The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the connected television (CTV) market… and advertisers have already taken note.
Speaking as part of PubMatic’s Leading Through Change Series, The Trade Desk’s senior director business development ANZ Stephanie Famolaro revealed that the ad tech company saw a big increase in CTV ad opportunities in the first half of this year.
“This growth is more than double that of what we saw in any other channel,” Famolaro explained.
This has been coupled with brands increasing their investment into the BVOD space, she added.
With advertisers now increasingly interested in targeting and measurement, Famolaro tipped accountability to be a marketing focus in the near future.
“I do believe that we will come out of COVID with an even sharper focus on accountability for every dollar that is invested,” she said.
“This does suggest that programmatic will surge, and that data driven marketing will continue to lead our recovery in this industry.”
Data as a currency
While the increase in content consumption has been well-documented, due to the pandemic, this hasn’t always resulted in increased advertising dollars.
According to Famolaro, this paradigm shift will see a renewed appreciation of data.
“COVID-19 has delivered the biggest jolt to consumer behaviour in living memory, where we go for news inspiration and distraction is changing in real-time,” Famolaro continued.
“And whilst it is too early to make a call on the long term impacts of COVID, it is highly likely that data will become the common currency for brands, media and internet given that ad dollars will have to work harder than they ever have before the pandemic.”
This data-led future is one that aligns with The Trade Desk’s vision.
“Whilst we’ve certainly had to reprioritise some things, our vision for the future has remained unchanged. And this has really given us the confidence to move forward in where we invest in how we execute our plan,” Famolaro said.
