More and more consumers are cutting the cable cord, but they’re still looking to watch video content at home — and as a result, Connected TV viewership is soaring. As advertisers follow audiences to Connected TV platforms, however, they’re realizing that driving an effective and unified strategy across different platforms can present a challenge.
Recently, Saucony and iProspect wanted to reach the growing CTV audience and drive product awareness of a new collection of running shoes. To drive impact among their specific audience of fashion-focused runners, the brand and agency partnered with Pixability for one of the first large-scale cross-platform tests of a Connected TV-first strategy on YouTube, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku devices. The resounding success of that campaign led to three more running shoe launch campaigns in 2021 on CTV platforms, focused on driving impact throughout the funnel.
Here are some key takeaways from Pixability’s CTV partnership with Saucony and iProspect.
YouTube Is The Top Ad-Supported CTV Platform
When some brand and agency marketers think of YouTube, they may not always think of someone watching content on a TV screen. But consumer behavior is changing, and so should marketers’ strategies. eMarketer’s data shows that more than half (57.7%) of YouTube viewers in the US watch on Connected TV Screens, and eMarketer is forecasting this audience to continue growing. Marketers can take advantage of the massive real estate of the living room screen by targeting against TV Screens on YouTube, as Pixability implemented in the Saucony campaign (in addition to Roku and Amazon Fire TV) to reach and engage the brand’s core audience at scale.
Apply Audience Insights Across Platforms
While the PixabilityONE platform performs thousands of optimizations automatically throughout campaign flights, the team also unearthed learnings about Saucony’s audience’s behaviors that could be applied across platforms. When Pixability’s campaign managers saw that audiences interested in ‘Post-Workout & Recovery Products’ drove some of the highest purchase rates on Amazon, they layered in custom behavioral targeting to reach people searching for protein bars, protein powders, and other post-workout/recovery items on YouTube — driving increased performance and engagement on the platform.
Utilize Sequential Retargeting to Drive Consumers Down-Funnel
By implementing a sequential retargeting strategy on YouTube specifically — targeting viewers that had previously viewed campaign creative with additional, related creative — Pixability was able to re-engage viewers, driving recall and consideration of the new running shoe collections. In this way, Pixability was able to drive additional touchpoints with Saucony’s core audience, and deliver down-funnel results such as click-throughs to the brand’s site, and eventually, purchases.
Check out the full case study here to read more about how Pixability helped Saucony and iProspect drive awareness, intent, and purchases on YouTube, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku — and contact us if you’d like to learn more about how Pixability can drive impact for your Connected TV strategy.