At its recent B2Believe Conference, LinkedIn announced LinkedIn Connected TV (CTV), a new product offering that will allow B2B marketers to tap into audiences off-platform, and onto the big screen at home. With notable CTV publishers on board – including Roku, Samsung, and NBCUniversal – clients can now utilize LinkedIn’s campaign manager to purchase streaming ads.
But that’s not all. The news came in tandem with a new partnership with NBCUniversal to introduce LinkedIn Premiere, a new managed offering in Campaign Manager that helps you target decision-makers in the United States across NBCUniversal’s premium streaming content on CTV.
While the news is exciting – most marketers will likely have the same questions: Is LinkedIn Connected TV a viable product for our marketing strategy? What are its benefits? How does it work? And how are results measured?
What is connected TV (CTV), and what are its marketing benefits?
Simply put, connected TV (CTV) advertising refers to the practice of delivering ads through internet-connected television sets. Also known as smart TVs, connected TVs allow viewers to stream digital content through apps, either built-in or via devices like Roku, Apple TV, or gaming consoles. So, unless you’re using bunny ears on an old-school “dumb TV,” chances are you’ve encountered this type of ad in the process of streaming your favorite TV show.
So, what makes this type of advertisement enticing? While the format shares a lot of traits with its on-platform counterpart, it’s important to note these ads offer several benefits:
- Targeted advertising
- High Viewability
- Brand Safety
- Cost-effective
- Measurable Results
- Reach
LinkedIn CTV reach already stands at 60 million households, and more than 105 million connected devices per month in the US and Canada – and these numbers are only set to grow.
Building on the success of video
During a B2Believe session regarding the product launch, Taina Palombo-Price, LinkedIn’s Senior Director of Product Marketing, said “CTV promises the power of big-screen storytelling for B2B brands.”
The move to home television screens appears to be a calculated one, as the new offering “builds on the success of LinkedIn’s In-stream Video Ads, which are helping customers nearly triple their in-stream video completion rate.” Combining this note of success with the rise of video consumption both on and off the social media platform, and the birth of this product offering makes all the more sense.
Reaching your audiences with connected TV
When was the last time you pulled up LinkedIn out of boredom? While it’s the premier social platform for networking, professional development, and job hunting, users tend to use the platform more intentionally when compared to the likes of TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, which in turn, decreases their receptiveness to advertisements. This was the strategic thinking that led to the off-platform approach of CTV, said Penry Price, VP of Marketing Solutions at LinkedIn.
“LinkedIn’s expansion into CTV is not a customer acquisition play. Rather, the point is to help B2B advertisers reach existing LinkedIn members in different parts of the day,” he said, “such as when they’re at work or back at home on the couch.”
The promise of LinkedIn CTV ads
How would you like to raise brand awareness and consideration earlier on in the purchase journey? That’s the goal of LinkedIn CTV ads. In the same interview, Price shared his thinking: “B2B brands need to make sure customers have a favorable opinion of a brand before they see a product ad on LinkedIn. By starting campaigns further up the funnel with CTV, brands can increase the odds of their digital ads actually driving sales.”
Blogging about the product launch, Lindsey Edwards, LinkedIn’s Vice President of Product Management, said “marketing campaigns are only as effective as the audience they reach.” As Edwards cites, a Demandbase report in 2023 found that 90% of US households embraced CTV, up from 81% in 2021, and the channel shows tremendous promise for B2B applications.
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About the author
Alex White is the Social – Influencer Lead at TopRank Marketing and a proud U.S. Navy veteran. He leverages his industry experience to build deep, authentic relationships with today’s top B2B influencers, always delivering exceptional campaign results for a variety of Fortune 1000 brands. Alex’s approachable nature and can-do attitude regularly makes him a client favorite to work with, and our team agrees.