Ditch the acronyms to focus on what CTV can really deliver
When did TV stop being TV? Prabhvir Sahmey, Senior Director Samsung Ads, writes how industry’s obsession with jargons is holding everyone, including brands, back
The online viewing revolution means the word ‘TV’ no longer just describes purely linear TV. Increasing numbers are watching streamed content via Smart TVs and according to IDC over 4.5 million Smart televisions were shipped to India in 1H23, an increase of 8% year-over-year (YoY).
Samsung has been the leading TV manufacturer worldwide for the last 17 years, and this means the data we collate at glass level is representatively robust. In the first half of 2023, this data showed that Indian viewers on Samsung TVs spent almost 88% of their total TV time in streaming environments.
This sea change in viewing behaviour is important for advertisers as the data-driven insights we gather from connected TV (CTV) provide opportunities to deliver more relevant advertising, refine reach to find new audiences and reduce wastage.
Jargon is clouding our understanding of CTV
We are all guilty of over-complicating the TV landscape and reinforcing the fragmentation within the medium with an over-use of jargon. This is detrimental to agencies’ full understanding of how CTV can be utilised as part of an integrated media plan.
Streaming brings the data collation and targeting ability of digital to the world of TV but the disjointed way we talk about the ecosystem can be confusing. We have created an alphabet soup of categorisation. One that viewers do not care about and which muddies the waters in our own commercial conversations.
The original labels that initially accompanied the streaming revolution– Advertising Video on Demand (AVOD) and Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) – can be useful in identifying these two different streaming environments.
Viewers certainly understand if they are watching TV for free or paying for the experience - and we know most streamers in India are happy to watch advertisements in return for access to free content. Research we carried out with Verve shows 80% of people in India are happy with this trade off. On the other hand, subscription numbers are churning as people face increased economic pressures.
But we have since added to a growing list of acronyms FAST (Free Advertiser Supported Streaming TV), a descriptor to explain the proposition of a scheduled streaming channel, and we’re grappling with an acronym for Subscription with Advertising Tiers as the SVOD platforms look to new monetisation models.
Will HVOD (Hybrid Video on Demand) win out or SAVOD (Subscription Advertising Video on Demand) win out? This is exactly the kind of meaningless debate around terminology all involved in the TV industry need to put aside.
Step out of siloed thinking
Planners can find these acronyms useful but the lines between these different viewing environments are blurring so much that as an industry we risk creating a convoluted landscape for ourselves that will hold back overall CTV growth. Acronyms become out of date and can inhibit fresh thinking – the most creative solutions and TV buys come from stepping out of siloed thinking.
Agency buyers and planners who may be anxious about their streaming knowledge should be confident in the digital abilities they have honed across a range of media. If you understand how digital media is traded and the capabilities of programmatic then the fundamentals of how to plan and buy CTV will not be difficult to grasp.
Audience first approach
Instead, the focus should be on gaining a deeper knowledge of the viewer and how to reach them. Understanding what they watch, their preferences and how to deliver a positive, privacy compliant experience in which advertisements are welcomed as an integral part of the whole should be the goal. The data-driven insights surfaced by CTV are what is truly important, not the label categories.
This will come by breaking down the silos including the ones that might exist in agencies between audio-visual and digital teams – alignment across teams to focus on CTV’s strengths will deliver the best results for advertisers. These strengths include knowledge at the glass level of watch time, awareness of favourite genres and the ability to identify audiences that have not been reached by a brand’s linear TV campaign.
These insights mean brands can devise complementary campaigns for advertisers that can reach fractured audiences, whether they are linear TV viewers or streaming enthusiasts. Planning against deterministic data rather than siloed viewing formats badged by acronyms will lead to the media mix best optimised to meet marketing objectives.
