There’s a quiet revolution that’s been happening in our very own living rooms. The oldest screen in the house is new again. Combining the best aspects of digital video & Television, Connected TV (CTV) is the latest force you just can't ignore. What exactly is Connected TV - To put it simply, Connected TV is any television that is connected to the internet. This can be a television with built-in Smart TV capabilities or it can be a television connected to the internet through a gaming console or a streaming device such as Chromecast or Firestick. So, why are we going back to the living room? Because the living room is still the place where the family gathers to watch their favorite content. But now, that TV transports people, and becomes a gym, a gourmet restaurant, a concert hall, and even a place of worship. On the back of rising digital video consumption, people are using the CTV to stream fresh, premium & relevant content for a more immersive viewing experience on the big screen in living rooms. Mood-based content on connected TV is truly a nextThe Rise & Rise of Connected TV level experience. So, with connected TV, it’s not just about setting the mood, it’s about sharing it. Digital is a 1:1 lean-forward experience with advanced targeting and measurement capabilities. TV is lean-backward and typically a more one-to-many experience. With a big internet-enabled TV screen, Connected TV is a device type that sits at the epicenter of where digital meets TV. Hence, it’s important to know how to work with this new screen & unlock it to its full potential. Today, CTV is BIG and it's growing massively. Globally, it now takes up almost half of video impression share and is the fastest growing streaming platform. YouTube becomes a natural lens to learn more about this phenomenon. CTV is the fastest growing screen on YouTube globally. More CTV converts mean more ads are being watched on the big screen at home even by previously unreachable audiences - cord-cutters or cord-nevers. Over 45% of YouTube CTV watch time is on content that is 21 mins or longer. It's even more fascinating to note that 20% of YouTube logged-in connected TV viewers in India watched content ‘exclusively’ on their TV screen. It's not just quantity, research suggests CTV viewers are also more engaged and emotionally invested. In India, 60M people streamed YouTube on Connected TV in May 2022 alone. A consumer electronics brand recently delivered 60M reach for their launch during their recent festive campaign hitting a new milestone. Let's put this 60M in context. Estimates suggest that the top 10% of Indian HHs contribute to around 40%+ of FMCG consumption, that's approximately ~30M households making them a sizable subset of the CTV audience. Recent festive season sales estimates suggest 75M shoppers transacted online & eCom industry clocked ~$6B GMV in a single week in Sept 2022. This makes the CTV cohort of audiences among the most valuable on the internet. Winning brands get this massive shift & recognize that CTV hit an important threshold and are making it the centre of their marketing campaigns. More and more brands riding on the premiumization trend are maxing out on their presence on CTV making it THE most important screen to win. Dedicated CTV campaigns together with cross-device campaigns show 16% incremental brand lift vs just x-device campaigns. This article celebrates a few brands that tried CTV and got some impactful results. Mamaearth saw 20% higher view rates behind CTV. Max Life leveraged CTV to reach affluent consumers that led to an increase in brand search queries by 21%. L’Oral Paris saw upto 10X higher search lift on YouTube vs no lift for non-CTV campaigns.

Learning from best practices, here are the 3 things to consider when thinking about CTV:

1. Plan for incremental reach by adding a dedicated CTV campaign to your existing cross-device campaign.
2. Extend the reach of your TV campaigns by adding dedicated CTV campaigns.
3. Measure the campaign via Brand Lift Surveys [BLS], Co-viewing, UR reports. Connected TV is recreating the shared TV experience. Its allure goes beyond the ability to create your own persoal time. For many people, the important element is the ability to connect whether it is to family, community or culture. At YouTube, we see 30% of instances where there is co-viewing in the room. Driving scaled reach & an always-on presence on this big screen could be a powerful co petitive advantage for brands & businesses wanting to reach premium audiences.