Because popular culture is an ever-changing phenomenon, the most successful advertising and marketing teams take a forward-looking approach to their strategies. When it comes to TV advertising, that means knowing which upcoming trends to prepare for.
For example, more consumers and business owners are turning to connected TV for entertainment and advertising. But what does 2024 hold for connected TV? We’ve identified these seven trends that you might want to keep an eye on.
What Is Connected TV?
But first, what is connected TV? Connected TV (CTV) refers to devices that are connected to or inside of television sets that enable streaming. For example, smart TVs are connected devices, but so are Fire TV Sticks, Rokus, or game consoles like Xboxes or PlayStations.
If it helps, you can think of a connected TV as a TV that is “connected” to the internet, either directly or indirectly.
With that out of the way, let’s discuss what we can expect to see for CTV in 2024.
1. Linear TV Ad Spend Will Continue to Drop
While ad spend has sharply escalated over the past few years, many believe that this trend is coming to an end, with linear TV being hit particularly hard. Predictions are that budgets for linear TV ads will decrease by 4.5%.
Conversely, streaming advertising on CTV and OTT won’t be as negatively impacted. While growth in this ad sector won’t be as strong as it has been in the past, the upward trend will continue, with ad-supported video-on-demand experiencing strong growth. So will broadcaster-supported video on demand, although not as much.
2. Brands Will Seek Insights from Advertising Partners
While advertiser adoption indicates that brands are excited about connected TV and streaming in general, some concerns have emerged. For example, advertisers worry that inventory fragmentation could dampen the impact and scalability of CTV ads when compared to other channels.
Because of this, many brands don’t want to just buy ads; they want guidance as well. For example, advertisers are seeking insights into TV viewership trends and how to build new strategies around them.
3. AVOD Continues to Grow
At first, there were doubts that people would embrace advertising-based video on demand (AVOD). After all, you’d think that the appeal of streaming TV would be the ability to avoid ads and that people would surely continue to pay subscription costs to avoid them.
However, it’s become very clear that people are willing to accept ads for free or discounted streaming. According to Deloitte Insights, by the end of 2024, two-thirds of households in developed nations will subscribe to at least one AVOD channel.
4. First-Party Data Becomes the Focus
Both Google and Apple are changing the ways that data collection works, which is going to impact connected TV shortly. In response to this, advertisers are beginning to rely heavily on first-party data, which is a trend that will continue into 2024.
Media companies are beginning to create their own data clean rooms to share with advertisers. Additionally, advertisers themselves are beginning to build up first-party data stores. At the same time, new tools are emerging to make it possible to use this data in CTV advertising, as well as elsewhere online.
5. CTV Ads as Part of Omnichannel Strategies
Connected TV grew explosively during the pandemic. In response, advertisers jumped on the opportunity to reach a larger audience with CTV ads.
However, many didn’t take the time to integrate their CTV ads with the other components of their advertising and marketing strategy. The overall slowdown in streaming ad growth could lead advertisers to step back and focus on their efforts to make CTV ads part of their omnichannel strategy.
6. Privacy Concerns on the Rise
Changes in data collection will have other impacts. In light of privacy concerns, CTV advertisers will likely shift to contextual advertising, at least to some extent.
At the same time, people are more engaged with ads that are relevant to their interests and needs. This is going to create ongoing challenges for brands as they balance relevance with privacy.
7. Connected TV Ads Improve Brand Awareness
CTV advertising (like most television advertising) has largely focused on audiences at or near the top of the sales funnel, where the goal is to create brand awareness. But in 2024, brands may begin exploring the use of CTV ads as a tool to get more conversions.
Looking Forward to the Future
Overall, 2024 will be a year of refining and repositioning. CTV advertising will settle into a steady pattern of growth, and new tools will emerge that address both consumer and advertiser concerns.
This opens up opportunities for advertisers to integrate CTV into their overall strategies, explore first-party data collection, and take other steps to make their CTV advertising more effective.
