Converged TV

What is converged TV?

Our TV viewing habits have been shifting, with the growing popularity of streaming services such as Netflix and Stan now being a household staple for many. Connected TV (CTV) has become an even more prevalent means of finding the content we want to watch. Particularly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, users have been consuming television fluidly, as converged TV. Viewers are adapting to a form of TV viewership that doesn’t conform exclusively to CTV or traditional pay TV.

What is trending?

Converged TV measurement company TVSquared has released a report looking into global trends and adoption of converged TV. The report provides insight into buying habits across more than 1,000 media buyers internationally, and expresses a global sentiment to move away from legacy buying approaches that do not meet the needs of the modern TV landscape.

What are the numbers?

In Australia, 91% of respondents believed TV to be as linear as streaming platforms, with almost the same volume of responses indicating that TV should move to an impression based buying model.

The report highlighted that the majority of advertisers identify measurement and attribution as one of the top priorities for TV buying, as well as accuracy being one of the major challenges. 94% of respondents agree that TV needs to become more flexible in buying across both linear and streaming.

What does media investment currently look like?

In Australia, 40% of respondents noted a budget allocation of between 16 and 25% of their total TV media cost to connected TV. 40% of these advertisers also indicate cross channel advertising of at least 3 to 5 platforms.

Advertisers are typically aiming towards KPIs of reach, awareness and incremental audience reach. Respondents also agreed that key factors in investing in converged TV were metrics transparency and the ability to optimise for performance.

How can marketers prepare?

With TV convergence on the horizon, the two worlds will only continue to collide and merge. This transformation will not only affect the way we watch TV, but also the way we buy inventory. New advertising models and measurement capabilities are increasingly becoming available, and media planning and buying are beginning to intertwine.

The convergence of traditional and connected TV could see pay TV adopt the digital publishing model of digital ads, with real time bidding auction opportunities. This could also mean higher addressability across platforms, as users continually treat the new TV landscape as a converged space. Most exciting for advertisers, is the data targeting capabilities of CTV, with the prospect of these capabilities merging to paid tv buys.

Although these future opportunities remain speculative, media buyers should be prepared for the collision of the TV ecosystem. Get in touch with your ADMATICian to find out more.