Poor understanding inhibits adoption of connected TV

Digital video adspend is growing rapidly in the UK and connected TV (CTV) is a channel that offers many opportunities for brands, yet a new survey of 900 senior video marketers has revealed a series of hurdles to its greater adoption.

As reported by Rapid TV News, adtech firm Xandr has released a guide to CTV, entitled Advertising’s Creative Canvas 2021, which reveals there is significant room for improvement in terms of the effectiveness of video advertising campaigns.

Key findings

• Some 41% of digital video advertisers and buyers say that lack of understanding of the CTV ecosystem is one of the key barriers to greater adoption.
• Lack of supply (57%) and availability and quality of data (35%) are the other top challenges, according to the Xandr survey.
• Half of UK advertisers do not believe they reach the right audiences effectively, compared with 35% in France, 37% in the US and 39% in Germany.
• Just under a third (30%) of UK advertisers say they are not effectively selecting the right media type, such as CTV or social media, to target audiences for campaigns.
• More than half (52%) of UK marketers say they don’t effectively optimise campaigns, compared with 35% in Germany and 37% in the US.
• Almost half (45%) of UK advertisers do not believe they effectively select the right content type, such as news or lifestyle, compared to about a third (31%) in France.

Key quote

“The connected TV opportunities are clear – so much so, that CTV, like TV, is fast gaining traction around the world and smart ad buyers are already contemplating their global CTV strategy. But, like any nascent technology, it is not without its challenges” – Austin Scott, head of EMEA video marketplace development at Xandr.