A Publisher’s Guide to CTV Success

The world of Connected TV (CTV) is booming, and publishers have a golden opportunity to expand their programmatic reach like never before. With viewership soaring and advertisers pouring more money into the channel, CTV presents a dynamic landscape for publishers. But let’s be real, everything comes with some challenges. From platform fragmentation to inventory management and securing the right deals, there’s a lot to navigate.

If you're looking to step into the CTV publishing space and maximize your ad revenue, this guide will walk you through essential strategies to help you succeed, overcome obstacles, and optimize your programmatic efforts.

What is CTV Advertising and Why Should You Care?

CTV refers to streaming content delivered via internet-connected devices like smart TVs, gaming consoles, and streaming sticks. Unlike traditional cable TV, CTV allows for advanced targeting and programmatic advertising, meaning publishers can monetize content more efficiently.

However, with so many platforms operating under different standards, finding the right partners and aligning your content strategy is key to making the most of this fast-growing space.

How to Manage CTV Inventory Like a Pro

Managing your inventory effectively is one of the most critical factors in maximizing your ad revenue. Here are three powerful strategies to help you stay ahead:

🔹 Dynamic Price Floors: Think of these as smart pricing strategies. Some systems use fixed price floors, meaning the minimum ad price stays the same until manually updated. Others use dynamic price floors, which automatically adjust based on market demand. This ensures you’re always getting the best possible price for your ad space without the headache of constant manual updates.

🔹 Ad Podding for Maximum Impact: Instead of showing a single ad at a time, ad podding allows multiple ads to be placed within a single commercial break. This not only boosts revenue but also enhances the viewer experience by reducing interruptions. Plus, it allows for better ad targeting by mixing different types of ads within the same break.

🔹 Avoiding Ad Duplication: Nothing turns off viewers faster than seeing the same ad repeatedly in a single session. Prevent this by implementing intelligent ad podding, and leveraging unique identifiers to track ad placements. The goal is to keep ads fresh and engaging.

How to Sell CTV Ads More Effectively

To attract high-quality advertisers and maintain a seamless viewer experience, refining your ad sales strategy is crucial. Here’s how to do it:

✅ Brand Safety Controls: Implement filters to block inappropriate ads, ensuring your content remains reputable and appealing to both advertisers and viewers.

✅ Leverage Audience Data: First-party data is gold. Use it to offer targeted advertising solutions, increasing the value of your inventory and attracting premium advertisers.

✅ Monitor Bid Quality: Not all bids are worth accepting. Screening for fraudulent or low-value bids helps maintain inventory integrity and ensures advertisers get what they pay for.

Final Thoughts: Seizing the CTV Opportunity

Becoming a successful CTV publisher isn’t just about getting started—it’s about staying ahead. By mastering inventory management, optimizing programmatic deals, and leveraging cutting-edge automation, you can unlock new revenue streams and cement your place in the ever-evolving CTV advertising ecosystem.

As the industry grows, staying informed about emerging trends and best practices will be your ticket to long-term success. Ready to grow? The future of CTV is here—make sure you’re part of it!

The Standards of CTV Ad Formats

Nowadays, customers' preference for connected TV is barely revolutionary. CTV is rapidly becoming the most popular streaming option for consumers worldwide, with hundreds of millions of viewers in the US alone. However, the landscape of CTV advertising is a little disorganized due to this enormous viewership and the relatively young age of CTV. Standardizing CTV ad formats and ad-selling procedures generally is crucial.

In response to this demand, IAB Tech Lab started the CTV Ad Format Idol project. The project seeks to standardize the new linked TV forms and bring order to the still chaotic CTV ad market.

The Present Situation of CTV

Traditional linear television is the foundation for the CTV ad formats that are most commonly used today, particularly for video commercials. Naturally, this includes the extra benefits of digital surroundings, such as clickability and skippability. 

Although these have been effective thus far, they do not take advantage of CTV's special characteristics. CTV can provide innovative formats and distinctive viewing experiences as a fusion of traditional TV and the digital world.

In other words, the industry is desperate for innovative yet standardized CTV ad formats. But don’t worry, IAB Tech Lab can help with this. 

Standardize CTV Ads by IAB Tech Lab

The CTV Ad Format Idol effort, started by the IAB Tech Lab, attempts to standardize fresh and creative CTV ad formats. To promote, assess, and define methods for new ad formats that work well in connected TV situations, the effort will bring together industry experts. By January 22, 2025, ad servers, networks, agencies, SSPs, publishers, and other industry participants are asked to submit their CTV ad formats for review. 

What Can We Do About It?

The precise ad formats that the project will cover are still up in the air, and we most likely won't know anything more until Q1 2025. But other formats, like pause screen advertising and brand bugs, have already been designated by the IAB Tech Lab. 

As a consumer and someone who works in the sector, I'm personally excited to see what types of improvements the project will bring about. 

Why These Standards Are Important?

Considering how quickly CTV advertising has been expanding, you may be questioning whether this standardization effort is actually required. Publishers are generating money, advertisers are reaching their target audiences—what more could we ask for?

First of all, this growth will inevitably slow down. Having too many formats reduces the number of potential buyers for publishers and forces advertisers to spend more time and resources creating and delivering ads.

Standardized formats also make it possible for advertisements to work correctly on various CTV platforms and devices, minimizing any technological difficulties that may arise. Additionally, this lays the foundation for a flawless user experience.

Finally, these new ad types will be used more widely once all formats are standardized. As a result, the landscape of CTV advertising will continue to expand. 

Use Ampliffy to Start Your CTV Journey

A few years ago was the perfect time to embrace CTV, but don’t worry, it’s not too late! The opportunity is still here, and now is the perfect moment to get started. As streaming continues to dominate the digital landscape, more advertisers and publishers are tapping into the power of CTV to reach highly engaged audiences.

With Ampliffy, you can seamlessly enter the world of Connected TV, expand your brand’s reach, and maximize ad performance. Don’t miss out, start your CTV journey today!

The Future of CTV

The CTV Now

For CTV publishers, ad-supported subscriptions are a profitable option. In recent years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of streaming services and video platforms that provide high-quality programming. Yet, CTV consumers are unwilling to pay expensive subscription fees to access them all. Because CTV publishers are aware of this, they have increased the cost of ad-free subscriptions while providing low-cost tiers with ads. 

All of this is fantastic news for advertisers!

In theory, more competition among streaming platforms should lead to lower advertising costs. As a result, the high prices advertisers usually pay for impressions on streaming services could decrease due to market dynamics.

Furthermore, the expanding CTV ad space market is less straightforward than linear TV. Compared to regular TV, connected TV advertising has many benefits that increase efficiency, including:

• Precision targeting: Based on various criteria, including viewing habits, interests, and demographics, advertisers can target CTV advertisements. Instead of depending on basic viewership data of traditional TV, this enables businesses to reach the right audience with the right message at the right moment.

• Engaged viewers: A viewer has consciously chosen to watch a video when they decide to stream it. Compared to linear TV, where viewers may not have selected to watch the particular episode being aired, this represents a substantial shift. 

• Measurable outcomes: A range of metrics, including impressions, views, and click-through rates, can be used to measure the effectiveness of CTV advertising efforts. This enables advertisers to monitor the effectiveness of their ad campaigns and make necessary adjustments. This is a huge benefit compared to traditional TV where is it much harder to measure the effectiveness.

It is not surprising that CTV ad spending has increased dramatically in light of all of this. Global CTV ad revenue is expected to more than double from 2020 to $29.6 billion this year, and it is expected to reach $24.5 billion by 2028, according to Statista.

CTV in The Future

CTV advertising will continue to exist. To take advantage of its enormous and expanding potential, serious advertisers need to understand how to work with it now. Advertisers will have more and more chances to reach their target audiences with compelling and successful advertising as CTV viewership keeps growing.

As more and more advertisers enter the market, competition for high-quality ad placements will undoubtedly grow over time, but this will probably be countered by advancements in targeting and creativity. The advertisers with the most experience in CTV will be best positioned to leverage these advancements, ensuring they remain competitive and efficient as the market evolves.

Here are some possible advancements in the CTV industry for the future:

• Similar to current programmatic solutions for digital display ads, programmatic TV is a developing technology that enables advertisers to purchase and sell CTV ads in real-time using automated mechanisms. It is already transforming how TV ads are bought and sold, making the process more efficient for both publishers and advertisers, and it will become even more effective as the technology improves.

• Additionally, new ad formats tailored to CTV are being created. Compared to typical TV advertisements, CTV ad formats are anticipated to be more immersive and captivating. However, the lack of standard creative guidelines across the industry is a key challenge that makes it difficult to scale and slows progress in this area.

• More and more data will be used by advertisers to target their CTV ads, leading to more personalized and effective ad strategies, especially when combined with machine learning.

The way that TV advertising is viewed, purchased, and sold is changing dramatically as a result of the shift to CTV. TV is becoming more quantitative, effective, efficient, and accessible for advertisers. CTV will become an even more significant and effective choice for advertisers to reach their target audiences as their viewership keeps increasing. Long into the future, advertisers will be able to develop CTV advertising campaigns that are both successful and captivating by utilizing the newest data and technologies.

To learn how Ampliffy can assist you as an advertiser looking for a potential ad campaign through CTV, contact us right now.