Connected TV, Audio & Four Other Considerations for Your COVID-19 Media Strategy

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to get the latest updates in your inbox
User behavior is shifting quickly and may be hard to keep up with. However, if you stick with tried and true optimization methods (with a slight COVID-19 twist), you’ll be ready to handle whatever comes next. Here are six tips for optimizing your media strategies right now. Don’t Block All Coronavirus Content Programmatic buyers are aggressively avoiding coronavirus content through brand safety and negative keywords lists. They may even find themselves applying measures with more vigor than usual to triple-confirm their brand won’t align with coronavirus. However, they shouldn’t be averse to all sites related to COVID-19. Some like parenting hacks on a lifestyle site or a news site featuring heartwarming success stories can be beneficial. Consider the big-picture implications of keyword blocking, such as little scale given the prominence of COVID-19. Instead of blocking all coronavirus content, consider leaning into the positive content.  Shift Linear TV to Connected TV Americans are watching less linear programming during the primetime daypart (7 pm-10 pm) and switching to Connected TV (CTV) and OTT. This is made worse as stay-at-home orders have led to a hold on content production. Follow consumer consumption and shift Linear TV commitments to CTV deals. Even better, CTV has access to a vast library of content and brings along measurement, audience targeting, optimizations and audience frequency management. Add Audio for More Spotify and Pandora are reporting a decrease in platform listeners as families, couples and roommates are at home together streaming from one account instead of two or three. Brands can secure less paid impressions for more actual listeners as a result of co-listening! Add Audio to your line items for less budget and impression share than previously needed for reach. Adswerve’s relationship with Pandora and Spotify can help you quickly tap into their inventory. Ease Back in with Programmatic Budgets are slowly coming back. Programmatic is a great digital advertising re-entry point due to efficient CPMs, low barriers to entry, easy measurement and a variety of targeting methodologies for lower budget commitments. Consider your campaign goals and then re-launch with Google Ads or DV360. Ensure You Have the Data You Need Everywhere we look, watch and read points to data as the way of the future. This was true before and is even more true now. Every brand will need to look at their data to confidently navigate post-COVID-19. Assess your current strategies and adjust your media and analytics platforms to ensure you have the data you need to succeed. For example, Display & Video 360 and Google Analytics 360 are designed to work together to gain a deeper understanding of the quality of website visits driven by media, optimize audiences, and analyze customer pathing.  Rethink Lifetime Value Predictions Direct-response advertisers who were calculating recent customer lifetime value (LTV) may find it won’t hold true in a recession with high unemployment. You may need to rethink your historical LTV predictions, especially if you’re using a straight sum of previous purchases. Shorten the time frame to the last four to six weeks for a better indicator of the most recent trends during COVID-19. Some people are still buying, so those audiences who are having an increase in LTV are a good audience to focus on moving forward. Maintain some media efforts toward previous heavy purchasers to keep your brand top of mind and deter loyalty retraction. As a Google Marketing Platform and Cloud partner, Adswerve can help you customize your GA360 and DV360 instances . If you have questions about how to adjust your media strategies in light of COVID-19, please reach out. We’re happy to provide you with a free hour of consulting time to work through any issues.