Connected TV (CTV) – or TVs that can stream OTT videos and contents – is emerging as the latest focus area for digital advertisers in the Middle East, as the pandemic is driving consumers to shift from traditional entertainment channels to new and rich media formats, a sector expert said.
“Potentially, Connected TV is another major channel becoming increasingly programmatically traded in the Middle East – obviously, in a way that broadcasters and publishers above all are comfortable with,” Andy Powell, vice president and managing director – EMEA at InMobi, told Arabian Business.
“It [CTV] is an area that has seen important growth and increasing focus worldwide. Locally [in the Middle East], there is rising awareness of its potential and understanding of what’s at stake here,” added the senior executive of InMobi, India-based global mobile advertising provider.
Powell said in-app mobile is another growing trend in the Middle East region as an effective medium for branding as well as performance campaigns.
“That means not only driving installs, but also brand awareness, preference and purchase intent. By way of proof, we already have a number of case studies from major brands running successful branding campaigns, often solely on mobile,” Powell said.
He added: “Leading this trend [of growing popularity of CTV and mobile in-apps] are two major factors – the evolution of rich media and high performing mobile creative, and also crucially, vastly improved research tools for measuring brand lift on mobile – like our own Pulse product.”
Industry experts said the trend of consumers across the Middle East region cutting the cable cord and spending more time with OTT video, especially video streamed to CTV devices, has been rapidly increasing of late.
“Naturally, advertisers are following these viewers to the media channel. Not only has CTV advertising grown throughout the pandemic, but it also rose at rates that were among the fastest for any significant sector of the digital ad market,” said a Dubai-based media industry analyst with an advertising firm, who wished not to be identified due to internal company communication policies.
Andy Powell, vice president and managing director – EMEA at InMobi.
“Compared with linear TV, CTVs are offering scaled targeting through programmatic buying options as well as a greater flexibility, leading to them gaining higher traction with advertisers,” the analyst said.
Powell’s comments on the new hot spots for digital advertisers come in the wake of research showing the fast-paced churn happening within the digital media space in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), making the region conducive for the next wave of digital media growth.
Digital media in the MENA region is estimated to take 70 percent ad spend share and 80 percent of time-spend share, according to a recent report by Redseer.
The positive digital consumption in the region spans across internet penetration, social media, online shopping, time spent online and especially time spent on video content.
Recent research also showed some of the countries within the MENA region even have very high awareness of social and conversational commerce which bridges the gap between online shopping and social media.
While the data from the Middle East region could not be ascertained, research reports estimated that CTV investments in the US grew by 40.6 percent year over year in 2020, to more than $9 billion and are estimated to accelerate this year to reach $13.41bn.
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