Connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms have gained immense popularity in recent years, with CTV ad spend expected to reach $26 billion by the end of 2023.
Despite this immense reach, accessing premium advertisers for CTV ad inventory has been a significant challenge for publishers. This in large part is due to the challenge of publishers to access the world’s largest video demand source: Google.
Google’s video demand for CTV is one of the most valuable demand sources for publishers, offering access to a vast pool of advertisers as well as a wide range of ad formats and targeting options. However, accessing Google’s demand for CTV is challenging for three reasons.
First, Google’s CTV license, which grants publishers access to Google’s PAL SDK that is needed to access the demand, has only been granted to a select number of publishers and monetization partners. In other words, most CTV publishers simply don’t have access to Google’s video demand for CTV.
Second, performing a hard-coded implementation of Google’s PAL SDK requires an advanced level of expertise, which many CTV publishers struggle with. Google arrived surprisingly late to the CTV game, and hasn’t yet developed a workaround that enables publishers to easily implement their PAL SDK.
Lastly, integrating Google’s demand with other ad networks and server-side ad insertions (SSAIs) has proven very challenging. This leaves publishers who managed to attain the license and implement the PAL SDK a choice between Google’s demand or another demand. Many publishers are wary of getting rid of their current ad networks.
For these reasons, the world’s largest demand source for video ads remains largely untapped by CTV publishers.
As a result, CTV publishers don’t have access to a large pool of premium advertisers and have less competition over their ad inventory. This results in lower CPMs and overall revenue. Simply put, CTV publishers are losing out on millions of dollars because they aren’t able to access Google’s powerful demand.
However, a new proprietary tool developed by Adnimation, a Google Certified Publishing Partner that helps publishers manage their programmatic ad sales, offers a solution to these challenges. The new solution, CTV Fusion, provides publishers with seamless integration of Google’s video demand with their CTV apps.
Using its unique CTV license that it was granted by Google in May 2022, Adnimation developed a custom wrapper that allows CTV publishers to access all of the functionality of Google’s PAL SDK without having to implement the PAL SDK itself.
The wrapper also integrates with existing ad servers and SSAIs, enabling publishers to access Google’s demand in addition to, rather than in place of, their current ad networks.
With the ability to leverage more quality advertisers and create more competition over ad inventory, CTV publishers can now fully maximize their ad revenue. Adnimation already published a case study showing how a large CTV publisher is generating more than $1 million in monthly revenue utilizing CTV Fusion.
“In recognizing a deep-seated pain point in the market, we at Adnimation took it upon ourselves to create a solution to drastically improve the situation for CTV publishers,” said Adnimation CEO Maor Davidovich.
“After countless hours of hard work and millions of dollars spent on development,” continued Davidovich, “we are proud that our pioneering CTV Fusion tool opens new doors for publishers and enables them to fully realize their revenue potential.”
