When CTV meets Retail Media for your holiday campaigns

This year, consumers are ready to spend more on holiday shopping than ever before. It's forecasted that there will be 4.8% growth in retail media during the holiday period, marking greater growth than last year¹. Additionally, it’s expected an 8% YOY increase in average orders per buyer².

However, the holiday season is crowded, and marketers need to utilize the most accurate purchase signals available and effective media channels to gain market share.

So, what's a tactic that shouldn't be missing from your media strategy campaign for this holiday season? Let's lay out the facts: according to eMarketer, Connected TV (CTV) will continue to grow quicker in ad spending than any other channels, and US retail media ad spend will increase by more than 20% every year through 2027³. There's undoubtedly a unique opportunity for marketers to leverage these two powerhouses in advertising to drive effective campaigns.

The combination of CTV and retail media networks is the epitome of convergence in digital advertising these days. Their fusion creates a win-win situation for advertisers and consumers: it allows advertisers to conduct highly targeted campaigns with engaged audiences and consumers to enjoy quality and relevant advertising experiences.

On top of that, retail media networks provide a closed-loop measurement advantage over linear TV. Thanks to retailers’ purchase data, advertisers are able to get a complete and real-time picture of the impact of their CTV campaign on actual sales, and then optimize their audiences based on who is actually responding positively to their ads. Advertisers have started realizing that these two fuel each other's growth, so it's no surprise that in 2027, one in five CTV ad dollars will include retail media spending⁴.

Let's break down why CTV and retail media should be a priority for your media strategy this holiday season:

Offsite Media have opened up new paths for advertisers‍
Let’s be honest: from the over six hours of the day a consumer spends online, the majority isn’t on a retailer’s website.

Retail media networks have historically used their data for onsite advertising as a bottom-funnel tool. More and more retailers, and even non-retailers like airlines, hotels etc, and other companies from the commerce landscape, are realizing that their audiences could be monetized with greater scale, and more effectively, when brands can reach them across publishers on the open web - what is commonly referred to as “offsite” advertising. The emergence of offsite advertising has opened up new avenues for brands and their ability to engage these audiences in new and impactful ways and earlier in the consumer journey. Brands now have the opportunity to find these audiences where they actually consume content and bridge the missing piece of leveraging retail data for a full-funnel approach. During the holiday season, people tend to take time off from work to relax, among other things, by spending time online, whether browsing holiday recipes or watching their favorite shows. And guess what is the most significant driver of offsite advertising? Of course, it’s CTV, and marketers should take advantage of this during the holiday season⁴.

Retail data is the "crème de la crème" of audiences
During this competitive season, it's essential to spend your budget in the most strategic way possible. Knowing who your consumers are and how to find them can save you from unnecessary impression waste. That's where retail data comes in: retail media networks are goldmines of deep audience insights such as consumer behavior, purchasing patterns, product preferences and more. These addressable audiences are resilient to signal loss and identity changes and create a perfect opportunity for advertisers to achieve effective targeting at, or near, the point of purchase and drive actual sales for their brands, maximizing the potential of your holiday strategy. They also provide the flexibility of real-time optimization, allowing advertisers to improve their campaign in-flight based on sales - a much-necessary action, especially during competitive periods of the year like the holiday season. Additionally, when combined with closed-loop measurement, it can give you a complete view of the consumer journey from seeing the ad to converting online or in-store, enabling brands to understand the business impact of their campaigns across sales.

CTV continues to deliver unprecedented reach and immersive experiences
‍CTV has historically been leveraged as an upper-funnel channel. In recent years, the rise of shoppable TV through remote-controlling interactive creative experiences has expanded the potential of CTV, and gradually it's also transforming into an influential lower funnel channel.

In fact, at Yahoo DSP we saw that pairing CTV with display, video, or native video omnichannel media strategy led to the highest conversion rate for a US-based multinational e-commerce company.

Now, the superpower of CTV compared to other screens is that advertisers can reach highly engaged audiences. And this is true also during the holiday season. For example, In a recent study by LG, CTV ads increased awareness, with 69% of CTV users remembering holiday shopping ads, while 72% would scan a QR code for a discount⁵. On top of that, imagine the added benefits of leveraging retail audiences, including those near or at the point of purchase. This truly magical moment of the intersection of retail data with CTV can deliver impactful experiences to your audiences, driving sales during this crowded and competitive season. 

Yahoo DSP can guide you this holiday season, and beyond, on planning and executing an impactful media strategy leading with CTV and Commerce media.

¹ eMarketer US Holiday Shopping 2024
‍² Yahoo mail purchase receipts, August 2024
³ eMarketer Programmatic Advertising Forecast and Ad Tech Trends H2 2024
⁴ eMarketer, why CTV and retail media need each other
⁵ Season’s Streamings,” LG, July 2024