Samsung Ads’ Cathy Oh On The Future Of Connected TV Advertising

The way the world watches TV has been changing but the industry has reached a tipping point with one-third of Australians streaming content on Connected TV (CTV) every day.

Samsung Ads understands the changing nature of TV better than most. After all, the company has been the world’s number one TV manufacturer for the best part of two decades. In fact, more than two-thirds of the time spent watching content on a Samsung TV was spent in a streaming environment.

But while those changes are exciting for publishers and consumers, with more chances to try out new content, it poses a problem for media buyers. How can they ensure they’re speaking to the total TV audience? How does CTV change the mix of their video buys? And how can they reach seemingly unreachable audiences in ad-free environments?

Cathy Oh, Samsung Ads’ VP and Global Head of Marketing, believes now is the time for buyers to embrace CTV and has identified three key trends they’re observing and what this means for marketers.

The TV Audience is shifting, and streaming is surging

While most people still watch both linear and streamed TV, the makeup of the total audience has changed dramatically in the past few years. The proportion of streamers is continuing to grow with some 91 per cent of consumers streaming content on CTV. Those who are still watching linear TV tend to watch a lot of it and those who are streaming tend to binge.

To reach the total TV audience — a concept that media planners should be thinking about, rather than splitting linear and CTV viewers — Oh said that buyers should be focusing on maximising their reach, and minimising wastage.

“The numbers make for clear reading.” Oh told B&T, “the way audiences consume TV and, therefore, ads have changed irrevocably.”

“To reach a total TV audience, advertisers should be looking to guarantee incremental reach in CTV environments. Subscription video-on-demand and ad-supported video-on-demand (SVOD and AVOD, respectively) are continuing to grow in popularity and prevalence within the Australian market. For ad buyers, these new formats present new, but not insurmountable, challenges.”

Harness The Growth Of Ad-Supported Streaming

When Netflix announced its ad-supported streaming tier, despite its lack of history in advertising adland was intrigued. Did this represent the start of a new era of streaming, or was it a pragmatic reaction by the streamer to the growing cost of living crisis and incremental contribution to their growth and would generate incremental revenue and profit.

Regardless, advertisers have been signing up and ad verification tools have been launched to ensure spend doesn’t go to waste. Closer to home, Binge also launched an ad-supported tier and said that it had been “unbelievably well received” by brands and it was seeing “record speed” in selling its ad packages.

Samsung Ads is seeing more consumers spend time within ad-supported streaming services versus paid ad-free services. In the second half of last year, time spent in ad-supported streaming services was up 21.5 per cent on Samsung Smart TVs in Australia compared to the same time in the previous year. By contrast, time spent in subscription-based services was up by 12.9 per cent. For BVOD, the growth was even slower at just 4.6 per cent.

“In a world where consumers are creating their own media mix, marketers have a unique opportunity to use advanced TV data for both precision and reach. These increasingly popular environments present a fantastic opportunity for brands.

“However, media buyers need to be wary of their frequency. Consumers don’t want repetitive, disruptive and irrelevant ads. By applying a data-driven approach, you can solve for a variety of challenges like frequency capping, incremental reach, competitor conquesting and ultimately create a better advertising experience for viewers.”

Reaching The Unreachable

Of course, while ad-supported streaming is growing, many consumers are sticking firmly to their ad-free CTV environments. It still makes up for the majority of viewing in Oz, and while that number will start to shrink, their dollars count just as much as anyone else’s.

For marketers, this might seem the like a bridge too far. However, smart TVs offer ad solutions that reward creative thinking, to reach consumers before they even enter their streaming service of choice.

The connected nature of smart TVs offers a great chance for advertisers to contextually target consumers. Samsung Ads Game Console Launcher, for instance, can detect when an Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo games console is plugged into a Samsung Smart TV and would serve the user a targeted ad. For one client, there was a 139 per cent uplift in purchases from gamers compared to those unexposed to the campaign and a 518 per cent lift for users exposed to both Samsung Ads plus linear ads.

But that’s just one example. For Oh, it’s in these more challenging environments that the best marketers can shine — provided they use the right tech solutions.

“With the range of targeting and tech options available to media buyers, creatives and planners, there has never been a better time to start thinking more creatively about ad formats. While there is still room for the classic 30-second primetime TV spot, the breadth of formats, the richness of first-party data and the speed of digital advertising give marketers the chance to test, experiment, learn and optimise.

Native ad solutions on smart TVs provide brands with the chance to reach audiences in new and novel ways without seeming intrusive. “And, with Samsung Ads, agencies and brands have a partner willing and able to help, assist and inform their campaigns for the greatest success possible.”

From speaking to Oh, it’s clear that while the TV is still the biggest and most important screen for adverts in the home, it is still one ripe for innovation and ready to reward success.

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