LinkedIn announced on 12 November the arrival of its connected television ads (CTV) to the UK. The format takes video ads to streaming services with advertising, with targeting based on professional data from LinkedIn. The company includes LG, Paramount+ and Titan OS among the announced partners and says that international customers can now segment the British audience, as well as the North US and Canadian audiences. LinkedIn Announcement
How does the ad reach TV viewers?
The advertiser chooses the audience in Campaign Manager, LinkedIn’s advertising platform. The selection can use the position, sector and seniority level. LinkedIn crosses these criteria with eligible viewers of the partner services. When you find a match and there is advertising space available, you can display the video in the streaming service.
A Portuguese software company that sells to British retailers can, for example, look for senior professionals in this sector. The purchase continues from a professional audience definition, even when the announcement appears outside the feed. Delivery depends on how many viewers match the criteria and inventory available to this audience. The more restricted the selection, the more important it becomes to verify the estimated reach before committing the budget.
What is known about Portuguese accounts
The ad refers to international customers, but the campaign creation help page still indicated only the US and Canada at the time of this update. Public sources consulted do not show if the option already appears in an account billed in Portugal. A team can check this without releasing ads. Just open a draft in Campaign Manager, choose the brand awareness objective, select the single CTV ad format and look for the UK in the location options. Campaign Manager Instructions
There is also production work to confirm before buying space. For connected television, the documentation asks for a horizontal MP4 file at 16:9 and recommends resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. A team that already has vertical video for social networks can take advantage of the same images, but will have to prepare a horizontal version readable at a distance. Duration and delivery conditions may vary between inventory partners. Video specifications for CTV
How much extra reach can connected TV add?
LinkedIn says that Cisco, a participant in an initial test, has reached 52% more medium sized companies in the UK by adding connected TV to the videos in the feed. The comparison uses as a basis the business accounts achieved by the video on feed alone. The case study also points to a 141% higher form completion rate among people exposed to television ads compared to those who have not seen them, when Cisco again advertised in the feed. The first figure measures how many companies were reached. The second describes the completion rate of the form at a later stage of the same campaign. Cisco Case Study · LinkedIn Methodological Note
As the published data are from a campaign, they serve to formulate a test hypothesis. A company that already uses video in the feed may ask how many companies on its priority list television adds and how much it costs to reach these additional companies. It is appropriate to require the report to explain the reach unit. Campaign Manager’s help defines its range metric as individual member accounts with at least one impression. This unit is different from the companies achieved in the Cisco case, where several people may belong to the same business account. CTV metrics in Campaign Manager
Qualified leads and sales opportunities can be monitored in CRM. This evaluation requires a longer window than that of the delivery of ads, especially when the sale goes through several meetings. The team can thus decide whether the format deserves more investment by bringing new companies within the scope of the brand and, separately, evaluating the commercial interest that arose during the test. How to define the function of each channel in a media plan