Mobile gaming attribution insights from Kochava + TikTok for Business

You’re at the command center of a vast digital battlefield, where next-gen tech coordinates targeting algorithms with unprecedented precision, and privacy shields transform how victories are measured. This isn’t a scene from your favorite strategy game—but the reality facing gaming marketers as 2025 approaches. With billions of players preparing to enter the arena, the quest for measurable return on ad spend (ROAS) has never been more complex—or more critical.

Market Context

Streaming services have become as essential to U.S. households as holiday decor, with a staggering 99% subscribing to at least one service. However, this widespread adoption comes with challenges. Rising subscription costs and fierce competition have led to high churn rates—45% have canceled a streaming subscription in the past year (Forbes). This is likely to increase following the holiday season, when consumers tighten their belts and become more selective.

Amid this dynamic market, streaming services must walk a tightrope, offering compelling content while keeping subscription costs in check. The key is strategic marketing initiatives that serve up personalized content recommendations, exclusive releases, and targeted promotion to retain user bases and attract new subscribers.

Key Insights From the Guide

Streaming app marketers can unwrap these golden nuggets of streaming wisdom:

Leveraging First-Party Data

Use first-party data to create ad creatives that resonate with consumer preferences. This allows for more personalized and impactful advertising campaigns tailored to specific audience behaviors—including incorporating holiday wishlists.

Programmatic Advertising

Expand reach beyond the usual suspects (Google, Meta) to zero in on high-quality users through programmatic advertising. By accessing a network of over five million apps worldwide, streaming services can efficiently connect with new audiences via targeted, real-time bidding.

Optimizing for Value

Focus on attracting higher-intent viewers who are more likely to stick around after the holiday decorations come down, optimizing the pathway from impression to paid subscription or sustained engagement. Quality over quantity.

Seamless Onboarding

Make signing up for a service smooth by offering frictionless registration and streamlined onboarding processes, particularly during the hectic holiday season. A seamless journey from install to play enables new users to dive into their desired content quickly—making them less inclined to ghost you after the holiday spirit fades.

Incrementality Testing

Measure the true impact of campaigns with incrementality testing to accurately assess campaign effectiveness and help understand the true impact of advertising efforts. Then optimize accordingly.

Holiday Marketing Implications

Deloitte’s forecast predicts a 16% increase in spending on experiences rather than goods this holiday season. For streaming apps, this is like finding an extra present under the tree.

App marketers can leverage this trend for holiday streaming success by

• Curating and promoting content that resonates with the holiday spirit, such as exclusive holiday movies, series, or live events
• Implementing early promotions and targeted campaigns to capture the attention of holiday shoppers
• Offering limited-time promotions or special holiday bundles to provide value to cost-conscious consumers

Adobe’s holiday guide emphasizes the importance of personalization in enhancing the festive viewing experience. By leveraging consumer data, streaming services can tailor content recommendations and marketing messages to individual preferences. Personalized suggestions, whether for holiday movies or winter-themed playlists, can position streaming apps as the preferred destination for festive entertainment, fostering a sense of comfort and joy this holiday season.

Measurement Strategy

In the multi-device world of modern streaming, comprehensive and adaptable measurement across platforms is a must. Kochava offers a unified approach to measure user actions from mobile, CTV, gaming consoles, and more. The secret? Rich metadata and full-funnel event tracking, illuminating the full user journey. During the holiday season, when viewing habits fluctuate and competition intensifies, these measurement strategies become even more foundational for capturing and retaining audience attention.

Identity resolution is key to understanding how users hop among devices like reindeer between rooftops. Kochava’s IdentityLink® helps marketers create comprehensive user profiles, enabling optimized campaigns and personalization strategies across platforms.

The guide emphasizes the need for a clear attribution plan to ensure comprehensive measurement of omnichannel marketing efforts, leading to informed decisions and enhanced user experiences:

• Align on campaign goals
• Account for same-screen and cross-screen attribution
• Stay aware of factors like privacy settings and lookback windows

Are you a streaming app marketer who could use a hand measuring all devices and platforms your users engage with? Kochava offers holistic app measurement & attribution solutions for media & entertainment.

Download the Guide

Ready to unwrap the gift of holiday streaming success this season? Get the 2024 Streaming Apps Mobile Marketing Guide and fill your marketing stocking with expert insights. With proven strategies perfectly suited for the unique challenges of holiday marketing, this guide is your ticket to standing out in the crowded streaming landscape during the most wonderful time of the year. Don’t leave your app out in the cold—download the guide now and embark on your journey to streaming stardom.

Key over-the-top (OTT) and connected TV (CTV) terminology

The world of television has undergone a dramatic transformation, moving away from traditional broadcast methods to embrace internet-connected devices that deliver streaming content. This paradigm is known as Advanced TV—the evolution of television viewing and advertising beyond traditional linear TV. Advanced TV comprises a range of technologies and platforms, including connected TV (CTV), over-the-top (OTT) streaming services, addressable TV, and programmatic TV. It provides a more flexible and measurable approach to advertising, bridging the gap between digital and traditional TV landscapes. This enables advertisers to deliver more targeted and personalized ads by leveraging data-driven insights, enhancing viewer engagement and improving ad effectiveness.

Advanced TV has given rise to a plethora of new CVA (concepts, vocabulary & acronyms—see what we did there?) that are often bewildering. As you peruse this guide, you will encounter a range of advanced TV advertising terms that define this dynamic space. Our goal is to demystify so much alphabet soup, offering straightforward definitions and illustrative examples to enhance your advanced TV understanding. We aim to convey the knowledge needed to navigate and understand the intricacies of OTT and CTV, empowering you to engage confidently with this exciting field.

OTT (Over-the-Top)

Over-the-Top, or OTT, describes the method of delivering television and film content directly to viewers, streamed “over the top” of the internet and thus bypassing traditional broadcast, cable, or satellite platforms. OTT content can be accessed from apps or websites via a variety of devices, including connected TVs, desktops or laptops, mobile phones, and tablets. OTT represents the content delivery aspect of the advanced TV ecosystem, offering viewers the flexibility to watch what they want, when they want, on their preferred device.

CTV (Connected TV)

CTV, or connected TV, describes televisions that are either directly internet-enabled, such as smart TVs, or those that use external devices to stream content over the internet. These devices include streaming media players (Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast with Google TV); smart TV operating systems (Samsung, LG, VIZIO, Roku); and gaming consoles (PlayStation, Xbox). The CTV ecosystem also encompasses various streaming services: subscription-based services (Netflix, Disney+, Max, Amazon Prime Video); hybrid services combining subscription and ad-supported models (Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+); and free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services (Pluto TV, Tubi, Freevee, Xumo Play, Plex, the Roku Channel). CTV represents the hardware aspect of the advanced TV ecosystem, providing the means to access a wide array of OTT streaming services and content.

ACR (Automatic Content Recognition)

ACR is a technology built into smart TVs that identifies in real-time the content playing onscreen, whether from streaming services, gaming consoles, or even traditional cable boxes. This enables more precise audience measurement and ad targeting in the CTV environment. ACR helps advertisers understand what content viewers are watching as well as which ads they are exposed to, making it a cornerstone technology for advanced TV advertising measurement, viewability, and frequency management.

Ad Pods

Ad pods are groups of ads that play back-to-back during a commercial break in a video stream. Advertisers can optimize these pods for efficiency by rotating ads or showing them in specific sequences.

Addressable Advertising

Addressable advertising in the advanced TV ecosystem enables different ads to be shown to different households watching the same program, based on sophisticated targeting capabilities. This technology has evolved far beyond basic demographic targeting (i.e., age and gender) to incorporate multiple layers of audience intelligence. Advertisers can now reach viewers based on affluence, education, and life stage indicators, as well as behavioral patterns such as viewing habits and content preferences. Geographic precision ranges from broad DMA (designated market area) coverage down to specific zip codes or neighborhoods, effecting locally relevant messaging. Addressable advertising also considers interest-based factors, analyzing data about hobbies, purchase intentions, and lifestyle choices to ensure ad relevancy. Brands can create custom audience segments using first-party data or specific brand criteria, with the ability to adjust targeting mid-campaign based on performance metrics. This dynamic approach ensures optimal audience reach and campaign effectiveness in ways traditional TV advertising could never achieve.

Addressable TV

Addressable TV uses programmatic technology to segment audiences automatically to target ads at the household level. These addressable TV advertisements are served to viewers across set-top providers (cable platforms) and VOD (video on demand) inventory in real-time. Addressable TV enables advertisers to target customers and geographies more precisely.

Advanced TV Advertising

Advanced TV advertising refers to the delivery of ads on television sets that are connected to the internet, through streaming devices (Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast with Google TV), smart TV platforms (Samsung, LG, VIZIO), and gaming consoles. This innovative form of advertising enables brands to serve targeted, often interactive ads to viewers who consume content via CTV platforms and OTT streaming services.

ATSC 3.0

ATSC 3.0 is the latest version of Advanced Television Systems Committee standards for broadcast television, also known as NEXTGEN TV. It combines over-the-air broadcasting with broadband internet, revolutionizing both viewing experiences and advertising capabilities. For viewers, ATSC 3.0 delivers 4K ultra high-definition video quality, theater-like sound, mobile reception, and enhanced emergency alerts. For advertisers, it enables breakthrough capabilities including dynamic ad insertion at the household level, geographic targeting down to neighborhoods, interactive advertising overlays, and real-time ad performance measurement. The standard also supports dialogue replacement that enables broadcasters to customize audio elements of ads for different audiences. This convergence of broadcast and digital creates new opportunities for advertisers to deliver personalized experiences while maintaining the broad reach of traditional television.

AVOD (Advertising-Based Video on Demand)

AVOD is a streaming service model that offers free, ad-supported streaming video (Tubi, Freevee, Pluto TV, Xumo Play, Plex, the Roku Channel). Some hybrid streaming services (Peacock, Paramount+, Hulu) also offer ad-supported tiers alongside their subscription options. Viewers can watch content for free, but advertisements occasionally appear during their view time.

Channel Stores

Channel Stores are app distribution platforms where viewers can launch various streaming channels through a single interface. Major examples include Amazon Channels, the Roku Channel Store, Apple TV Channels, and Samsung TV Plus Video. These aggregation platforms offer viewers a convenient means to access and subscribe to different content providers within the advanced TV ecosystem, often with unified billing and content discovery.

Digital TV

Digital TV transmits television signals across digital media such as desktop, mobile, or tablets rather than traditional linear television delivery.

DAI (Dynamic Ad Insertion)

DAI technology enables advertisers to insert ads into a video stream in real-time based on viewer data, device information, and content context. Unlike traditional linear TV advertising, where the same ads broadcast to all viewers, DAI creates individual decision points within the content stream where customized ads can be inserted. This process happens in two main ways: client-side DAI (CSAI), where the insertion occurs on the viewer’s device, or server-side DAI (SSAI), where ads are stitched into the content stream before delivery. DAI technology considers factors such as viewer demographics, viewing history, geographic location, and even time of day to determine the most relevant ad to serve. This capability is particularly powerful in OTT/CTV environments, combining the high-quality viewing experience of traditional TV with the targeting precision of digital advertising.

FAST (Free Ad Supported TV)

FAST refers to a growing category of streaming services that offer content for free, supported by advertisements. This model is similar to AVOD (advertising-based video on demand), but differs from it in that FAST services are often pre-programmed channels, similar to linear TV. Examples include Pluto TV, Tubi, Freevee, Xumo Play, Plex, and channels from connected TV OEMs such as the Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, and VIZIO WatchFree+.

Frequency Capping

Frequency capping in CTV refers to the practice of limiting how often a specific household sees the same advertisement across different streaming platforms and services. This is particularly important in the CTV space where multiple family members might be watching through different apps on the same device or the same content might be accessed through different CTV devices in the home. Effective frequency capping helps optimize campaign spending and prevent ad fatigue.

GRP (Gross Rating Point)

GRP is a standard measure in advertising used to quantify the exposure of an ad by measuring impressions as a percentage of the target population. GRP refers to the total exposure as a percentage of the target audience.

HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV)

HbbTV is a global initiative aimed at harmonizing broadcast TV and broadband delivery of entertainment services to consumers, allowing connected TVs, set-top boxes, and multiscreen devices to access additional online services and content alongside traditional broadcasts.

Household Graph

A household graph is a data structure that maps the relationship between CTV devices, viewers, and households, enabling advertisers to understand and reach specific audiences at the household level. This technology helps solve one of the unique challenges of CTV advertising: multiple viewers using the same device or multiple devices in the same household. Household graphs enable more precise targeting and measurement while respecting viewer privacy, making them essential for advanced TV advertising campaigns.

HVOD (Hybrid Video on Demand)

HVOD combines elements of SVOD and AVOD, offering a hybrid of subscription-based and ad-supported content. Subscribers have the option to pay a higher subscription rate for an ad-free experience or a lower rate for an experience that includes ads. In recent years, SVOD streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+, which previously offered only ad-free subscriptions, have introduced subscription tiers with ad-supported content at a lower price point.

iTV (Interactive TV)

iTV refers to television services that enable viewers to interact with the content they are watching, such as voting, shopping, or accessing additional information, making TV a more interactive medium.

Linear TV

Linear TV is the traditional television form factor in which networks broadcast content that is displayed via a satellite or cable box and watched live at a scheduled time on a specific channel.

MVPD (Multichannel Video Program Distributor)

A MVPD (Comcast, Spectrum, DISH Network) distributes or serves multiple television channels to viewers via cable, satellite, or other distribution technologies. They typically offer bundled packages of channels, typically on a subscription basis, and may also offer video-on-demand.

Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising is the automated process of buying and selling digital advertising using software algorithms rather than traditional human negotiations and manual insertion orders. In the CTV/OTT space, programmatic advertising has seen explosive growth, with market statistics showing that programmatic CTV ad spend reached $19 billion in 2023 and is projected to exceed $25 billion in 2025. This growth is driven by improved targeting capabilities atop the shift in viewer behavior toward streaming platforms. Programmatic technology enables advertisers to purchase individual impressions in real-time while optimizing for specific audience segments, content types, and viewing contexts. Success rates show that programmatic CTV campaigns typically achieve up to 80% completion rates, significantly higher than traditional digital video advertising. This efficiency, combined with the precision of audience targeting, has made programmatic the preferred method for most advanced TV advertising campaigns.

Programmatic TV

Programmatic TV is the automated process of buying, selling, and delivering television ads using data-driven software and real-time bidding technologies. Unlike traditional TV ad buying, which relies on broad demographic data and manual insertion orders, programmatic TV leverages viewing data from set-top boxes (STBs) and smart TVs to identify and reach specific audience segments. The process works through several key components: demand-side platforms (DSPs) that enable buyers to manage campaigns across multiple inventory sources, supply-side platforms (SSPs) that help publishers optimize ad inventory, and data management platforms (DMPs) that organize and activate audience data. In CTV environments, programmatic TV factors in variables such as content genre, viewing time, device type, and household characteristics to make near real-time decisions about which ads to serve. This technology enables advertisers to move beyond traditional age and gender targeting to reach audiences based on behaviors, interests, and purchase intent, while maintaining the brand-safe environment of television.

PVOD (Premium Video on Demand)

PVOD enables consumers to purchase early access to content prior to, simultaneously with, or shortly after its theatrical release. Users can pay a one-time fee in addition to their monthly subscription to access new content before it’s available on other platforms. PVOD is often used for highly anticipated/high-budget films or unreleased movies. PVOD provides an alternative to movie theaters, enabling studios to monetize their films outside of traditional theatrical releases.

SSAI (Server-Side Ad Insertion)

SSAI, also known as dynamic ad stitching, is a technology that seamlessly integrates ads into streaming content at the server level before it reaches the viewer’s device. Unlike client-side ad insertion, SSAI provides a smoother viewing experience that mimics traditional TV. This technology is crucial for OTT and CTV platforms, as it helps ensure reliable ad delivery and reduces buffering between content and advertisements.

SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand)

SVOD describes streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, Max, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+) that require viewers to pay a subscription fee, usually at a monthly rate. Viewers can then watch shows from a library of content whenever they choose. While traditionally SVOD services were ad-free, some services now offer both ad-free premium tiers and lower-priced ad-supported options (Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, Netflix).

t-Commerce (Television Commerce)

t-Commerce involves purchasing products directly through TV platforms. Advanced TV technologies have facilitated commercial interactions as an evolving way that viewers interact with TV content.

Target Rating Point (TRP)

TRP is a standard metric in advertising used to quantify ad exposure, focusing on a specific demographic or target audience. Similar to GRP.

Traditional TV

Traditional TV is the OG means of ad buying in which ad spots are purchased based on viewer data such as gender, age, and other demographics, then served on specific TV ad programs. This type of ad buying reaches a wide range of viewers across linear TV ad spots.

TV Buying

TV buying is the process of purchasing ad space and time on a platform or service to target specific audiences for increasing a customer base. TV buying has evolved over the years: Traditionally, ads were purchased and displayed on cable/satellite television, reaching broad audiences. Now, ad space can be bought and sold automatically, served to specific viewers across many programs and devices.

TV Content

TV content refers to how television can be made available to viewers. Instead of paying for cable or satellite services and watching content available only on the channels provided, viewers can decide what content they want to view and pay for that content in various ways. Advertisers can also determine what type of TV content they serve ads on depending on the audiences they want to target.

There are many types of TV content, and each platform can have a combination of features. For example, Hulu is both an SVOD and AVOD streaming service and provides viewers with the option to buy add-ons that fall under the TVOD category. On the other hand, Netflix operates under the HVOD umbrella because it offers premium ad-free subscriptions and lower-cost limited ads tiers. The following LumaScape shows the multitude of TV content and how it fits into the entire ecosystem. Advertisers choosing where to serve ads need to examine the different platforms, what they offer, and how they display ads to ensure that they are reaching their desired audiences.

TVE (TV Everywhere)

TVE refers to content that can be streamed on any device. Viewers can log in to their chosen platform to view content and pay for their service within the platform.

TVOD (Transactional Video on Demand)

TVOD is a model where viewers purchase download or viewing rights to individual pieces of content—such as a particular film, TV show, or TV episode—on a transactional basis for a one-time fee, allowing them to pay for only the content they want to watch.

vMVPD (Virtual Multichannel Video Program Distributor)

A vMVPD is similar to an MVPD, but distributes and serves channels across digital OTT platforms (YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, fuboTV). vMVPDs deliver multiple TV channels to their subscribers with flexible options for cable-like channel bundles that are cheaper than traditional cable. These streaming services typically offer options to watch TV live or on demand.

VOD (Video on Demand)

VOD allows viewers to watch television content when they choose instead of watching programs at a scheduled time.

Orchestrating digital excellence for the 2024 season

Picture yourself in a bustling retail core as the holiday season approaches, marveling at the intricate interplay of digital displays and human movement, each pixel and person weaving the elaborate choreography of modern holiday commerce. With holiday 2024 retail sales poised to approach $1 trillion according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), the science of holiday marketing strategies has evolved far beyond the quaint calendar-based campaigns of yesterday. Today’s holiday marketing strategies must encompass holistic channel integration, strategic timing, and privacy-first measurement, informed by the human element, all flowing through an ever-expanding universe of digital and physical touchpoints.

The Compressed 2024 Holiday Window

A fundamental, unavoidable truth looms over this year’s festivities: the compressed 27-day window from Thanksgiving (the latest possible date on which the holiday falls) to Christmas—and its implications for holiday marketing strategies. Negotiating this reality necessitates deft timing and precision. Where traditional wisdom once suggested flooding channels with holiday messages early, today’s data reveals a more nuanced reality. With 75% of consumers planning to shop early-season promotional events in 2024 (according to Deloitte), the key lies in strategic deployment across an elongated season that retail studies show actually commenced well before the autumnal equinox.

The shorter window necessitates precise execution. Begin as soon as possible before peak season by establishing your measurement infrastructure—the foundation upon which holiday marketing strategies and insights can build. A couple months out, activate your loyalty program initiatives, focusing on first-party data collection and enrichment. The weeks before Thanksgiving signal the launch of early-season engagement campaigns, setting the stage for full cross-channel holiday programming activation during the crucial 27-day holiday window. Let’s unpack this in more detail.

Beyond Channels: The Multi-Touchpoint Reality

Channel Integration Excellence

These holiday marketing strategies take on particular relevance in holiday 2024’s economic landscape. Cyber Week alone is projected to account for 14–17% of the entire holiday season’s online revenue, with both Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday showing accelerated growth. While NRF projects a year-over-year spend increase between 2.5% and 3.5% during the 2024 holiday season, the distribution of this growth illuminates the evolution of consumer behavior: Adobe forecasts online spend to increase 8.4% over 2023.

Innovative retailers like Ulta Beauty demonstrate these guiding principles in action, including leveraging first-party data through savvy retail segmentation. Through their Ultamate Rewards program, which reached 42 million members, the company utilized different tiers of engagement (member, platinum, and diamond) to deliver targeted offers during the 2023 holiday season. Their Q4 results revealed that loyalty members generated a majority of total sales, with diamond and platinum members showing particularly strong retention and higher average transaction values. The company’s approach saw app users engaging with personalized beauty recommendations and targeted promotional content, leading to a marked increase in mobile app engagement.

Strategic Timing and Customer Engagement

Engagement strategies have transcended traditional promotional calendars, and the most successful holiday campaigns build relationships long before the first snowfall. These connections flourish through transparent communication, empathetic understanding of customer needs, and personalized experiences that acknowledge each shopper’s unique set of touchpoints.

The wisdom of timing your holiday marketing strategies investment has never been more crucial. While we have noted the earlier holiday purchasing season, and therefore you may feel behind the eight ball in your holiday messaging, sophisticated brands understand that success often lies in strategic patience. Consider the debt management app that discovered its greatest impact comes not during the holiday shopping frenzy, but in the quieter days of January—when consumers seek solutions for their excessive holiday spending.

Orchestrating Success: The Kochava Advantage

In this complex landscape of holiday marketing, precise campaign optimization and measurement is golden. As the industry’s premier marketing solutions partner, Kochava provides the calibration and support needed for mastering marketing success. Where advertisers may be overwhelmed by complexity, Kochava creates clarity, transforming the multifaceted holiday marketing landscape into a coherent, actionable strategy.

Kochava’s omnichannel measurement prowess spans the entire digital ecosystem, from first awareness to final conversion, creating a holistic view of customer journeys. Kochava deftly adapts to your brand’s unique requirements and market dynamics. This allows for real-time campaign adjustments, enabling marketers to respond flexibly to performance signals with precision and confidence. As the holiday season extends beyond traditional boundaries, Kochava’s year-round measurement and optimization capabilities become increasingly vital, ensuring that each season’s learnings inform and enhance the next.

One truth becomes as evident as the glow of festive lights: Success lies not in perfecting any particular channel or technology, but leveraging them all in harmony. Those who accomplish this kaleidoscopic choreography will achieve success not just this holiday season, but also in the evolving marketing landscape of tomorrow.

For brands ready to elevate their holiday marketing strategies, Kochava helps you measure what matters—building the North Pole command center from which to orchestrate your entire holiday season. Reach out to our team to establish your measurement foundation and transform your holiday marketing strategies today.

Webinar insights from industry experts at DPAA and Advertiser Perceptions

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) has emerged as a potent medium in the fast-moving ecosystem of digital advertising, melding the impact of traditional billboards with the precision of digital targeting and programmatic capabilities. As marketers seek innovative ways to capture audience attention in an increasingly fragmented media environment, DOOH offers a compelling solution that bridges the physical and digital realms.

In a recent webinar hosted by Kochava, key thought leaders in the field convened to explore the evolving landscape of DOOH advertising. Barry Frey, President & CEO of Digital Place-Based Advertising Association (DPAA); Noah Klas, VP of Membership at DPAA; Sarah Bolton, EVP of Business Intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions; and Grant Simmons, VP of Kochava Foundry, shared their insights on the current state of DOOH, its integration with other media channels, and the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Their collective expertise provided attendees with a comprehensive view of how DOOH is reshaping the advertising landscape—and what marketers need to know.

Setting the Stage: The Evolving DOOH Landscape

Frey kicked off the discussion by highlighting the transformative technologies reshaping DOOH, painting a picture of an industry in the midst of a technological revolution. His opening remarks set the tone for a deep dive into the current state and future potential of DOOH advertising.

• DOOH is emerging as a powerhouse in the advertising world, offering unique strengths in brand safety, addressability, and sustainability.
• The global reach and effectiveness of DOOH are surpassing traditional media outlets, marking a significant shift in the advertising landscape.
• QR codes and cutting-edge technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and 3D displays are reinventing the DOOH experience for consumers.

The session then unfolded to reveal several key insights:

1. DOOH Is Gaining Momentum in Advertising Strategies

2. The Blurring Lines Between Media Channels

Simmons highlighted crucial trends that he and his Kochava Foundry team are noting in the DOOH advertising landscape:

• Video content is increasingly permeating all media channels, with DOOH becoming an essential component of this holistic approach.
• Traditional boundaries between social media, digital advertising, and out-of-home are becoming increasingly indistinct.
• This convergence necessitates the development of integrated video teams capable of creating cohesive campaigns across multiple platforms and channels.
• Within this new landscape, programmatic DOOH is emerging as a key advantage, offering flexibility and targeted reach.
• The medium is measurable from both a brand and performance point of view.

This integrated dance among digital media presents both challenges and opportunities for advertisers, requiring a more cohesive approach to campaign planning and execution across diverse media channels.

3. Leveraging DOOH for Customer Acquisition

The webinar revealed promising insights into the effectiveness of DOOH for customer and user acquisition:

• Unlike some digital ad formats, DOOH ads often demonstrate improved conversion rates with higher exposure frequency—and a longer window of customer touchpoint influence.
• This makes DOOH a potentially powerful tool for customer acquisition when integrated into a comprehensive video strategy.
• Advertisers can leverage this trend by strategically increasing ad frequency in high-traffic DOOH locations to maximize conversion potential. The propensity to convert increases with DOOH, unlike other mediums where saturation can cause ad fatigue.

These findings suggest that DOOH is positioned to play a crucial role throughout the marketing funnel, both in building brand awareness and driving conversions over time.

Want access to the full webinar presentation? Contact us.

4. Navigating Challenges in the DOOH Landscape

The speakers went on to identify several key challenges facing the DOOH industry:

• Measurement is perceived as a significant hurdle, with advertisers struggling to accurately track performance and compare results with other media sources. However, DOOH is in fact eminently measurable. (Explore Kochava DOOH measurement capabilities here.)
• Ad fraud is an ongoing concern. While third-party verification offers some protection, the industry must remain vigilant and develop robust safeguards.
• Creative development for DOOH requires a unique approach, necessitating close collaboration among brands, agencies, and media owners.

The experts emphasized that these hurdles can be overcome, unlocking significant potential in the DOOH space, particularly as marketers become more savvy at leveraging available measurement technologies and creative strategies.

5. Future Trends Shaping DOOH

Looking ahead, the panel identified several key trends poised to shape the future of DOOH:

• A growing emphasis on advertiser education to fully unlock the channel’s potential
• Increased integration of DOOH into cross-channel planning and buying
• Technological advancements that open new avenues for creative and engaging ad experiences, including interactive displays and AI-driven content adaptation

These all point to a future wherein DOOH becomes an increasingly sophisticated, data-driven, and integral part of the advertising ecosystem, offering unprecedented opportunities for brands to connect with audiences in meaningful ways.

Catch the Full Webinar on Demand

The complete on-demand webinar, New DOOH Opportunities for Performance Marketers: Results From DPAA Omnichannel Decision Makers Study, is available now! As the lines between digital and physical advertising continue to blur, DOOH is positioned to play an increasingly important role in comprehensive marketing strategies. For marketers looking to stay ahead of the curve, understanding and leveraging DOOH is crucial.

To address the growing need for effective DOOH measurement, Kochava is shaping the future of this dynamic field through innovative solutions including outcomes-based reporting, MediaLift® for calculating incremental lift, and always-on near real-time reporting. These tools enable marketers to measure DOOH campaigns against meaningful outcomes, from app installs to store visitations and more. For a deeper dive into DOOH, readers are encouraged to explore this companion piece about the evolution of DOOH as well as the full DPAA 2024 Omnichannel Decision Makers Study.

As the DOOH landscape keeps evolving, staying informed about the latest trends, measurement methodologies, and industry partnerships is essential for marketers aiming to maximize the impact of their out-of-home advertising efforts. Whether you’re a seasoned DOOH veteran or just beginning to explore this exciting medium, the insights shared in this webinar provide valuable guidance for leveraging DOOH in your marketing mix.

Want more content like this? Subscribe to our newsletter.

Perspectives, measurement, and future trend insights with DPAA

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising continues to rapidly transform the advertising landscape, melding the physical and digital realms and creating dynamic, engaging experiences. Imagine walking through a bustling urban square, where dazzling LED billboards capture your attention while adapting content in real-time to meet the interests of the surrounding throngs. Picture digital screens in your local grocery store that display colorful ad specials—and also interact with you, offering personalized promotions based on your shopping preferences. This is an exciting frontier of advertising, where the boundaries between digital and physical blur, creating immersive moments that captivate consumers on the go.

Behind the flashy screens and eye-catching visuals, DOOH now leverages advanced technologies such as programmatic buying, real-time measurement & analytics, and geotargeting to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. Its evolution is driven by the increasing digital enablement of out-of-home media, transforming static billboards into dynamic canvases with kaleidoscopic content creating an array of impactful and measurable touchpoints.

DPAA + Kochava

Digital Place-Based Advertising Association (DPAA) recently partnered with Kochava on its research study through Advertiser Perceptions to release the DPAA 2024 Omnichannel Decision Makers Study. The results reveal that DOOH is increasingly recognized as an essential component of the advertising ecosystem, with 79% of study respondents planning to recommend DOOH as part of their media plans over the next 12 months. Of marketers already using DOOH, 96% plan to maintain or increase spend. All told, US advertisers are projected to spend $3.1 billion on DOOH in 2024, a 28% increase from the previous year.

The significance of DOOH in modern advertising is immense: It offers unrivaled opportunities for brands to reach huge numbers of consumers in high-traffic urban spaces, retail environments, transit hubs, and beyond. Let’s unpack how this rapidly growing and rapidly innovating medium is revolutionizing advertising, drawing on key insights from DPAA and Kochava.

First, What Is DOOH?

Digital out-of-home advertising refers to digital media displayed in public spaces, such as digital billboards, screens in transit stations or stores, and interactive kiosks. Unlike traditional out-of-home (OOH) advertising, generally consisting of static images, DOOH utilizes digital technology to display dynamic content that can be updated in real-time, enabling advertisers to deliver relevant and timely messages to their target audiences.

DOOH operates through a network of digital screens managed by tech platforms that control the display, distribution, and timing of ads. These platforms enable programmatic buying, wherein advertisers bid for ad space in real-time based on specific audience criteria, while targeting capabilities ensure that ads effectively reach their optimal audience.

OOH to DOOH: Static to Dynamic

Traditional OOH advertising has long been a marketing staple—think highway billboards or ad content on the side of trains intended to capture the attention of passersby. However eye-catching, the static nature of these ads limits their ability to engage audiences kinetically. DOOH by definition leans into the digital component, allowing for compelling content that can be displayed and updated in real-time.

DOOH Display Innovations

Advancements in DOOH technology in recent years have made the advertising landscape more dynamic, engaging, and interactive. Fundamental to DOOH display is the ability to rotate ads in the same physical space, with digital screens cycling through multiple advertisements. This maximizes infrastructure utilization and increases revenue potential without the need for additional physical installations. Digital screens are more eco-friendly compared to printed billboards, reducing the need for physical materials and waste.

Effects such as innovative lighting installations near DOOH billboards enhance the visual impact by synchronizing with billboard content to create a more striking experience. Full-motion digital billboards feature shifting, personalized creative content, particularly effective for dynamic industries like film. Limitless potential applications are inspiring brands and agencies to develop campaigns specially for full-motion DOOH.

Another attention-grabbing novelty comes from across-space synchronization, in which objects animate over multiple consecutive screens, creating an immersive and cohesive storytelling experience.

Programmatic DOOH & Digital Enablement

The integration of DOOH into cross-channel strategies goes hand in hand with the growing adoption of programmatic buying, enabling advertisers to optimize campaigns in real-time and measure outcomes with greater accuracy. Programmatic DOOH has definitively moved the needle, enabling media buyers to set specific audience and environment criteria such as demographic, time of day, or weather conditions. When these conditions align, the ad automatically displays. This makes the buying process more efficient and ensures that ads are shown to the best audience at the best time.

While awareness of DOOH’s digital enablement is growing among media buyers, it still lags behind reality. Just over half of respondents to the DPAA + Kochava study recognized DOOH as being digitally enabled for everything from data-driven targeting to planning and transacting. In particular, only 51% rated measurement and insights as 4 or 5 out of 5 in their assessment of DOOH’s being fully digitally enabled.

Importance of Measurement and ROI

As DOOH advertising continues to expand its footprint in the advertising landscape, the necessity for robust measurement and attribution solutions becomes increasingly key. Advertisers cannot be satisfied with merely knowing that their ads are being displayed; they require reliable and sophisticated methods to quantify the impact of DOOH investments and how these campaigns contribute to overall marketing success.

Respondents to the question What are your concerns, if any, when considering DOOH in your media plans? reported measurement-related concerns as their top two. Although the percentage of respondents citing these concerns has decreased markedly since 2021, it is still substantial.

Contrary to the outdated perception that DOOH lacks sophisticated measurement capabilities, the reality is that advanced tools and methodologies are capable of providing reliable and detailed insights, and marketers are gradually coming to recognize this. Advertisers can utilize effective measurement solutions to assess the impact of their DOOH investments, enabling them to justify ad spend, optimize campaign performance, and integrate DOOH seamlessly into broader marketing strategies.

For consumers, these advancements mean more enjoyable and relevant advertising experiences. In addition to commercial content, digital screens provide timely, practical information such as weather or transit alerts. Such utilities make DOOH a valuable info source as well as an entertaining advertising medium.

Integration With Broader Marketing Strategies

Integration of DOOH measurement and attribution solutions with broader marketing strategies is paramount. In the DPAA + Kochava study, complementing a digital plan was cited as the top reason media buyers include DOOH in their media plans.

Linking DOOH data with other channels, such as connected (CTV) and mobile, enables advertisers to take in a comprehensive view of their marketing efforts, allowing for more accurate measurement of cross-channel performance and revealing synergies among various marketing strategies. For example, an advertiser might use DOOH to drive awareness, then retarget those exposed to the ad with personalized messages on their mobile or CTV devices. By understanding how DOOH fits into the broader marketing ecosystem, advertisers can maximize the impact of their campaigns and achieve better overall results.

Future Trends for DOOH

As the DOOH advertising landscape continues to evolve, several key factors are poised to shape its future, showcasing the transformative potential of DOOH as it integrates cutting-edge technology and sustainability practices to create more engaging and responsible advertising solutions.

Future DOOH displays will become increasingly intelligent, leveraging location-based marketing to present highly relevant advertising based on where the viewer is. These ads may synchronize with mobile devices, ensuring a seamless and contextually relevant experience. Marketers will devise campaigns that transition smoothly from DOOH to mobile to web, creating a cohesive experience across multiple platforms.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will play a crucial role in dynamically personalizing ad content based on real-time factors. Moreover, AI will offer precise modeled metrics on ad views, including detailed consumer characteristics, enabling advertisers to optimize campaigns effectively and calculate ROI more accurately. Machine learning algorithms promise to facilitate real-time programmatic auctions of DOOH ad spaces, making the buying process even more efficient and tailored to specific audience segments.

Virtual and augmented reality technologies will introduce new layers of interaction and engagement in DOOH advertising. Brands may leverage virtual reality (VR) to offer fully immersive, 360-degree ad experiences within public spaces, captivating audiences and providing a deeper level of engagement. Augmented reality (AR) filters on DOOH displays could enable consumers to visualize products in a real-world setting via their smartphones, enhancing the consumer’s connection to brands and/or products. Both technologies will lead to the creation of on-the-spot, interactive product demonstrations or hands-on experiences.

The development and adoption of low-energy, including solar-powered, displays will significantly reduce electricity costs and appeal to environmentally conscious consumers and brands. An increasing number of vendors will manufacture displays using recyclable or biodegradable materials, furthering the industry’s commitment to sustainability.

DPAA + Kochava White Paper

The DPAA 2024 Omnichannel Decision Makers Study, featuring research from Advertiser Perceptions, offers many valuable insights into the current state and future trends of DOOH advertising. These attest to the growing importance of the medium, as well as the opportunities for marketers eager to explore its full potential and stay on the cutting edge of the rapidly evolving advertising ecosystem.

The study notes a marked uptick in advertiser awareness and understanding of DOOH, with 42% of respondents reporting a moderate increase in their knowledge over the past year. Such heightened awareness is a positive sign for the DOOH industry, suggesting that advertisers are more open to exploring and leveraging DOOH within their broader media strategies.

Moreover, DOOH is considered an extension of TV and video planning by 41% of decision makers. Video Everywhere is widely used as a synonym for DOOH as the genre evolves, as evidenced by the title of DPAA’s annual summit.

Want to Read the Full Report?

The full report and white paper are available to all DPAA members here. If you’re an existing Kochava customer and have not already received your copy of the white paper via email, please contact your client success manager or email Support@Kochava.com.

If you’re an advertiser, an agency, or a DOOH company and need help with measurement, get in touch with the Kochava team here.

Insights from Embracing Contextual Advertising for Privacy-Safe Growth webinar

As digital advertising rapidly evolves, contextual advertising offers a navigational tool for brands to chart a course through the digital world, exploring privacy-first frontiers and mapping new territories for engaging audiences. In an illuminating webinar hosted by Kochava, a panel of industry experts delved into the realm of contextual advertising and its role in driving privacy-first growth. The panel, comprising Mark Menery, VP, Global Head of Sales at Dataseat (Verve Group); Adrienne Rice, Account Director at M&C Saatchi Performance; and Lane Schechter, Director of Product at Verity, GumGum; shared valuable insights into this timely advertising method and its prowess in negotiating a privacy-forward digital topography. Drawing on their expertise and extensive experience, the guest presenters highlighted the current state of contextual advertising, its relevance to brands today, and best practices for leveraging this approach amid the ever-changing digital advertising landscape.

The Evolving Landscape of Contextual Advertising

The panelists recounted the evolution of contextual advertising, tracing its origins from its prominent past in traditional media to today’s more sophisticated systems. Traditionally, contextual advertising involved aligning advertising messages with the content of a publication or program, such as placing ads for home improvement products in a house and garden magazine. With the emerging digital landscape, behavioral targeting came to the fore, as this type of ad targeting proved highly effective and measurable via individual user data such as past online/mobile behavior and device IDs. Menery delineated the key differences between contextual and behavioral targeting: Behavioral targeting focuses on an individual’s past digital activities and interests in order to serve personalized ads, while contextual advertising relies on understanding the environment and content a user is engaging with at the moment. Shifting into a contextual approach aligns with the growing emphasis on privacy and data protection, making it a compelling option for advertisers.

Embracing the Shift: The Growing Importance of Contextual Advertising

As the digital ecosystem evolved, contextual advertising became more sophisticated, transitioning to picking up contextual signals from publisher apps, keywords, user engagement, time and location, semantics, content categories, and so forth. This has enabled a viable resurgence of contextual advertising as an effective methodology in a landscape increasingly sensitive to the protection of personal information. Because contextual advertising does not require tracking individual user data or behavior, it is inherently a privacy-forward approach.

To this point, the webinar experts emphasized its importance in the face of increasing privacy regulations in today’s digital world. The deprecation of device identifiers has significantly impacted the advertising industry by reducing the availability of user-level data for behavioral targeting. The panel noted that their companies’ respective clients are indeed employing contextual strategies, underscoring the shift to privacy-first methods necessitated by the introduction of various government- and platform-led privacy regulations and resultant phasing out of user-level device IDs as well as third-party cookies on the web. Contextual advertising has become a viable, privacy-compliant alternative for brands and advertisers—who still need to reach their audiences in a targeted and effective manner.

Marketers can leverage these rich contextual signals to move beyond traditional content alignment and deliver programmatic advertising that is truly relevant and resonant with the consumer’s current mindset, mood, and intent. This methodology relies on absolutely no personal user or behavior data whatsoever. Rather, its dimensional comprehension of the environment itself enables the right message to be matched to the right context—ultimately driving higher engagement and performance. Brands and publishers can now leverage fortified contextual signals to deliver relevant and impactful advertising experiences in a fully privacy-forward solution.

Bridging the Gap: Contextual Advertising and Performance Challenges

While the group championed the effectiveness of contextual advertising, they also addressed potential roadblocks advertisers can face in target accuracy, scaling, measurement, and achieving desired performance metrics.

Because contextual targeting relies on understanding the content and environment rather than an individual’s past behaviors and interests, it often requires a more patient “crawl, walk, run” orientation compared to the faster ramp-up of behavioral targeting. To address the challenge of homing in on a desired demographic who might engage with apps or sites that attract a widely diverse audience, the panel recommends a test-and-learn cycle: Start with a wide variety of apps or keywords, refining targeting based on outcomes to tease out high-performing environments.

To optimize contextual campaigns and hit KPIs, the webinar guests recommended working with trusted partners able to provide transparent specificity and guidance. This includes access to detailed, accurate reporting on the specific contextual signals and environments where ads are being served so as to assess their performance and ensure brand safety. By isolating contextual strategies and analyzing which environments drive the best performance, advertisers can refine their approach and allocate budget more effectively.

Schechter noted that the issue of scale, particularly in the CTV space, is a challenge within contextual advertising, as in the video space there is limited access to the signals that enable nuanced contextual analysis of content. The panel is hopeful for increased signal availability commensurate with growing demand.

The webinar experts reiterated the importance of selecting high-quality contextual advertising partners and leveraging their expertise. Clear signals for measuring targeting and optimization testing are critical, as is the resolve to accurately isolate and assess strategies. Because contextual advertising may drive more incremental progress compared to other tactics, the group counseled a patient, iterative approach to test, learn, and refine strategies around elements like targeting, ideal environments, and budget allocation. Optimizing in close collaboration with trusted partners is key.

The panelists also noted the role of methodologies such as marketing mix modeling (MMM) as alternative ways to measure campaign effectiveness. Such solutions enable advertisers to connect the dots between contextual ad exposures and downstream conversions, without relying on individual user data. By utilizing privacy-durable signals and aggregated insights, brands can gain visibility into the impact of their contextual strategies while respecting consumer privacy, bridging the gap between contextual targeting and the achievement of business goals.

The discussion also touched on the role of consent and privacy considerations around measurement within the contextual advertising landscape. The panel agreed that consent is less of a concern within the contextual realm, as focus is inherently on the current context and intent of the consumer rather than individual user data on past digital activities or personal identifiers. However, they emphasized the importance of leveraging privacy-first measurement solutions, such as Apple’s SKAN and Google’s Privacy Sandbox, to ensure accurate and compliant attribution. It is also important to note that post-ad consent becomes necessary when tracking to attribute conversions by users after they interact with the ads.

Expert insights from Kochava webinar with Spotify Advertising and M&C Saatchi Performance

Since its emergence in the early 2000s, podcasting has experienced exponential growth, prompting businesses to adopt marketing strategies to leverage the rapidly evolving medium. In a webinar showcasing podcast advertising, acclaimed industry players—Charles Manning, CEO of Kochava; Adrienne Rice, Director of Media Investment at M&C Saatchi Performance; and Matt Drengler, Director of Marketing Research and Intelligence for Spotify Advertising—shared their insights into the opportunities and best practices within this channel. The insightful session examined the breakthroughs of podcast advertising, its efficacy for advertisers, and its future.

Why Podcast Advertising?

The panel established the impressive scale of the podcasting landscape, emphasizing the medium’s growth and the opportunities this affords advertisers. Millions of podcasts cater to a global listener base projected to exceed half a billion people in 2024. At the same time, podcast advertising revenue is heading upward of $4 billion. This is no longer a nascent, niche medium, but a burgeoning channel with yet-untapped potential.

Rice shared key insights into the demographics and behavior patterns of podcast listeners that marketers might do well to consider, pointing out that 66% of US internet users listen to podcasts (in most cases at least once a week), with the majority of listeners aged 45 or younger and earning higher-than-average household income. As for the dominant podcast genres—spoiler alert, but perhaps not a surprise—comedy and true crime are well established as top listener favorites.

Evolution of Podcast Advertising

The panel recounted the transformative journey of podcast advertising, from its early implementation to the innovative solutions shaping its future. Traditionally, podcast advertising was predominantly purchased directly from shows and embedded within the podcasts themselves, often in the form of host-read ads. This posed significant limitations in scalability, as each ad insertion was manually placed within and inseparable from the episode. Producers and advertisers also had to consider the ongoing relevance and permanence of ad content; after the show was aired, the ad might be forever “baked in.”

The podcast industry embraced technological innovations to solve these challenges, and over the past several years, the landscape has significantly evolved. Drengler took participants through industry advancements that directly addressed the limitations of embedded ads and revolutionized the podcast advertising space, most notably dynamic ad insertion (DAI). This technology, now accounting for 90% of ad volume, enables advertisers to place relevant ads into a designated spot within a desired podcast episode, seamlessly stitched in at the time of download and refreshable as needed. This marked a significant advance toward resolving issues such as scalability, measurability, and systematic targeting.

Automated programmatic ad placement is rapidly taking hold, and there is still much room for growth in this approach. And Spotify’s streaming audio insertion (SAI) represents a cutting-edge breakthrough, leveraging the shift toward streaming podcast content rather than downloading it. This technology has further enhanced ad integration, real-time targeting, dynamic content delivery, and ad measurement capabilities, in particular the ability to measure on real-time impressions, leading to a more engaging ad experience for listeners while offering greater effectiveness and efficiency in optimization for advertisers.

New Possibilities

Manning emphasized that these significant shifts now enable us to comprehend the podcast consumer journey holistically, essentially having blown open the doors for the medium to become fully viable for performance advertising. The webinar panel agreed that new technologies are rapidly driving equivalence with digital ad formats, fully democratizing podcasting as a reliable advertising channel.

Taking full advantage of these advancements, however, necessitates new paradigms in measurement. Spotify’s SAI offers advertisers a more precise measure of reach, impressions, and audience targeting. While this allows for sophisticated metrics, the greater podcast adtech world is still catching up. Case in point—in a digital environment where clicks and downloads are often misleading, distinguishing between podcast downloads and streams is key to tracing listeners’ post-impression actions.

To facilitate such measurement capabilities, Spotify partnered with Kochava to process and analyze a more dimensional profile of podcast stream data in real time. Advertisers on this platform are no longer subject to the limitations posed by engagement ambiguity as revealed solely by tracking downloads or one-touch attribution. The Spotify-Kochava collaboration has enabled third-party verified measurements that open the way for further performance-based initiatives. One actionable metric has revealed that up to 95% of attributed events take place within 14 days of podcast download or exposure.

Effective Campaigns and Best Practices

These insights derived from enhanced measurability reinforce the importance of understanding the customer journey and the role of podcasts in this journey, from introduction to final conversions. Podcast advertising is more than just another channel, but a uniquely immersive experience that provides a focused and uninterrupted space for advertisers. The conversation revealed a bombshell outcome takeaway: One in five listeners who visit an advertiser’s site after exposure to a podcast ad ends up making a purchase. Ponder that!

The panel delineated key practices for devising and executing successful podcast campaigns:

Leverage listeners’ heightened attention: Advertisers need to comprehend the medium’s perceived authenticity and credibility for effective education and audience engagement over a wide range of topics, resulting in a loyal, receptive listener base. The felt connection between host and listener fosters trust in the medium and by extension the advertisers who directly speak to this audience engagement. High-quality, vivid creative is a must to engage podcast listeners who are primed to embrace relevant, compelling ads and brands/products that complement their listening experience.

Deploy a robust measurement strategy: Advertisers need to leverage the wealth of data now available through podcast analytics. Understanding listener behavior, such as when and how they tune in, listen to or skip ads, and engage with content, is fundamental for optimizing campaign performance. Contextual-based targeting, including seamless, real-time topic and conversation-specific ad placements, is a powerful means to tailor creative to podcast contexts and/or home in on audiences by demographic or behaviors and interests. Data derived from such practices can be used to inform and optimize subsequent initiatives relative to desired key performance indicators.

Prioritize privacy issues: With privacy becoming an increasingly important concern, advertisers need to be cognizant of how they collect and use listener data. Ensuring compliance with privacy laws and being transparent with listeners about data usage can help maintain trust and reinforce positive brand image.

Catch the Full Webinar on Demand

The complete on-demand webinar, Capitalizing on Podcast Advertising in 2024, is available now! The discussion is full of fascinating insights on podcast advertising, effective measurement approaches, and future trends, with a fun addition of some of the speakers’ own favorite podcasts. The overall takeaway from this informed panel of industry experts: It is abundantly clear that the podcast medium will continue its upward trajectory, and savvy marketers will be eager to leverage this golden opportunity to apply these webinar insights directly into their digital marketing strategies for a marked competitive edge.

Enhancements to MMM make it a powerful tool for advertisers as privacy regulations evolve

What Does MMM Stand For?

Known as marketing mix modeling or media mix modeling, MMM is a statistical data-analysis methodology that gives marketers a better understanding of the optimal mix of marketing strategies across media channels to positively impact sales and other key performance indicators (KPIs). MMM seeks to take into account all advertising channels—print, social, and online advertising (e.g., search, display, video) as well as offline channels.

How Does MMM Work?

Marketing mix modeling relies on aggregate data from marketing and non-marketing sources gathered over an extended period of time. Typically, a minimum of three or more months of historical data (ideally 12+ months) are necessary to reach data significance and account for seasonality shifts. This large volume of data is used to create an accurate demand model to give marketers insights into the most effective channel strategies and forecast the best omni-channel allocation of future ad spend for greatest impact and return on investment (ROI). From these insights, marketers can adjust ad spend allocation across channels and partners for future optimization.

Seems a little abstract? Let’s look at an example.

A CMO at a major fintech company wants to zoom out from granular campaign- and creative-level performance reporting to capture the bigger picture. The CMO’s goal is to understand the incrementality of ad spend across channels and overarching performance peaks and valleys throughout the year. They work with an MMM platform and after plugging in historical data are able to arrive at new recommendations for how much to spend across channel partners at different times of the year. The marketing director and UA manager now can reallocate spend across their various channel partners to drive better incrementality and reduce unwanted oversaturation on any given channel.

And that’s essentially MMM—collecting and processing a lot of data, then presenting it at a high, aggregated level so marketers can glean broad insights into advertising effectiveness, transcending individual outliers and skewed averages.

As digital marketing evolved in the early 2000s, MMM largely took a back seat to direct-response attribution modeling, which relies on user-level interactions on websites and mobile apps. Unlike MMM aggregated data, attribution data is inherently granular—useful for marketers in focusing their efforts on specific users and customers via direct response marketing. This approach facilitates insights derived from customer-level engagements, enabling marketers to drive creative optimization, A/B tests on messaging and creatives, and other personalized marketing tactics tailored toward unique persona profiles.

In recent years, however, MMM has seen a renaissance owing to the data processing and analysis potency enabled by AI and machine learning. Companies and their marketing teams have adopted the advanced analytics and predictive insights afforded by MMM to fuel growth. At the same time, recent developments in user privacy and data use have eroded the availability of granular, user-level attribution data. As a result, marketers are relying more on aggregated data and rediscovering the potential of MMM to inform their marketing strategy. MMM enables them to optimize budgets across channels while respecting privacy policies.

How MMM Is Evolving to Help Advertisers

With the revival of marketing mix modeling, how marketers interact with it has evolved to support the dynamic needs of today’s user acquisition teams. In the fast-paced digital advertising landscape, quarterly or semiannual MMM reports are quickly outdated and lack actionability. Traditional MMM is time-consuming and laborious to manage, making it accessible only to large organizations that have the resources to maintain it in-house or the budget to outsource it.

While historically only such corporations have been able to afford fully leveraging MMM, automated data flows, cloud computing, and machine learning have made MMM more accessible, accurate, nimble, and easily updated. Cutting-edge software as a service (SaaS) next-generation MMM solutions, now accessible to companies of all sizes, have been developed to fit the needs of today’s advertisers. AIM (Always-On Incremental Measurement) by Kochava, a real-time MMM tool, maximizes the effectiveness of the marketer’s budget by providing advanced control over incrementality, channel saturation, and seasonality. AIM utilizes a sophisticated learning system that ingests new data daily and continuously updates and enriches its models. This always-on approach ensures that the insights it produces never go stale and are always ready to use—providing marketers who must make confident decisions with turnkey recommendations for optimized budget allocations.

As user privacy continues to weave itself throughout the adtech ecosystem, next-generation MMM tools will become increasingly indispensable for advertisers in determining the effectiveness of their omni-channel media strategy.

The Conclusion on Marketing Mix Modeling

Next-generation MMM is at the forefront of a marketing revolution, offering actionable recommendations for data-driven decision making in an increasingly privacy-conscious adtech landscape.

Have questions or want more information on AIM and MMM? Check out our Marketing Mix Modeling 101 ebook and explore even more helpful content in the AIM Resource Center.

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on industry trends.