🚫 📺 CTV-Washing: Beware of the mirage!

"CTV", "CTV", "CTV". Everyone is only talking about CTV lately! (and AI 😉)

“This year, my advertisers want to focus their video investments on CTV platforms.” — A confession heard (and repeated) by several VOL Media Traders in recent weeks.

✨ The promises of CTV for advertisers? Big screen ads, sound ON, maximum Ad Attention, targeting capabilities = The perfect combo for powerful brand storytelling.

But does CTV really keep all its promises?

📺🎶 Big screen and sound ON? Yes.

🎯 Targeting? Capabilities vary across platforms:

• YouTube brings the most segments and reach (based on Google data).
• Amazon seduces advertisers with its retail data.
• Broadcasters (TF1 PUB, M6 Unlimited, France Télévisions) are forging strategic partnerships with retailers (e.g., Unlimitail, Valiuz etc.).
• Netflix, Disney+, and AVOD platforms (Rakuten TV, Pluto TV, Samsung Ads, Molotov) focus primarily on their viewership data.

👁️ Ad Attention? The ad experience differs across Apps:

• Netflix favors short ad breaks = 2 pre-rolls/mid-rolls (⚠️ very high CPMs 🚀).
• YouTube: short ad breaks with 1 or 2 pre-rolls/mid-rolls and often the ability to skip, but more frequent (⚠️ some channels are listened to more than watched, e.g., music/podcast channels 🎶).
• Broadcasters and AVOD: longer ad breaks = 3 to 10 ads in a row in an ad pod 😳.

❌ The problem is that users faced with long ad pods quickly tend to... switch their Attention to their smartphones 📱👀.

🕐 Result: between 6 PM and midnight, during CTV "prime time," over 850 million bid requests are generated... by users' smartphones (30% of the day's total BRs).

⚠️ The real risk with full-CTV approaches is believing you're capturing Attention... when it has already slipped elsewhere.

💡 The GreyFox Ads recommendation:

Support your CTV campaigns with a performance-driven Mobile strategy:
✅ Premium, brand-safe & No-MFA mobile inventory
✅ Large/medium video players to maximize message effectiveness
✅ Synchronization during prime time hours
✅ Targeting based on all data gathered across the Open Web

🔄 This way, you ensure continuous cross-screen coverage for your advertiser to maximize the actual Attention captured by your message among their target audience.

🤝 Want to test it out for your French campaign?

What if you challenged your full-CTV plan with a mobile curated deal optimized for efficiency?
➡️ Contact GreyFox Ads

PS: during prime time, platforms should take inspiration from movie theaters by inserting a message at the start of viewing: "Fully enjoy the experience by switching off your phone" 😉

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