2025 Rolls Ahead

Green is finally the predominant color here in Cleveland. After a long and particularly cold winter, we have signs of life.

Quick Hits

After my first newsletter, I received a good suggestion: adding links. So, at the top of each of these discussion points, I’ll provide content that gives chance to really dig in (assuming my witty commentary doesn’t tide you over).

Decoding CTV - Episode 102: CTV in a Cross Channel Context — Great conversation with an old colleague of mine, Susan Waldes.

CTV Still Has a Fraud Problem — You will hear more of this as 2025 moves along.

CTV Ad Reach Is Low, but Its Potential Remains High — Frequency is still a problem, but there is a lot of room to grow.

Why CTV Won’t Fall into the Same Commoditization Trap as the Open Internet Did — From the publisher/streamer side of things.

Decoding CTV - Episode 102

Thanks to Susan Waldes for being our guest on Decoding CTV. There is a lot of discussion around CTV as a standalone channel, but it’s far more important to think about its fit in your greater marketing mix and not siloing out CTV like another walled garden. I really like Susan’s idea about CTV “recipes” when brands consider how to incorporate it into their mix.

CTV Still Has a Fraud Problem

AdExchanger - Victoria McNally

My favorite quote from this article:

“If it came in too cheap and at too high a volume, you should know,” [Simulmedia CEO Dave Morgan] said. “That is fraud.”

Over the past 16 months I have talked to more than a few people who were not paying attention to the CTV data from their partners. I spotted a lot of cheap CPMs (read: fraudulent placements) in what was supposedly “premium” inventory. This is one reason it is important to work with a focused partner rather than a partner trying to do many things.

CTV Ad Reach Is Low, but Its Potential Remains High

EMARKETER - Marissa Jones

The biggest takeaway for me is the relation between the top two challenges (too many providers & not understanding where ads are running). These challenges persist when CTV is just bolted on to a social media specialist’s job description. Working with a focused CTV partner, even as a stopgap while you upskill your current team, can help manage these challenges and unlock CTV’s full growth potential.

Google OKs the Use of IP Addresses by Advertisers, Reversing a Key Ad Tech Data Policy

AdAge (PAYWALLED) - Garett Sloane

This is old but still highly relevant. (Also, Garett Sloane is a great journalist in the space and I highly suggest reading his stuff.) Because CTV never used cookies, it was largely unaffected by Google’s yes/maybe/no approach to deprecating the identifier. But with Google allowing IP addresses to be used by advertisers, tying CTV to other digital channels should become easier. The speed of CTV advertising growth could increase a ton this year thanks to this decision. The best time to test into this would be now!

Why CTV Won’t Fall into the Same Commoditization Trap as the Open Internet Did

AdExchanger - Victoria McNally

I would like to see the same discussion on the brand and agency sides. CTV is still a part of the programmatic landscape and therefore has the potential for bad actors to take advantage (see other AdExchanger piece above). But it is still vey much TV: premium media with non-skippable ads long enough for brands to tell a story (which can happen sequentially thanks to targeting capabilities).

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