How to Win with Connected TV Live Sports Advertising
How is your March Madness advertising bracket shaping up?
As the elite NCAA women’s and men’s basketball teams make a run for national glory, advertisers are locked in a fierce contest for the attention of fans who are watching the tournament in their homes, bars, at work, and everywhere in between. Recently, Warner Bros. Discovery and CBS (which are jointly broadcasting all 67 games of the NCAA’s Men’s Basketball Tournament), said they are expecting record ad revenues. Disney+ expects a healthy increase in ad revenue for the women’s tournament. One reason for the ad revenue spike, besides the excitement of March Madness: the rise of connected TV (CTV).
It is important that businesses pay attention to how live sporting events such as March Madness are giving CTV advertising a major boost. Live sports events have something important in common with landmark moments like the Academy Awards and cultural events like holidays: seasonality. And seasonal events attract highly engaged audiences. Seasonal events provide an opportunity to explore how to tap into the power of connected TV to reach a highly engaged audience by capitalizing on culturally relevant moments. Marketers/brands should be planning for these types of events (along with traditional holidays) earlier to ensure they have a fully baked strategy that not only captures the zeitgeist of the event but also engages throughout the year. In this post, I will focus on live sports given how popular the live sports industry has become on CTV.
CTV Catches Up to Linear
Thanks to the rise of CTV, advertisers have more opportunities to reach audiences. Amazon Prime, Hulu, MAX, YouTube TV, and other streaming businesses are also airing March Madness games – a far cry from the days when advertising inventory was controlled by the television networks.
For years, linear TV networks owned live sports as a viewing experience, even as streaming businesses such as Netflix and Hulu ascended to heights of commercial success. But this is changing. Today more than half of American no longer pay for cable TV or other traditional pay-TV services, and streaming accounts for nearly 40 percent of total TV usage. This shift affects how people watch sports. Approximately 39 percent of viewers mainly consume sports content through ad-supported CTV platforms or social media; this percentage is the same as for those who use cable for their sports viewing. In other words, CTV has caught up with linear TV.
Sports Viewing Changes
Viewing habits are changing everywhere for every sport. Consider what has happened with the NFL, easily the most powerful sports and entertainment brand in the United States. You can now watch NFL games across the digital world, including NFL.com, NBC Peacock, Amazon Prime, and more. In fact, a playoff game streamed by Peacock in January 2024 was reportedly the most streamed live event in history. This is especially significant because the NFL is a bellwether sports brand.
March Madness reflects these changes as evidenced by all the ways audiences can enjoy the tournament online. And advertisers are responding with spots that run online and offline, including The Home Depot, RITZ, SKIMs, and many more. As with all big-name events, these ads typically get posted all over social media, too, and of course not just during the game. In the CTV universe, advertisers need not narrow their exposure to one time slot when audiences are gathered around their TVs. And with a streaming company like Amazon Prime, an advertiser enjoys the benefit of both exposure to an audience and access to Amazon’s own advertising services.
The Appeal of CTV Advertising
A tournament like March Madness offers these specific advantages to advertisers on CTV versus linear TV:
Precision Targeting
Linear TV relies on broader demographics. CTV lets you pinpoint ads based on factors like interests (e.g., basketball fans for March Madness,), location (target a specific town where a popular college is located), and viewing behavior (target viewers who watch sports highlights frequently).
Real-Time Adjustability
CTV advertising is nimble; you can optimize campaigns in real-time. If a game is a blowout, you can reallocate budgets, or if an upset happens, change your messaging for maximum impact.
Interactivity
Streaming can support interactive ad formats, enabling viewers to engage with content in ways not possible on linear TV. Viewers might click on an ad to learn more about a product or to make a purchase directly from their device, leading to higher engagement rates. The personalized nature of streaming content, including ads, tends to keep viewers more engaged, meaning ads shown on CTV during live events are likely to capture and retain viewer attention more effectively.
Addressable Advertising
CTV allows advertisers to show different ads to different households watching the same program. This helps brands tailor messages even further.
Reduced Ad Waste
Linear has a spray-and-pray approach: your ad goes out to a wide range of people, not all of whom may be interested. CTV’s targeting reduces the number of uninterested impressions.
What Advertisers Should Do
But succeeding on CTV is not a given. Advertisers need to proceed carefully and thoughtfully.
Be Aware of Evolving Formats
For one thing, the CTV landscape has a range of platforms and devices (Roku, Amazon Fire TV, smart TVs, etc.), each potentially requiring unique ad formats and buying strategies. This can make campaign execution complex. And there is no single, unified measurement standard across CTV providers, hindering accurate audience reach calculations and making it difficult to compare performance across different platforms.
Do Your Homework: We Are in the Early Stages
CTV streaming platforms are at various stages in their evolution. On the one hand, Amazon Prime is often cited as a stellar example of how sports advertising can work because Amazon is developing innovative ad formats for NFL games, such as audience-based creative. But not every platform has evolved as Amazon has, and Amazon benefits from its own in-house advertising company, Amazon Ads. The streaming platforms, while promising innovation and more precise targeting, are still in the initial stages of living up to their potential. Do your homework and understand how each platform differs (or work with a partner like IDX to do that heavy lifting for you).
Capitalize on Attributes of CTV
Even though the platforms are still evolving, CTV has already evolved enough to where advertisers can create content that delivers better targeting. So, make sure that you work with platforms that can deliver the rich audience data that CTV offers. Use demographics, interests, location, and even viewing behaviors to refine who sees your ads. Consider sponsoring specific games or content that aligns directly with your brand for ultimate relevance. If you have the resources, explore dynamic ad insertion. This technology allows you to personalize your ads based on individual viewer interests or recent searches.
Think in Terms of Campaigns
Rather than creating a single, disconnected ad for one event, build a narrative thread that ties into sports themes throughout a season, or even across multiple sports. For example, an athletic apparel brand could use themes like teamwork, determination, or overcoming challenges present in multiple sports to keep brand awareness high. Thinking in terms of campaigns also means applying data more long term. For instance, you will want to use the audience data you collect during live events to retarget viewers with relevant ads and offers later.
Deliver Creative Excellence
Prioritize creative excellence. Design your ads specifically for the big screen experience; make them visually compelling! Sports audiences have short attention spans, so grab their interest quickly and tell a short but impactful brand story. Do not neglect a clear call to action – a QR code to scan, a website to visit – do not leave viewers wondering what you want them to do.
Integrate Your Campaign
Integrate your CTV campaign with your other marketing efforts. Create a cohesive message across social media, other digital channels, and even traditional TV if your budget allows. The excitement of live sports events offers unique opportunities, so consider real-time offers or promotions tied to game outcomes. You can even explore sponsorships or branded content integrations with streaming services or sports shows, allowing you to seamlessly weave your brand into the content itself.
Measure and Optimize
Do not do anything unless you can measure and optimize it. Before you even launch your campaign, clearly define the metrics that matter to you. Whether it is brand awareness, website visits, or conversions, choose the key performance indicators to monitor. Use the rich analytics offered by CTV platforms to track your results. Be ready to adjust and iterate – use the insights you gain to fine-tune your targeting, refine your ads, and optimize your strategy over the course of the sports event.
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