Fragmentation in Connected TV Creates Opportunities for Brand Marketers

Connected TV is getting hotter, but not all advertising and measurement firms are poised to benefit equally from the channel’s growth. 

Shifting consumer behaviors during the pandemic, coupled with the success of walled gardens, are putting industry heavyweights on solid footing heading into 2022, even while some CTV startups struggle to gain a foothold thanks to increasing industry fragmentation.

With the television industry shifting toward streaming, CTV ad spend is predicted to reach $29.5 billion by 2024. Major brands have already begun shifting ad dollars away from linear television, instead opting to reach consumers through TV sets connected to the internet. That includes devices with built-in internet capability as well as televisions connected to the internet through other devices, like Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku, gaming consoles, and Blu-ray players. 

Declines in traditional TV viewership are making television less attractive to marketers. According to GroupM’s latest forecasts for the 2022 ad market and media landscape, rapid growth in connected TV advertising is expected in the next 12 months. Digital advertising will likely end the year spiking by 30%, excluding U.S. political advertising, and growing to $537 billion overall. If those predictions are accurate, it means digital advertising will account for more than 64% of total advertising in 2021, up from 52% in 2019. It also means that fragmentation within the CTV space will increase as new apps, devices, and platforms continue to make their debut.

This fragmentation in CTV is creating new opportunities for some of the largest players in the space, but smaller startups are still pushing in as well.

One of the earliest frontrunners in this race for market share has become Innovid, the CTV advertising delivery and measurement platform. With the ticker symbol “CTV,” Innovid is now branded as a pioneer, a label that CEO and Co-Founder Zvika Netter isn’t shying away from.

“We serve over a billion ads a day and work with the top TV advertisers around the world,” Netter says. “As the global advertising industry shifts ad spend to streaming, we are uniquely positioned to succeed and grow because we are purpose built for TV.”

Innovid’s core ad delivery solution provides advertisers with a consolidated interface to streamline ad serving, operating as the infrastructure through which CTV ads are delivered across all media. The company’s platform also allows advertisers to tap into value-added features designed to increase the performance of advertising creative through personalization and interactivity, as well as provide deeper insights into CTV advertising reach, frequency, and engagement. 

Fragmentation in Connected TV

Innovid is facing competition from newer players in CTV, like the ad tech software company MNTN, which just launched a new creative platform for brand marketers with the help of Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds.

As one of the biggest players in the space, Innovid is seen by brands as a media-neutral moderator of the streaming wars, providing independent, MRC-accredited insights into CTV advertising, Netter says. 

With so many new players entering the space, and new apps, devices, and platforms emerging each month, Netter says the CTV landscape is increasingly fragmented. However, some savvy marketers are finding ways to capitalize on the fragmentation and use it for their own benefit.

“Right now—because of fragmentation—marketers have an unprecedented opportunity to reach new customers at a lower cost, with more control than they could ever expect from traditional broadcast television,” he says. “While fragmentation does indeed pose challenges, it also allows marketers to play a pivotal role in shaping this emerging media ecosystem.” 

Netter says incentivizing interoperability will be key to ensuring future transparency. This will also act as a check on any dominant players that emerge. For marketers who can leverage this situation, CTV fragmentation could be the key to a new era of brand success.

“Innovid acts as the infrastructure through which all CTV ads are delivered,” Netter says. “With Innovid’s extensive reach of channels, publishers, and devices, we are able to unify the silos and measure performance with our independent analytics under one platform for CTV marketers.”

​​Stephanie Miles is a senior editor at Street Fight.