CTV Self-Serve Platforms: Are They Right for Your Business?
CTV self-serve platforms targeting SMBs are all the rage in 2024. But are they the best choice for your business?
The good news is that if you're a small business owner willing to roll up your sleeves, there are numerous options to explore. In just a couple of hours, you can have your ads running on CTV (Connected TV).
You have some publisher-direct options:
Or you have a few DSP Lite options that give you access to more inventory but lack the power user features found in a DSP like The Trade Desk or DV360:
While these options may suit your business, they may not be ideal if you plan to scale your CTV investments long-term. Consider these six factors before entering your credit card info and hitting go:
Inventory Selection & Availability
Inventory Cost
Advanced Controls & Features
Buy Type Flexibility
Strategy & Account Management
Transparency
Inventory Selection
Publisher-specific platforms either limit your selection or significantly increase complexity if you choose to run with all three. Opting for a platform like Vibe.co often makes it difficult to scale on premium publishers. Either the availability is limited or non-existent. It’s common for a publisher like Hulu or Disney+ to not even be available.
Additionally, implementing a Supply Path Optimization strategy on these platforms is virtually impossible. More on our approach to Supply Path Optimization (SPO) here.
Inventory Cost
While it may seem counterintuitive, this sales channel—which is how publishers (inventory owners) view it—will never be cost-efficient. Most of their inventory is sold through agency or brand commitments, including programmatic. They can't allow "open" buying platforms to undercut the pricing set for those advertisers.
These options do come with low minimums. Limiting upfront costs to get you up and running. However, if you're only planning to invest a small percentage of your overall budget, you are probably better served to increase your investments in media channels you have already optimized. Like Meta or YouTube.
Advanced Controls & Product Features
These platforms are designed for accessibility and ease of use. This simplicity comes at a cost—they often lack more advanced controls that are valuable or even necessary. Here are some examples of features you may miss:
Frequency capping
Conversion tracking
3rd party data integrations for targeting
Solutions to onboard your 1st party data for targeting and lookalike targeting
Budget and bid optimization controls
Buy Type Flexibility
All of these tools have been built on the assumption that programmatic buying is the best way to purchase all CTV inventory for all brands. While this may be true for lower budgets, it's not always the case. For general market products or services, buying directly with limited or no targeting at a lower CPM can be more advantageous.
Consider a plumbing company, for instance. They'd benefit most from a broader awareness campaign. This ensures consumers know about the company when emergencies like burst pipes or failed water heaters occur. It would be significantly challenging to accurately target specific households currently in-market for these services on CTV.
An effective CTV campaign builds brand awareness, leading consumers to search for your brand name instead of generic terms like "emergency plumber." This strategy can significantly reduce your customer acquisition costs in paid search.
By purchasing CTV inventory directly from publishers, you could potentially halve your CPM compared to a highly targeted programmatic campaign.
Strategy & Account Management
The most significant drawback of these solutions is the opportunity cost to your business. By not partnering with an expert who understands the market and technology, you miss out on maximizing the value from both. Combine this with the lack of competitive pricing and costs can escalate rapidly.
Transparency
Depending on the platform, you may encounter transparency challenges in two main areas:
Placement Reporting: Some platforms may not provide access to placement reports at the site or app ID level, making it impossible to determine where your ads ran.
Pricing: With most platforms, you'll only know your total cost, not the breakdown of media costs, data costs, platform fees, etc. Margins and fees will be obscured.
If you're just looking to experiment with CTV, any of these tools can be a great starting point to test creative and gauge impact.
However, if you want to scale and maximize your CTV investments, you'll likely find more value with an experienced agency partner. A partner that can develop an effective strategy, negotiate pricing, and look out for your best interests.
That’s what we do at Dial-Up Media. As we like to say we do CTV The Right Way. Contact us today for a free consultation.