New Year’s Campaigns Should Include Connected TV

BY Rachel Cagle
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It’s hard to believe 2020 is almost over. The year has disappeared before our cooped up eyes. Many Americans are looking to 2021 with renewed hope that everything will get back to the way it was and soon. And with the new year comes New Year’s resolutions.

A recent Search Engine Land article by SteelHouse (an advertising software company) anticipates that the fitness, wellness, sports and subscription service industries will do particularly well next year. That is, if they advertise themselves well enough. Every business in the ‘New Year, New You’ related industries is going to be vying for the attention of consumers who have not had the opportunity to comfortably exercise in a gym since March. “Traditionally 12% of gym-​goers sign up in January,” writes SteelHouse, “but with this year’s brick-​and-​mortar health restrictions in place, chances are that energy (and spend) will be going toward other self-​improvement sources.”

Targeting New Year’s Resolution Makers

SteelHouse recommends that your clients cover their bases with their New Year’s campaigns. “Obviously, you’re going to launch paid search and social,” writes SteelHouse. “Those two are reliable performance channels that will generate a solid return on investment.” So, your client’s search engine optimization (SEO) and social media strategies need to be in top notch condition. However, those are the obvious choices you already knew about. There is a third medium you may not have considered.

Connected TV

The COVID-​19 pandemic has already been fueling American consumers’ drive to watch more TV for nearly the entirety of 2020. But before, it had outdoor activities to compete with. Now that the weather is getting colder, the motivation to go outside is draining. Consumers will be spending more time inside looking for entertainment than they have since the lockdown started. That includes New Year’s resolution makers.

But why connected TV specifically instead of regular TV? SteelHouse says that, this year, connected TV streaming viewing has increased by 74% year over year. Also, since the second quarter of 2020, 25% of U.S. adults have added at least one new service to their viewing lineup.

This isn’t such a bad turn of events for advertisers. “When deployed properly, Connected TV advertising can drive direct-​response performance similar to search and social,” says SteelHouse. “It brings TV commercials into the domain of digital advertising, meaning it comes complete with the targeting and measurement capabilities digital marketers have enjoyed for years.” Not only that, connected TV ads have proven to be 67% more effective at driving purchase intent than their linear TV counterparts. AND these ads also increase brand favorability by 42%.

It's time for your clients to join the other 53% of advertisers who plan to shift more of their broadcast TV ad dollars to connected TV. Give your New Year’s campaign pitches a bit more oomph with specifics on connected TV ads’ influence on your client’s target audience and let them know what types of programs they’re watching. You can find that information on their audience profiles on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel.


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