Google Aims to Make Television Advertising a Possibility for More Retail Businesses

It’s called connected TV advertising (CTV), and if you like the targeting of lookalike audiences, you might like this.
SIA Team
July 27, 2021

Connected TV is basically what it sounds like: “connected” television, or television where the broadcast is either from, or through, an Internet source, rather than exclusively via a traditional cable channel (though there can be some overlap).

Anyway, we all know that, with the onset of what occurred in 2020, people have had more time at home. 

That means that people have had a lot of time to watch television–but not just television of old: as you know, streaming has pretty much become mainstream. In fact, it’s reported that by June of 2020, Google Ad Manager had seen a nearly 3-fold increase in the number of connected TV (CTV) ad requests. 

And you know what that means: more opportunities for marketers to advertise. But, this isn’t necessarily the mass get-your-name-out-there brand advertising of previous years.

Nope. Instead, with Google’s Display & Video 360, you have the ability to reach new people who have interests similar to an audience you’ve previously identified. 

Last week, Google introduced some new Display & Video 360 tools, and yesterday, Google described 3 features that advertisers can use to identify the ideal attributes of their desired audience, measure sales impact, and more easily create audio ads.

Feature #1: Similar Audiences Set the Stage for the Right Context

If you’ve advertised online before (and I’m thinking of Facebook’s lookalike audience feature) you may easily recognize Google’s term, similar audience

To me, it’s similar (pun intended) to the term lookalike audience, which basically means that a certain number of people have traits (interests, shopping habits, browsing habits, etc.) that are meaningfully similar to members you’ve already identified (like, your current customers). 

Feature #2: Measure Offline Sales Impact

If you’re an offline retailer, Google’s upcoming use of sales lift measurement will enable you to calculate how your CTV advertising is influencing offline sales. 

To do this in the US, Google will rely on sales data from Nielsen Catalina Solutions (NCS).

Feature #3: Audio Mixer for Audio Ads

Audio Mixer makes it easier for small- to medium-sized businesses (which may not have the same budget as a Fortune 500) to create ads that will be heard on podcasts and other audio entertainment. 

Audio Mixer allows you to create audio ads quickly, and scale them if they prove to have a profitable ROI. 

If you own a growing retail business and are serious about tracking your results, connected TV (and audio) ads may be something you wish to engage in. 

Source: Google Marketing Platform Blog