Why the Death of Cookies Will Be Good for CTV

You wouldn’t think, in 2024 and with the death of cookies staring us in the face, that many marketers would still be stuck on last-click attribution. But many of them still are, and that outdated thinking almost automatically cuts off certain non-DR channels.

Of those non-DR channels, CTV has caught my attention for the results it’s driven for our portfolio of B2C and eCommerce brands. In this post, I’ll explain the measurement models we’re using that have helped us recognize its potential, why I think it stands alone as an upper-funnel channel positioned to increase its share of marketing budgets, and steps to test it in your channel mix.

Better Post-Cookie Measurement that Reflects Well on the Upper Funnel

A couple of years ago, we made a big investment in media mix modeling solutions for our clients, which was a huge step in helping design objective channel portfolios that didn’t rely on in-platform conversion data or cookie tracking. MMM, which we’re now broadly recommending, has worked very well in combination with platform lift studies (e.g. Meta’s Brand Lift studies) to help us understand where our clients need to spend money, even within channels. And what we tend to find is that brands are over-indexing on things like brand search and retargeting while under-investing in awareness campaigns and channels including paid social, video, and – you guessed it – CTV.

Whether or not you finish this article determined to test CTV, you should consider MMM and lift tests as part of your measurement strategy. Both of those initiatives work without cookies and teach marketers how to think more holistically about full-funnel journeys – which should hold up very well in the months and years to come.

CTV’s Unique Strength in the Upper Funnel

CTV combines the storytelling power of big-screen television spots with digital, first-party-data-driven targeting capabilities. That alone is a powerful and unique combination driven by smart emerging companies like TV Scientific and iSpot, but consider that platforms like LinkedIn and Google have recently introduced CTV options that can also work with their walled-garden data and move users through their ecosystem to purchase.

If big brands still think it’s worth it to spend millions of dollars to reach huge, unsegmented audiences with linear TV ads, imagine the value a good measurement model would show for effective CTV campaigns.

Steps to Test CTV in Your Media Mix

First, determine your goal and KPI to measure the impact of CTV – in essence, how will you know whether or not it’s working? Remember that if you are looking for CTV to fit into an MTA or last-click model, you will need to think outside the box. Perhaps you might look at upper-funnel KPIs like website traffic or something lower like a lift in purchases within specific geos. You don’t need to change your entire measurement approach for a test; you just need to prove viability.

Second, create compelling creative. Note that compelling doesn’t necessarily mean expensive. (Let’s not forget: Coinbase launched a SuperBowl ad with a floating QR code.) The focus should be to grab attention, highlight the product and use case, and push a CTA.

Third, set your audience targeting. Many CTV platforms like TVScientific have off-the-shelf audiences that will be effective for the majority of advertisers. However, CTV can become truly powerful with 1st-party and 3rd-party data resources. Leveraging companies like Bombora and Liveramp can provide marketers the ability to reach highly targeted audiences through the medium (and, as mentioned, major platforms are rolling out options that can take advantage of their data). Be sure to set a small enough audience for you to get adequate frequency and measurement – in other words, launching to a nationwide audience with a $30K budget likely won’t be enough to move the needle, but targeting that budget to Tucson might be a different story.

Let it rip and watch things like a hawk. Measure the impact on upper-funnel campaigns first. You should see website traffic pick up within days and sales to follow shortly after. That said, I wouldn’t suggest cutting your course of antibiotics early, and the same goes with a CTV test. The truth is that cold audiences don’t warm up immediately. If, like so many marketers, you’re addicted to bottom-funnel advertising, the withdrawal will be noticeable, but don’t give up. Sustained effort will pay off and the impact will last past the end of the campaign. (On that note, be sure to continue measuring the impact of your CTV campaigns for 2-4 weeks after it finishes.)

Last Thoughts

As just about every digital marketer knows, the death of cookies is going to present a lot of issues even from those who moved away from last-click attribution long ago. But with new issues comes a need for new solutions and a new way of thinking – which will turn out to have some benefits for the marketing industry at large.

I anticipate that, with a more holistic marketing approach to the customer journey, we’ll see both increased adoption of CTV and a rush to help brands of all sizes and resources measure its effectiveness in their media mix. Brands that can shift to a CTV-friendly mindset now will have an early-adoption advantage (and the low engagement costs that come with it) over competition slower to catch on.

Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership self-publishing platform.

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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.org/MyersBizNet.