Introduction

CTV (Connected TV) has become one of the fastest-growing marketing channels, offering unique opportunities to engage audiences where they consume content the most: their living rooms.

One of the most exciting aspects of this shift is how CTV advertising is now able to bring the performance power of mobile user acquisition (UA) to television. 

Whether you operate in the dynamic world of gaming, the diverse realm of non-gaming apps, or are a streaming app delivering engaging content, CTV is driving incrementality and profitable growth for performance-minded marketers.

AppLovin, the leading marketing platform for business growth, and Wurl, the leading experts in data-driven solutions for CTV, present this report to highlight the significant role CTV advertising plays in driving installs, engagements, and conversions – as it brings the performance power of mobile UA to television.

So, how exactly can you create these results for yourself? Read on, and we’ll explain.

First, some key takeaways

  • Streamline attribution and measurement
    The same performance model as mobile UA campaigns enhances overall campaign transparency and efficiency.
  • Prioritize results over impressions
    CTV extends UA campaigns using performance-based pricing to reach users across devices, resulting in higher ROI.
  • Keep the right viewers engaged
    Target promos individually across CTV, mobile, and desktop to keep viewers watching your content.
  • Drive deeper engagement through dual-screening
    Users engage with their mobile phones while watching CTV and search for information about the advertised product or service.
  • Optimize with a full-funnel mindset
    Consistent measurement across all marketing channels will help you understand and iterate CTV’s impact on your overall performance strategy.
  • Inspire engagement with impactful CTV ads
    Ads should leave a lasting impression and feature a clear CTA that motivates users to take the next step in the customer journey.

Defining the CTV Advertising opportunity

What is CTV advertising? Before we answer this question, let’s first define what CTV is.

Connected TV (CTV) is any smart TV, CTV streaming device (such as Roku and AppleTV), or gaming console that can be used to access digital video content over the internet. CTV advertising enables marketers to deliver ad experiences through non-skippable video on those connected devices.


Viewers are flocking to streaming from traditional cable, creating the virtuous cycle that is fueling CTV’s growth. Streaming platforms and content publishers are investing more than ever in new content and as more content moves to CTV, so do more viewers. All of this has led to advertisers allocating more of their budgets to the medium.

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FAST FACT

The rapid growth of CTV advertising is also tied to the rise of Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST) channels that simplify viewer engagement by not requiring subscription signups. A recent study shows that 87% of viewers are likely to try new FAST services within the next year.

As a digital platform, CTV makes comprehensive performance tracking alongside other internet-connected marketing channels possible. What does that mean for you?

For mobile marketers

Mobile UA campaign goals and attribution can be extended to CTV and optimized for down-funnel actions to improve overall reach and effectiveness.

AppLovin’s AppDiscovery expands the reach of performance campaigns in a way that is memorable, actionable, and ROI-positive.

For streamers & content publishers

Get mobile and digital-style performance marketing for your CTV channels. Increase viewership and revenue for your apps and streaming platforms.

Wurl’s ContentDiscovery attracts CTV audiences, increases engagement, and reduces churn with 100% measurable results.

The impact of CTV by the numbers

21%

of growth for CTV ad spend is projected this year, reaching over $25 billion1

75%

of consumers watch CTV while using their mobile phones4

94%

viewer completion rate is achieved by CTV ads5

95%

of marketers reported CTV achieved their target KPIs3

48%

of viewers say that ads during other TV shows help them discover new content6

93%

of U.S. internet users can be reached through CTV2

The effectiveness of dual-screening

CTV delivers massive scale and can be highly effective within a multi-channel marketing strategy thanks to user-viewing habits. As the majority of users participate in “dual-screening”, or watching CTV while using their phones, they can learn more about the product in real-time, stimulating the down-funnel actions that marketers care about.

Success Story

Picsart tripled their spend after achieving high install rates and tremendous scale through Wurl’s premium CTV supply. Discover how AppLovin’s AppDiscovery and Wurl worked together to help Picsart secure their position as the #2 top-downloaded photography app.

View case study

Make CTV your next performance channel for growth

Get in touch

Driving performance marketing with CTV

CTV has revolutionized the delivery of TV content, viewing behaviors, and the personalization of TV advertising. Marketers can now leverage data-driven targeting and measurement, providing a clearer understanding of campaign outcomes – making TV a more accountable and measurable channel than it’s ever been.

A unique characteristic of CTV lies in its interactivity as a technology not only connected to the internet, but also with other devices. This shift towards interactivity paves the way for continued innovation in performance marketing.

The Marketing Funnel

CTV advertising plays an important role in the marketing funnel, contributing to each stage of the customer journey.

1

Awareness

The massive scale and engaging content of CTV captures viewers’ attention and raises brand awareness

2

Consideration

Dual-screening allows viewers to learn more about a product or service, nurturing interest and consideration

3

Conversion

Impactful, memorable ads in a lean-back environment motivate viewers to take action

4

Loyalty

Engagement with existing customers encourages repeat purchases or brand advocacy through re-targeting

Having a full-funnel mindset is key to understanding the impact of your performance marketing strategy — not only for measurement, but also as part of a multi-channel approach. It’s important to have a set of metrics to navigate this landscape and mobile has set the standard. Consistency in measurement is essential across UA efforts spanning every marketing channel, ensuring a holistic understanding of CTV's role in driving down-funnel actions.

  • In-app Return on Ad Spend (IAP ROAS) - Optimize ROAS based on IAP revenue goals
  • Cost Per Event (CPE) - Scale ROAS based on valuable funnel events
  • Total ROAS - Maximize overall ROAS across IAP and ad revenue
  • Ad ROAS - Drive profitable ROAS based on ad revenue goals
  • Cost Per Action (CPA) - Align performance goals with your profitability indicators
  • Cost Per Purchase (CPP) - Scale your purchasers at a defined cost goal

The importance of MMPs in the marketing funnel

Collaborating with an MMP is a vital part of gaining comprehensive visibility into performance across all of your marketing channels so you can accurately attribute activities throughout the entire marketing funnel. 

This includes measuring the influence of CTV ads on mobile app adoption, targeting high-value audiences ready to subscribe, and implementing cross-device measurement strategies. By leveraging the expertise of an MMP, you can obtain a more complete understanding of campaign effectiveness and make more informed decisions to drive the best results.

CTV AdVision is a comprehensive CTV measurement solution from our MMP, Adjust, empowering marketers to precisely analyze and optimize their CTV campaigns while effectively measuring their impact.

CTV drives incrementality

CTV allows you to expand reach to previously untapped audiences and acquire net-new customers. This is called incrementality and it can be a powerful A/B testing method that assesses the true impact of CTV advertising compared to the results achieved without it. 

As more marketers lean into CTV as a performance channel, they are measuring the incremental conversions and revenue to truly understand its effectiveness and contribution to overall marketing performance.

With Adjust’s CTV AdVision solution, marketers can monitor assisted installs and events in a CTV-specific dashboard. They receive an intuitive overview of how their CTV campaigns are performing individually and also see the impact of their CTV campaigns on metrics like retention, installs, ROI, and revenue.

Gijsbert Pols

Director of Connected TV and New Channels, Adjust

Success Story

Learn how Kikoff, a popular credit building app, decreased their cost-per-engagement (CPE) by 27% and increased their install rate by 3X with AppDiscovery campaigns tapping into Wurl’s premium CTV supply.

View case study

Make CTV your next performance channel for growth

Get in touch

Creating impactful CTV Ad Creative

CTV offers unique opportunities for producing emotionally evocative ad creatives, providing an ideal way to tell stories and connect with your audience on a deeper level. The ability to test and optimize the narratives with CTV ensures the messages that resonate the most reach the right viewers. This allows for iterative improvements, ensuring that the creative elements of your ads can be continuously refined for maximum impact and higher engagement rates.

AppLovin’s and Wurl’s in-house team, SparkLabs, has produced thousands of performance-driven creative assets, analyzing the concepts that produced greater results. They believe impactful CTV ad creative leverages a hybrid strategy that leans into the strengths of both linear TV and mobile.

The intended action with mobile UA is to have the user interact directly with the ad, while streamers want to drive more viewer user engagement with content.

CTV ads are meant to last with the user past the point of viewing the ad. Viewers may engage with the new content immediately, but often dial in later. App interactions are also not typically the next step of the conversion funnel on a CTV device. It’s important to create ad experiences that make the users want to search for your app or streaming content afterward!

By leveraging some of the tools and strategies of the marketing mediums that came before, CTV opens up a new realm of creative possibilities for delivering ads that are memorable and action-oriented.

Maximize the impact of your CTV creative

  • Evoke emotions and deliver a clear message. Utilize characters and compelling narratives that leave viewers wanting more.
  • Be ready to pivot the message and designs toward the best performing creative.
  • Save the extensive usage of in-app footage for mobile where users can engage more effectively.
  • Always include a CTA for conversion. CTV is not just about storytelling, but also about directly driving conversions.

As early as the conceptualization stages of CTV creative production, consider emotion and messaging with equal importance as audio and safe areas. Integrating these elements into your design process from the start will significantly amplify your content's impact.

Jessica Dolan

Director of Creative, SparkLabs

Creative strategies to capture attention

Evoke Emotions

Use ads with emotion and a clear narrative to leave an impression with viewers

Leverages humor as the emotion with the message: Learn words and build vocabulary with Wordscapes

Experiment with Intrigue

Drive impact with unorthodox creative that makes the viewer want to learn more.

Sparks curiosity by reimagining famous artwork with AI, encouraging users to be creative in Project Makeover.

Repurpose your existing mobile creative

When you need to get up and running quickly, make small edits to your mobile creative to prime it for CTV. While this shouldn’t be a long-term solution, this can deliver effective results at a low cost in the short term.

Mobile Version: Original creative designed for mobile UA

CTV Version: CTV version includes a persistent logo and end card emphasizing mobile devices and store badges

WEBINAR

Tune into 3 Proven Steps to Supercharge Your CTV Creative Strategy webinar from SparkLabs to learn more.

Conclusion

Incorporating CTV into your marketing strategy will create more opportunities to reach new audiences and drive new incremental growth for your business. As more cord-cutting viewers stream their favorite shows with phone in-hand, CTV provides the perfect platform to deliver immersive ad experiences that inspire viewers to take action.