OpenX’s Audrey Michelin says the CTV opportunity in APAC is rapidly growing as sales of connected TV devices grow and the depth and breadth of streaming services expands.
By 2027, the OTT and video streaming industry in APAC is forecast to reach $161.9 billion. And as the industry grows, so does the potential for brands to deliver relevant advertising experiences to highly engaged, authenticated audiences.
Consumers are receptive to CTV ads; research shows that 40 per cent of APAC CTV viewers have already downloaded a mobile app after watching an ad, and 57 per cent say they are likely or very likely to scan a QR code displayed during an ad.
It’s no surprise that media buyers in the region are attracted to CTV by the platform’s high levels of engagement and the ability to reach new audiences. The potential to measure the effectiveness of campaigns and track outcomes also boosts CTV’s appeal. However, for CTV to realise its full potential, the ecosystem must address transparency concerns.
Why CTV has so much potential for advertisers
CTV isn’t so much a new digital channel but rather an evolution of how people consume television. In theory, it offers a brand-safe environment similar to linear TV, but with several digital advantages. Authenticated, addressable audiences can be reached in real time alongside high-quality content.
These ads can be interactive, containing a call-to-action such as a QR code that can be scanned, or offering viewers the opportunity to learn more by pressing a button on their remote. Real-time optimisation is also a possibility for CTV, where on-the-spot adjustments can be made within campaigns to maximise ad performance — it’s several steps ahead of what’s possible with linear TV.
Another advantage of CTV is that its digital nature means that the buying process can be streamlined for advertisers. While upfront deals negotiated directly with publishers and programmatic guaranteed (PG) – based on traditional models of buying TV advertising – give brands some certainty over what they’re buying, creating individual deals with publishers is resource intensive and doesn’t allow for decisions to be made closer to campaign flight time.
Publishers also know that they can’t maximise the value of their entire inventory by relying on upfronts and PG alone. Therefore, biddable CTV has emerged to fill these gaps, taking advantage of the untapped potential that exists.
Realising the potential of biddable CTV
Accurate categorisation is a real issue facing biddable CTV. Removing unintentional inventory – content that wouldn’t typically be considered ‘TV’ to a consumer – but is classified as such, for example gaming, user-generated content, and apps – will strengthen and support the premium CTV marketplace. While this type of content has a purpose and deserves to be monetised, it shouldn’t be sold as CTV.
Linked to this is a lack of transparency in buying processes that means advertisers too often aren’t sure exactly where or when their ads are appearing, or how they fit into the content they’re being shown alongside. Measurement methodologies offer few insights to advise brands on how their campaigns are performing and often aren’t immediately available.
But this also provides us an opportunity to avoid repeating some of the same mistakes of programmatic buying on the open web, where brand safety was by no means certain and transparency into where ads were appearing was often lacking. When transposed to the CTV market, the result is that advertisers can end up overpaying for unintentional inventory, while broadcast-quality publishers miss out on revenue against premium content.
Cleaning up the CTV ecosystem
Advertisers need transparency, ease of purchase, and incremental reach. Cleaning up the CTV advertising ecosystem is the first step in this mission. All content must be accurately and appropriately categorised so brands and agencies have full transparency into what they are buying.
Publishers have first-party data at their fingertips that can help buyers deterministically target desired segments through biddable inventory by matching audiences through identity resolution tools. This means buyers are able to compete on premium inventory without being locked into firm budget commitments, while still achieving incremental reach.
Building trust for buyers also requires solid measurement systems. Vanity metrics won’t cut it; publishers need to be absolutely transparent about how their methodologies work so brands can understand how their campaigns are performing, and whether they are driving their desired outcomes.
Creating a fair and transparent CTV ecosystem
Until buyers feel that they can trust what they are bidding on and how performance is measured, they’re unlikely to utilise CTV to its full potential.
Therefore, we must take steps to protect the value of broadcaster and publisher inventory by eliminating unintentional inventory from CTV offerings and developing a robust, trustworthy system of content classification.
Publishers will then be able to maximise the value of their premium inventory and invest their profits into creating more high-quality content that will make the viewing experience even better. There’s a bright future for CTV where all parties – advertiser, publisher and viewer – benefit, but it will require working together as an ecosystem to realise it.
Audrey Michelin is the Asia-Pacific senior director of account management at OpenX.
