Television is at an inflection point, and the headlines make it clear: Connected TV is the way forward. This month’s roundup of the biggest news stories from across the CTV and marketing space reveals predictions for growth this year as well as concrete investments in CTV from major retail players. The lineup of news stories also includes practical tips for maximizing viewers’ attention and using the new wave of AI tech to give fans new ways to engage with your brand.
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Connected TV Growth Poised to Accelerate in 2023
Walmart Ramps Up Connected TV Ambitions
Study Points to Ways Sponsors Can Gain Attention on Connected TV
Amazon is Flooding the Zone with New TVs as it Crosses 200 Million Fire TV Devices Sold
Study: Streaming UK’s Most-Watched Form of TV
Why Chips Ahoy’s Linear TV Budget is Crumbling in the Face of New Digital Options
Coke Asks Consumers to Generate Art with New AI Platform
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“Connected TV is no longer the future but the present,” Variety declares in the opening line of this deep dive into the statistics behind CTV’s rapid growth leading up to and through this year. The article includes forecasts that CTV ad spending will account for just under a tenth of the U.S. media advertising market by 2026.
Walmart’s U.S. advertising division, Walmart Connect, is scaling up its approach to CTV on top of advertising pushes it’s already made with Roku. Walmart’s initiative shows maturing retail media networks are getting serious about the potential of CTV, following similar moves from both Best Buy and Kroger in recent months.
A study from Publicis Media and Yahoo found that ad-supported tiers of subscription services generated higher attention than commercial-free versions — and viewers are most likely to pay attention when watching content with high engagement such as crime dramas, political commentary, and game shows.
Amazon’s full lineup of Fire TV devices has now surpassed 200 million sales, meaning it’s racked up some 50 million on top of its previous announcement in January 2022. The company also revealed several new TV sets coming to its lineup across budget and hardware ranges, starting at $199 for smaller-sized HD sets with Fire TV services built in.
After surging during the pandemic, streaming TV’s popularity has continued to accelerate in the UK and other EU5 countries (Spain, France, Italy, and Germany). A new study of TV viewers in the UK revealed that 82% of respondents chose streaming TV as their preference, compared to 39% who prefer watching traditional paid TV.
Since 2021, Chips Ahoy has pivoted away from linear television in an attempt to build brand affinity with Gen Z consumers. Its new areas of focus are TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and connected TV. “If we really wanted to build brand love, we needed to do that with the younger cohort. And the data indicated that they weren’t watching traditional TV anymore, generally,” senior brand manager Natalie Gadbois said.
The fear of being held accountable is holding some marketers’ effectiveness back, according to Dr. Grace Kite, CEO of analytics firm Magic Numbers. This write-up of a Festival of Marketing event includes advice for how marketers can push past that fear, including accepting that “you’ve never sussed it” and there will always be more to learn — especially from so-called mistakes.
Coca-Cola’s new AI-powered art platform lets audiences use a combination of buzzy technologies to “Create Real Magic.” This makes Coke the first company to take advantage of an alliance between Bain & Company and OpenAI, opening the way for generative AI marketing that invites fans to play with brand iconography and high-profile advertising assets.
Our business means we’re committed to staying on top of all the latest developments in CTV and marketing, and we’d love to share the highlights with you every month. No need to go blog hunting — sign up for our newsletter today and get more insights like these right in your inbox.