5 Takeaways from Up Next: Chicago
A special thanks to The Trade Desk for hosting Up Next Chicago: Harnessing the Power of Live Sports and Premium CTV, and for having VP of Investment Solutions Sara Lemmermen as a panelist. Here’s our top 5 takeaways from that conversation:
- Where linear TV wasn’t able to get granular enough to make sense for brands with tight geo targets, niche audiences, or small budgets, CTV is unlocking opportunities for brands who may have been previously priced out of live sports.
- Based on a recent study run by KSM, CTV drives high attention from consumers. Time of day also has a strong impact on a user’s intention and attention, and live sports had some of the highest attention scores in the study. Upcoming changes that will allow advertisers to measure attention at the domain level and optimize accordingly will drive even better results for brands.
- Tying back to true business outcomes is key. Especially in the CTV space, it’s tempting to optimize out of premium content like live sports due to the higher CPMs. However, it’s important to take a step back and evaluate how those impressions are impacting overall sales or brand awareness, and create a more holistic measurement approach.
- To build a comprehensive media plan around something as fragmented as live sports, consider: are you building an audience-focused or content-focused strategy? For a content-focused strategy, we recommend not only building relationships with partners and private marketplace deals to ensure you’re present across the board, but also considering fringe opportunities; whether mobile apps, out of home boards, or other surrounding content beyond CTV, implementing and measuring how they all work together will be what moves the needle. For an audience-first approach, it’s more about accessing as much inventory as possible, and layering on a really strong target audience accordingly.
- When thinking about future trends in live sports and CTV, one place to test and innovate is the ad unit itself. QR codes, dynamic assets, polls, games, and more are available. The industry hasn’t nailed it quite yet here, which means there’s room to play, discover, and make an impact.
At the end of the day, live sports is about the tight connection between the consumer and the content. Whether it’s the Olympics, pro sports, college sports, or any other passion sport moment, being front and center gives brands a powerful opportunity to make an emotional connection, and CTV is making that connection more affordable, accessible, and effective for brands than ever before.
