Savvy shoppers are always keeping an eye out for their next purchase, whether it’s scrolling through social media or visiting their favorite online marketplaces. Growing your eCommerce requires being equally vigilant about all the most promising sales and marketing channels as they emerge. Connected TV advertising is a great example, especially when you combine it with the power of Google Promotions.
Why connected TV advertising? Let’s start with the fact that it’s where a growing number of consumers are choosing to spend their leisure time. According to data from ComScore, for example, connected TV viewing rose 21% in May of 2023 compared with the same period the year before.
As a result, the competition for viewers’ attention is also on the rise. One forecast suggests that CTV ad spending will grow more than 10% between now and 2028. It’s not just the large numbers of people watching. Connected TV ads are reaching a highly engaged audience that can be targeted in increasingly sophisticated ways.
If you’re trying to make some last-minute marketing investments amid the holiday season – or simply trying to sell off excess inventory in January and beyond – using Google Promotions and CTV ads could be a smart idea.
How do Google promotions work with connected TV advertising?
The business case for using Google Promotions has been firmly established by now. It’s an effective way to distribute product offers across multiple Google properties, including the Shopping tab, Chrome and Search. Mastering Google Promotions can allow you to compare multi-screen traffic, increase conversions and boost your marketing campaigns’ click through rate (CTR), all while building your brand.
Google has made it easy to extend your reach with connected TV ads, particularly based on audiences you’ve already developed through visitors to your web site or those who have downloaded your mobile app. The basic process is as follows:
- Log into Google Merchant Center and opt to build a campaign using Display and Video 360.
- Select a first-party data audience list.
- Add the audience list to your insertion order or line item. This may be similar to how you’ve booked campaigns for mobile or the web.
Google will then ensure your ads can reach those consuming content on smart TVs, OTT and other connected TV devices.
Measuring the results of connected TV advertising using Google Promotions
Of course, investing in any emerging digital marketing channel carries with it concerns of whether you’ll achieve your desired goals. If you’re counting on a Google ads promotion to drive sales amid the holidays, for example, you probably can’t afford to make a wrong choice.
Fortunately, Google has continued to introduce new capabilities that help ensure alignment between your eCommerce goals and your campaign effectiveness. These include:
Optimized targeting
Using its own artificial intelligence (AI) applications, Google has said it can help brands not only reach their desired audiences but help them find consumers most likely to respond to CTV ads. This can help strike a balance between precision advertising and not overstepping on consumer privacy or turning to third-party cookies.
Identity reconciliation
Consumers don’t like feeling as though they’re being pursued relentlessly around the web by a brand. Google said it will help avoid this by distinguishing between those who have visited a brand’s site vs. that of a publisher. This will turn connected TV advertising into a more focused channel, where consumers are served a campaign when it’s most relevant.
Reach Planner
Is YouTube your best option for CTV ads? What about Roku, Hulu or one of many other streaming services? Google’s toll allows you to evaluate these publishers based on incremental as well as unique reach. This can build greater confidence in the connected TV advertising decisions you make with Google Promotions.
Unique Reach Overlap
Managing ad frequency is important because it’s easy to unnecessarily duplicate efforts over multiple CTV devices. By offering a greater understanding on where they’re driving the greatest performance with their Google Promotions with connected TV ads, Google is letting you maximize return on investment (ROI).
How does connected TV advertising open up opportunities for localized Google Promotions?
Traditionally, brands have advertised on linear TV by purchasing a spot from a network operator. These spots were then converted into a CPM based on the number of households reached.
CTV ads tend to be purchased a little differently. Brands often buy inventory directly from the publisher, or programmatically using a demand side provider (DMP).
Using Google can offer a more streamlined approach given that many brands are already seeding Google Promotions with ads to run across multiple channels. Google also offers what it calls Deal ID forecasting, which helps advertisers understand how a Preferred Deal or Programmatic Guaranteed deal might perform before it runs.
With a service called Instant Reserve, meanwhile, Google lets you book premium placements on its YouTube connected TV advertising inventory. This includes YouTube TV and YouTube Select.
Regardless of how you book, CTV advertising opens up opportunities to target audiences based on demographics and interests, such as high-income households who are predisposed to fashion and lifestyle content. Connected TV ads also support geotargeting, which allows you narrow campaigns even further to designated neighbourhoods or other areas.
That means consumers watching a fashion show being streamed through a CTV service could also be served local Google Promotions that identify clothing and accessories they could buy at a nearby store. The same tactic could work for eCommerce brands that prioritize fast shipping close to their manufacturing sites.
In this way, pairing Google Promotions and Connected TV advertising could complement the work you’re already doing by running local inventory ads (LIAs) when consumers are searching on the web.
Why successful CTV ads and Google Promotions rely on optimized product feeds
Remember that connected TV advertising tends to focus on the end result: what appears on the screen. To ensure consumers see relevant Google Promotions, you must avoid any errors in how product data feeds from your catalog.
An automated solution supports this by mapping the relevant promotional ID to products within Google Merchant Center that will appeal to the target audience on CTV. This improves campaign planning and goal-setting. Using a platform that allows frequent updates to reflect changes in inventory levels will ensure that CTV ads only showcase Google Promotions for available products, providing peace of mind.
Consider utilizing a product feed management solution as you conduct pilot projects using CTV ads for localized Google ads promotions during peak buying periods like the holidays. Then, based on the results, you can be prepared to scale further as streaming audiences continue to grow
For a close-up look at how Highstreet.io can get your product data feeds in a position to make use of connected TV advertising, get in touch and see a demo today.
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