CTV Ad Buyers Think They Want Show Title Data, But They Don’t

MelinaJanuary 20, 2025

1 4 minutes read

As CTV advertising grows in popularity, advertisers are eagerly embracing the boom in programming options and the growing programmatic market. This has led many to search for data signals that will help them better reach the desired audience. However, in this research, brands demand one signal above all else: showing title data.

CTV represents the merging of the microtargeting of the digital age and the deep syndication of television programming. It is not surprising that ad buyers want to imitate the television advertising practice of following specific programs that attract large audiences. However, when it comes to CTV, show title data is not the answer advertisers want.

There are now over one million shows available for viewers to stream across nearly 50,000 channels. This has become the same problem that marketers faced on the open web, where the long tail has led to millions of websites with engaged audiences.

Some brands may want their DSP to allow offer title targeting, so they can load the offer list in the same way as the keyword list. Meanwhile, publishers protect pitch title data because they fear selection. But a great buyer at the offer level must be an expert in a million offers. It is impossible to comprehensively assess the entire universe of available offers, and if not, it would hamper the scope. This would be similar to automated buyers knowing every URL, which is impossible.

Then we have to take into account the brands’ media buying goals. Your Show Title list will likely contain a lot of well-known streamers that brands of all sizes may think will provide them with a broad audience. There are some flaws in this thinking. The first is that much of CTV’s premium inventory is accumulated in direct deals done with streaming platforms. High-performing brands with different buying strategies often avoid these types of upfront commitments.

There is also the issue of the type and volume of programming available via CTV. Some weeks, the most-watched live show is only watched by a few million households. It’s safe to say that the majority of viewers of bidding shows were watching on an ad-free subscription, just like that 20% of Netflix viewers watch ads. So, even the most viewed and most viral “premium” content won’t really give advertisers the reach they might assume they would get from a TV-like channel.

It all boils down to a central idea that advertisers have had trouble grasping: streaming has eliminated the idea of headline as the sole agent of trading or buying.

This may sound blasphemous, but in a rapidly expanding CTV landscape fueled by a growing number of FAST channels, premium offerings aren’t the only tactic on which you can build your CTV foundation. Instead of chasing everyone’s show titles, brands need to follow other signals that can help them find responsive consumers. This includes detecting and finding the types of content audiences engage with across channels.

To do this, they need a strategy that taps both audiences and Contextual elements. This means not understanding what show your audience is watching, but understanding what they are watching Kind From the show it is. Content-level targeting is becoming increasingly available and can be a tremendous help for brands of all sizes that don’t have access to premium-level offerings on the small amount of direct-sold ad inventory available.

There are also opportunities to deliver relevant ads within the content category, ensuring a harmonious relationship between advertising and content, similar to traditional television. After all, new parents may be watching Netflix, but it doesn’t make sense to serve a diaper ad alongside it Content about the Menendez Brothers. Content-level targeting helps push ads away from that type of content and find a better match, without media buyers needing to conduct a title-by-title search and select only relevant matches.

By moving away from focusing on individual show titles and instead leveraging advanced signals around genres, ratings and content, programmatic CTV buyers can find clarity around the quality of their investment, while benefiting from evolving consumer viewership direction. They can also target, measure and optimize, without having to become experts in a million programs or spend outside their budget level. The sooner brands realize that there’s more to it than just individual show title data, the sooner they’ll be able to use CTV to its full potential.

[Editor’s note: This is a contributed article from Peer39. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]

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