Asking the Hard Questions: Why Is No One Watching Ads on TV?

Audiences are inundated with hundreds of ads a day across the many devices they use, so it’s not surprising to see that consumers are suffering from ad fatigue. With the rise of multi-screen content consumption making it increasingly difficult to capture someone’s attention on Connected TV, the question on the minds of advertisers and brands leveraging the biggest screen in the home is how? How can they penetrate the overcrowded space to capture and resonate with audiences in the living room?

The answer comes in the form of delivering creatives that are not only relevant but personal in a truly meaningful way, and there are very few ways that this can be done.

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Why is No One Watching Ads?

With Connected TV fast becoming our default method of content consumption in the home, the viewer’s time is already on the big screen, but are their eyes? In this age of constant distraction, how can advertisers get consumers engaged and keep them engaged while they are there?

A cell phone. A tablet. A computer. All can be found within arms reach at any given time for some households. All of these devices can act as distractions during commercial breaks, offering a reprieve from the same old ads running back to back on their television screens. Between all of these devices, the average viewer will view 6,000 to 10,000 ads a day across all devices. That’s a lot of ads. And for the most part, the ads they see on TV follow the same 70 year old formula.

For many brands, a successful CTV strategy translates to viewers seeing their ads frequently enough to enable a natural recall, but measuring just how many times someone needs to be exposed to the ad is not a science and as such can often risk leaving viewers feeling overexposed. This leads to two troubling risks for advertisers: viewers tuning out and turning to other devices while the ad plays, or far worse, developing negative sentiment towards the brand whose ad they see over and over again.

There are, however, a select few ads that catch viewers’ eyes and keep them captivated because they engage them on a personal level. These are the ads brands should be paying attention to as they work through strategies to capture the viewer’s attention.

Solutions for the ‘Generic’ Ad

To avoid being generic, challenging the 70 year old creative playbook is critical. Why? Because not only is distraction a problem, but a pandemic, social unrest and calls for equality and justice have all taught us that viewer sentiment has the potential to change in real-time.

One way to accomplish this is by abandoning the “one size fits all” mindset and adopting a more agile approach to advertising. Brands and advertisers are now realizing, more than ever, that flexibility and the opportunity to change ads at a moment’s notice to best fit current events is pivotal to a brand’s success. Additionally, more agility opens the door for creativity and innovation as ads become living, breathing things.

Another method is to focus on the 15 second spot. Viewers are consuming content in increasingly smaller formats and advertisers who refine their spots to follow suit will see more success in capturing their attention. To maximize the impact of these shorter ads, advertisers need to ensure that the creative is native to the content around it. Viewers are more inclined to continue watching ads that flow into the content they’ve already been consuming. In fact, purchasing intent of the viewer decreases by 8% when the content and ad are not aligned.

But with all of this considered, creating a personalized ad is what really impacts viewers.

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Creating A Personalized Ad as Well as a Relevant Ad

It is an interesting situation marketers find themselves in. On one hand, CTV has emerged as a formidable platform for advertising. On the other hand, the channel’s rapid growth has left advertisers scrambling to incorporate it into their media strategy, with many defaulting to the traditional linear TV playbook that ultimately does not translate well on CTV in this age of distraction.

In order to truly engage and influence viewers, advertisers need to get creative when it comes to their creative and go beyond what is simply “relevant” to the viewer. The most important factor to remember is that viewers want the ads they see every day to resonate with them. As such, they need to be personalized to fit the individual seeing it. Ads need to be personalized in a way that the creative itself represents who the viewer is. For example, a household with children is very different from a household without, or a household with an income of $50,000 compared to that of one with an income of $500,000 and, as such the advertisements delivered to their screens should be equally unique.

Since creating custom ads that are also visually appealing is a long and expensive process brands often, and quite rightly, make generic ads that can be watched by anyone. But, there are an array of solutions that can be leveraged to turn a generic ad into a unique captivating experience.

Today’s TV viewer is changing dramatically — and the advertising industry is failing to keep up. By deepening their awareness of what viewers want to see, advertisers can create ads that truly speak to their audience. In order to do that, advertisers need to recognize the difference between “relevant” and “personalized” to ensure that they are creating ads that fit each individual viewer.