What's Holding Back Ad Dollars from Connected TV?

How the industry can push connected TV advertising forward

Connected TV is an advertiser's dream: Consumers pick what to watch, when they want to watch it, and they're typically engaged with the content. But there are challenges keeping advertisers from increasing their investment in connected TV. Pooja Midha, president of ad tech firm true[X], which specializes in engagement-based ads for connected devices, spoke with eMarketer's Paul Verna about what needs to happen for connected TV advertising to reach its full potential. The interview was part of the August 2018 eMarketer report “Connected TV Advertising: Almost Ready for Primetime.”

eMarketer:

What's attracting advertisers to connected TV?

Pooja Midha:

Connected TV is one of the most exciting environments for advertising—or certainly has the potential to be. The nature of the environment is that you have a big screen in your living room—a hero screen—and you’re likely watching on-demand, which means that’s your personal primetime.

Chances are, you’re co-viewing with someone else, so it’s often social. You might have surround sound in your house. The screen resolution may be 4K. This is an incredible canvas and a rich attention environment.

We think it's very exciting, and that's demonstrated by the fact that while ad budgets have not flowed here as quickly as we'd like to see them, viewership is certainly moving in this direction, including ad-supported viewership.

Interview conducted on June 12, 2018

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