Connected TV will become an APAC marketing mainstay in 2021

Criteo’s Kenneth Pao outlines why connected TV will become an advertising fixture in APAC in 2021. (This is an excerpt from a longer Opinion piece. Click "View more" the read the full article.)

Like the rise of e-commerce, the popularity of connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) devices has been trending upward in recent years, with the pandemic accelerating this growth. It is thus essential that brands engage consumers on these devices through advertising.

According to eMarketer, all APAC countries have seen exponential growth in digital video viewers this year, and that momentum will continue through the end of 2024. Additionally, findings by Nielsen revealed that the number of total hours spent with CTV devices began to rise once people started quarantining at home (by March 30, 2020), showing an 81% increase year over year, which amounts to nearly four billion hours of CTV use per week.

The bottom line for brands is that consumers are migrating to CTV and OTT — and it is key that advertising meets them there. More people using CTV and OTT devices means more hours of content watched on those platforms and a captive audience that would be open and receptive to relevant ads.