Connected TV (CTV) ad spend within the U.S. is anticipated to proceed growing over the following few years, topping $34 billion in 2025 and $42 billion in 2027, based on eMarketer. But as with linear TV before it, CTV requires advertisers to pony up on production costs before they will enter the market.
Artificial intelligence (AI) guarantees to assist advertisers generate video creative quickly and cheaply from prompts and image assets. Such tools have been developed by ad-tech firms and platforms including Meta and Amazon, and are already finding purchase with advertisers.
Ad-tech firm Kargo is uniting the facility of AI and the reach of CTV with its Narrative format, which brings together marketers’ existing audio assets with engaging visuals. The offering launched in August and helps brands avoid the one-size-fits-all approach that results from high production costs and short launch timelines, based on Kargo Chief Operating Officer Michael Shaughnessy.
“Oftentimes brands treat CTV the identical way as they might linear, but CTV has much more opportunities. With the expanded capabilities comes a selected set of challenges that marketers should learn to navigate,” Shaughnessy said in emailed comments.
Sierra Nevada was an early adopter of Narrative, using the format to drive awareness of the independent craft brewer’s brand refresh. Kargo combined the brand’s still images with audio featuring its latest tagline to create CTV ads that ran on streamers resembling Paramount and Tubi and outperformed industry benchmarks.
Kargo’s ads outpaced attention metrics for each CTV (+29%) and linear TV (+20%), notching even higher performance amongst millennials (+46% for CTV and +30% for linear), based on TVision data shared with Marketing Dive. With higher attention metrics, Kargo is 75% more cost-efficient in driving attentive impressions, assuming the identical CPMs, the corporate claims.
“We’re thrilled to see that Sierra Nevada’s Narrative CTV ad has resonated so strongly with viewers,” said Catherine Gilham, group director of media and investment at Ars X Machina, Sierra Nevada’s media agency, in a press release. “This success not only highlights the strength of our creative approach, but additionally reaffirms our commitment to engaging consumers in meaningful ways in which elevate the Sierra Nevada brand.”
By using AI to place the “art in ad tech,” Kargo’s Narrative allows advertisers — regardless of the scale — to succeed in their audiences on CTV by bringing the price of production near zero, Shaughnessy explained.
“This unit has been proven to drive attention, engagement and memorability — KPIs that usually result in a greater bottom line,” the chief said.
Read the complete article here
