Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
When Netflix Meets Advertising: How Brands Are Embracing Connected TV
Moneymagpie Team
25th Apr 2025
The television business has seen a massive change in recent years. The growth of streaming sites like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ has changed how people watch content, which leads to Connected TV (CTV). This change offers both problems and chances for brands wanting to reach consumers in this different place. As old advertising techniques work less well, brands must change and be creative to catch attention where it is: on CTV platforms — giving rise to a new era of CTV advertising that blends data-driven precision with engaging, screen-native storytelling.
- The Emergence of Connected TV
- Why Brands Are Turning to CTV Advertising
- The Netflix Factor: Content Meets Commerce
- How Brands Are Innovating on CTV
- Overcoming the Challenges of CTV Advertising
- What the Future Holds
- Conclusion: The Big Picture
The Emergence of Connected TV
It refers to televisions that get internet connectivity and enable users to watch content using apps like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. It includes smart TVs, Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, and gaming consoles. These devices are rapidly penetrating households, changing the audience’s viewing habit from linear traditional television to on-demand content. It is reflected in the trend of advertising, too. In 2024, global CTV ad spending was expected to cross $29 billion, above $38 billion by 2027. This increase shows that CTV is getting more critical recognition as a channel for modern audiences.
Why Brands Are Turning to CTV Advertising
The migration to CTV offers several advantages over traditional television advertising:
- Enhanced Targeting Capabilities: CTV allows advertisers to leverage data analytics for precise audience targeting based on demographics, interests, and viewing behaviors. This precision ensures that ads are relevant and engaging, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
- Higher Engagement Rates: Ads on CTV platforms often achieve higher completion rates than traditional TV. For instance, connected TV ad completion rates are between 90% and 95%, significantly outperforming mobile video ads.
- Interactive Ad Formats: CTV supports various interactive ad formats, such as shoppable ads and real-time polls, which enhance viewer engagement and provide immediate avenues for consumer action.
- Comprehensive Analytics: Advertisers gain access to real-time performance metrics, enabling them to track engagement, measure effectiveness, and optimize campaigns promptly.
The Netflix Factor: Content Meets Commerce
Netflix, the last bastion of ad-free binge-watching, made headlines in late 2022 when it launched a tier with ads. While uptake initially was cautious, brands soon found within it a vast potential: enormous viewership coupled with robust user data makes for a beautiful space for precision-targeted advertising. Unlike traditional commercial breaks, the ads on Netflix and other CTV advertising platforms tend to be shorter, often more personalized, and strategically placed to reduce disruption. Brands need to rethink how to tell a compelling story in 15–30 seconds without intruding. For some, this has meant such an inventive leap that micro-narratives, episodic brand content, or seamless integrations within the viewer journey have come into play.
How Brands Are Innovating on CTV
Let’s examine how some innovative companies get the hang of this area. Retail/ e-commerce:
- Retail & E-commerce: A specific example of this involves a fashion brand that initiated the airing of CTV campaigns supported by scannable QR codes for purchasing directly from the screen in a limited edition collection. The outcome? 38% increased direct-to-site traffic, thus hugely enhancing conversions.
- Automotive: The case of an electric vehicle manufacturer is instructive. The company offered interactive CTV advertisements to prospective buyers to book a ‘test drive’ of their smart TV. Wrapped up within a riveting and functional bow, they created a frictionless path from awareness to action.
- Entertainment & Apps: Now, CTV ads can house game trailers cored with links straight into app stores for immediate download.
In this landscape, firms like Attekmi are taking a more significant part. Attekmi provides complete tools that make handling CTV campaigns easy — from creative automation to detailed targeting and quick reporting. Their tech helps brands share strong messages without being pushy, changing content to suit both viewers and the kind of screen.
Overcoming the Challenges of CTV Advertising
Although the benefits are clear, moving to CTV comes with some challenges, too.
- Ad Fatigue: Overexposure to ads because of limited inventory or poor frequency capping leads to viewers’ frustration and diminishing effectiveness.
- Fragmentation: A wide array of platforms and devices makes it possible for a fragmented ecosystem not to be delivered and measured coherently across different channels.
- Creative Constraints: The medium demands story-telling creativity suited to the context and user mindset; what works on Instagram typically falls creatively dry on an IV screen of 65 inches.
That is where agencies like Attekmi come into play. Their agency allows brands to customize creatives across formats, even based on real-time performance optimization. This helps keep quality and relevance above level without blowing up the budget or production timeline.
What the Future Holds
The trajectory of CTV advertising points toward continued growth and innovation. Emerging trends include:
- AI-Driven Personalization: Expect even deeper use of artificial intelligence to dynamically adapt ad content to user behavior and mood — a powerful tool for reducing ad blindness.
- Shoppable TV Experiences: The boundary between entertainment and e-commerce will continue to blur as tech evolves. Imagine watching a cooking show and instantly purchasing ingredients via your remote.
- CTV + Social Synergy: Brands are starting to merge CTV’s immersive nature with social media’s virality, creating dual-platform storytelling experiences that resonate deeply.
Conclusion: The Big Picture
The convergence of streaming entertainment with personalized advertising is a work in progress — but the trajectory appears set. Whether it be Netflix’s foray into advertising or consumer acceptance of branding, brands had better prepare to meet them there, as long as it is relevant and not intrusive. The opportunity isn’t just about placement — it’s about presence, about being part of the content experience, not an interruption to it.
As audiences grow more sophisticated, so too must the strategies we use to engage them. Old TV spots won’t cut it; stories respecting the viewer’s time and intelligence, demanding equal creativity and data do; testing, learning, optimizing — and in real-time too! Connected TV has no channel. It’s a canvas. And for those ready to play, innovate, and collaborate with the right tech (like Attekmi), impressions and CPMs will just be scratching the surface of the bounty that awaits — they’ll be building connections one screen at a time.
Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.
Subscribe
Login
0 Comments
