apps (23.32%), e-commerce apps (20.88%), travel apps (18.45%). 

Now is the time for performance-driven marketers to experiment with ways to create new experiences — and the possibilities are especially abundant for app marketers. For instance, advertisers can tap into this by putting a call-to-action in their TV ads, such as downloading a mobile app via a QR code. This creates a seamless experience that not only results in the conversion you want, but gives you invaluable data about exactly where your user came from and where you’re likely to find more potential users. 

Marketers who can master this new mindset stand not only to acquire new users and customers but to build a wealth of data that will serve them well far into the future as technology advances. Forward-thinking companies like China’s Tencent are already embracing CTV’s ability to create localized experiences, embedding personalized TV ads directly into movies without interrupting the experience. 

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The technology is there and if you follow your data and unleash your creativity, the sky’s the limit.  

[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]