We’ve just released an in-depth report about TV viewing habits in Canada. The headline news?
Connected TV (CTV) is on the rise.
Today, over 67% of adults in Canada consume CTV, and 89% of advertisers have already stated their intent to maintain or increase their CTV spend next year. It’s no wonder CTV ad expenditure is expected to hit $1 billion CAD soon.
It’s an exciting time.
So, what’s behind the CTV gold rush in Canada? A variety of factors:
- As the cost of entry to CTV falls, more households are adopting smart TV devices and choose streaming
- We’re witnessing a rise in ad-supported streaming as new TV distribution methods like FAST channels, AVOD, BVOD etc have emerged
- Advertisers are realizing the ROI of CTV can outweigh the perceived (falling) cost
All these things present a huge opportunity for advertisers. But…
Only 17% of CTV advertisers consider themselves ‘experts’
In our report, we discovered only 17% of advertisers using CTV would consider themselves to be CTV ‘experts’.
In fact, 52% admitted to only having ‘some’ or ‘limited’ knowledge of how CTV works — despite 43% using self-serve methods.
What can advertisers do to increase their knowledge and confidence? It’s about strategy.
Giving Canadian businesses a CTV boost
Any Canadian knows there’s no country quite like ours. In our report, our regional differences shone through. TV viewers from Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces were happy to consume up to 7.5 ads in one go, whereas other provinces were only fine with up to 6.5. In the Prairies, 30% of viewers have also migrated entirely to streaming — higher than in other areas.
Variance across regions, coupled with the task of finding high-quality data, means a strategy backed by truly Canadian insights would be key for Canadian businesses looking to conquer CTV.
While nearly half of CTV advertisers use self-serve methods, a managed services approach with access to more diverse audience targeting, could be the solution for overcoming diverse challenges and unlocking impactful results.
Here are three reasons managed services could be exactly what you’re looking for.
1. The right partnerships
At MiQ Canada, we’ve partnered with local and global organizations to enhance how we execute CTV campaigns.
By working with Bell Media, we’re able to access local, linear TV insights into how your (and your competitors’) campaigns are performing. As an example, we used local data to effectively reach CTV audiences in a 10-kilometer radius for Bin There Dump That franchises.
Or, with ACR (automatic content recognition) data, we can classify over- and under-exposed Linear TV ad audiences. Then, we can target those under-exposed viewers, ensuring maximum reach with normalized exposure.
Our partnership with Environics Analytics lets us tell a bigger story about your campaign performance with deeper insights into viewership data. This gives you the most accurate answer to the question, “Am I reaching the right people?”.
2. The largest and most diverse CTV offering
The not-so-secret secret to CTV success is data. The better data you have, the more cost-effective and impactful your campaigns can be.
Our CTV offering is built by a world-leading team of data scientists, aided by automation and AI. This means we can do incredible things — like measuring everything, right down to online purchases. Yes, TV advertising is no longer reserved for top-of-funnel activity.
By effectively connecting a wide range of data points, we’ve even developed TV-sync capabilities where we can target your audience on their mobile device right after they’ve seen your ad on TV, or your competitor’s ad. And we make sure you don’t waste impressions with duplication or guesswork.
3. The tools to get creative
CTV is an exciting space where you can do things that were, until recently, impossible.
One example is dynamic CTV. We helped a Canadian online sports betting brand reach 284,000 households it had been unable to access through traditional linear activity — with a 99% video completion rate. We did this by streaming real-time betting odds accompanied by a QR code to encourage users to download the brand’s app. The dynamic ad units with live betting odds resulted in 2x more QR code scans to download the app compared to static ads. Check out the full story here.
Another way we help brands deliver impactful ads is with our Creative Suite. Our creative experts will help turn your vision into reality — while you retain total control over everything. We can assist with video, design, development, animation, and much more.
Multichannel: a stream come true
But that’s not all! There’s one clear similarity between the best CTV advertisers — they’re doing multichannel right.
When you consider that 40% of Canadians almost always use a second screen while consuming TV, this presents an opportunity to tell your story across screens – and get a step up on traditional-only competitors.
It’s important to note, simply targeting multiple platforms isn’t enough — in fact, this can lead to siloed reporting and imbalanced ad saturation. You need a truly connected approach to hit the right screens, in the right places, at the right time.
In practice, that looks something like this: in just four weeks, a top Canadian DTC jewelry brand boosted sales eightfold in an omnichannel campaign that delivered 4.3 million impressions among prospects. The campaign tripled the website visits and drove 8x the number of online orders. They did this by creating awareness with CTV ads before retargeting households through a performance display campaign. Check out the full story here.
Become a CTV expert
We’re committed to giving Canadian businesses the tools they need to become CTV experts.
That’s why we created our Unlocked series. It’s a collection of bespoke sessions designed to help you overcome your CTV challenges. Whether you’re looking to level up your CTV skills, or if you’re completely new to the scene, there’s something there for you – and we are constantly adding new sessions.
Looking to run your first CTV campaign? Or searching for ways to optimize CTV performance? We’d love to help.
Just book one of our MiQ Unlocked sessions to get started or reach me at amith.vikram@miqdigital.com for more information.
