Connected TV (CTV) is getting popular by the day and so is advertising on these modern platforms. Recently, Yahoo, Omnicom and Amplified Intelligence teamed up to study advertisements on the CTV platform.
In this combined study, Yahoo contributed data on ad placements using its Yahoo DSP platform. Omnicom supplied advertisements from their clients, including the Volkswagen Group, the Victorian Government, etc. Amplified Intelligence utilized their attentionTRACE system to capture and analyze facial footage of viewers to assess engagement.
The study reported that CTV delivered an average of 9.7 active attention seconds. This attention span was found to be about 8 times larger than what advertisers get on mobile ads and an astonishing 16 times more than on desktop advertisements. Overall, they found that CTV offers more attention as well as improved business outcomes as compared to other digital advertising platforms.
Adding to this observation, the companies stated, “This makes sense due to the nature of the device, where the ad takes up most of the TV screen, whereas desktop tends to have more content and, therefore, more distraction from the ads.”
However, it’s not just the improved attention span that matters. The study also reported that the effectiveness of an ad also rides on the quality of the content that surrounds the advertisement. So, if an ad is run alongside high-quality content and well-respected online platforms, it generates user attention above the benchmark levels.
More importantly, these improved attention spans have been found to be linked with better business outcomes, although results were better when such ads were viewed on personal devices like mobile phones, as it made it more likely for users to respond to the ad and perform sales, as compared to advertising on larger screens. Hence, overall, it is no surprise that the IAB recently announced its forecast for CTV, expecting a 12% growth in ad spending on the platform.
Dr. Karen Nelson-Field, Founder and CEO of Amplified Intelligence, said “We love to see publishers such as Yahoo go all-in on attention. Their latest research and activation with attentionPROVE has provided deeper evidence that the systematic patterns we observe are ever-present across all media environments and markets. It is always compelling to see publishers take their valued customers on a journey of education, especially when the goal is to drive better efficiency, highlight quality inventory and cement themselves as a marketplace for omnichannel attention activation. Yahoo has done just this in their latest global work.”