Four out of five Americans have access to connected TV (CTV) platforms, and brands are increasingly interested in contextual advertising opportunities that allow them to reach streamers and online video consumers on a more-personalized level.
That was one of the key takeaways from a new report released by Nielsen’s Gracenote on Thursday, which includes an aggregation of data from its own measurement and analysis firm along with third parties to help bring actionable insight to brands who are interested in buying CTV advertising, but who might otherwise not have actionable insight to create and execute on their campaigns.
Gracenote makes a clear distinction off the bat: CTV involves any kind of long-form video that can be watched with an Internet connection, and while all CTV is considered some form of “streaming,” not all streaming is CTV. Streaming video can also include virtual cable TV alternatives (vMVPDs); free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) platforms; and user-generated content (UGC) like short-form videos that are uploaded to YouTube — which has quickly become the biggest single streaming platform in the U.S. and the largest media distributor for the past three consecutive months, according to Nielsen.
“Understanding the variety of content that makes up the CTV landscape is crucial, as both UGC and studio-produced content are often positioned as CTV — but not all CTV is created equal,” Gracenote affirmed. “That’s why it’s critical that video inventory includes the right level of metadata to facility meaningful programmatic ad transactions and confidence in their outcomes.”
Gracenote is a supplier of that precise kind of metadata. It tracks nearly 2 million individual programs, movies and TV episodes distributed by subscription video on-demand (SVOD) products in more than two dozen countries, including services like Netflix, Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus and Amazon’s Prime Video, which comprise the Gracenote Data Hub.
SVOD aside, Gracenote also tracks nearly 1,700 FAST channels that distribute over 182,000 individual titles and episodes, and more than 70,500 linear TV channels across dozens of countries, many of which are carried by streaming pay TV alternatives like YouTube TV and Fubo.
The vast amount of content and delivery channels can make buying contextual advertising inventory extremely difficult, unless platforms that sell it and buyers who obtain it have enough data to understand how and when to target certain viewers.
Basic metadata, like genre, can help — but more than 50 percent of all CTV content has two or more genres, and 20 percent has three to four genres. Which means genre-based targeting might be too narrow, or not narrow enough, depending on the precise need of the brand or ad buyer.
Gracenote says having differentiated types of data, like language, sport, event or even start and stop times can help ad buyers better design and deploy their contextual campaigns on CTV platforms.
Athletic competitions and related shoulder programming are a good example: Gracenote says sports is the second-largest program category on FAST channels today, and most live events are scheduled based on typical broadcast clocks.
While traditional TV may only be able to offer ad inventory based on time and program, CTV platforms can allow buyers to leverage the type of metadata Gracenote acquires and distributes to target consumers based on where a game is being played, which athletes or teams are participating, or whether the event is part of a broader tournament like the Olympic Games or March Madness.
Gracenote put their metadata to the test during a recent ad campaign launched by Canella Media and DirecTV Advertising, which targeted health and wellness enthusiasts over the age of 50 during the NCAA March Madness tournament. Gracenote said the campaign resulted in a 99 percent completion rate, and its cost-per-action (CPA) was 14 percent lower than comparable behavioral targeting.
The full report released by Gracenote is available to view by clicking or tapping here.
