The connected TV (CTV) advertising space is at a critical juncture, with performance advertisers demanding greater visibility into their investments.
According to David Nyurenberg, director, video product development and innovation, Rain the Growth Agency, transparency benefits all stakeholders by enabling smarter budget allocation and more effective campaigns.
He told Beet.TV that the industry is entering a phase where advertisers are prioritizing better media quality, potentially at higher CPMs, moving away from the race to the bottom seen in programmatic advertising over the past decade.
The transparency challenge in CTV
“The transparency challenge in CTV right now really is truly a challenge because as more and more advertisers are starting to lean into it, it’s no longer just the big branding advertisers buying CTV,” Nyurenberg said.
“When you’re buying CTV and you don’t have visibility into what channels, what shows, what networks you’re getting, it makes it really hard to optimize to performance and drive the outcomes that brands want,” Nyurenberg explained.
This lack of insight leaves advertisers in a precarious position. “If they don’t know what works and it’s just not working for them, they’ll pull their budgets and go back to the Metas and the Googles of the world where they have greater confidence,” Nyurenberg added.
Strategies for audience engagement
First started in 1998 as CMedia, Rain the Growth Agency is an independent, women-led, integrated marketing agency. Its focus is on direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, employing data-driven strategies to increase clients’ customer acquisition and retention.
“Every advertiser that we work with is a performance-based advertiser, so they’re all leaning on us to drive outcomes and growth for their business that is also measurable,” Nyurenberg said.
To achieve this, the agency taps into independent attribution vendors like iSpot and Innovid to establish baseline performance metrics. These vendors help tie high-value business outcomes back to specific publishers.
Rain the Growth Agency has also developed custom algorithms to enhance audience targeting, including a show-level buying strategy. “We were able to match signals within the bid stream on MVPD providers like Spectrum, where those signals are offered,” Nyurenberg said. By matching network channel, time of day, and zip code data with airing data from Nielsen Gracenote, the agency can probabilistically target specific shows.
A transparency and media quality reckoning
Nyurenberg expressed excitement about the industry’s shift towards prioritizing transparency and media quality. “There’s a transparency and media quality reckoning happening right now, where advertisers and media buyers are really starting to care more finally about buying more premium, better quality media,” he said.
This move away from the “race to the bottom” could reshape the programmatic landscape.
“Even though there might be some unpleasant things coming up, stuff that people don’t really want to face because it might make their job harder, ultimately I’m excited because the industry will come out better for it in the long term,” Nyurenberg said.
You’re watching “The Road to POSSIBLE 2025: Transparency and New Signals for CTV Success,” a Beet.TV Leadership Series, presented by Peer39. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
