Video Ads and the Importance of CTV to Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Media, Video, Marketing

Michael Berry • May 12, 2025

In today’s digital climate, capturing attention is harder than ever. Consumers are viewing thousands of ads every day across devices, and traditional display advertising is becoming less effective. That’s where video advertising and Connected TV (CTV) video come in. Video is not only more engaging, but also stronger at driving brand recall, purchase intent, and return on ad spend (ROAS).

I’ll break down why video ads and CTV should be cornerstones of your marketing strategy and share key industry benchmarks that show just how powerful these formats are.

The Power of Video Advertising

Higher Engagement and Brand Recall

Video content can tell a story in a dynamic and compelling way. Unlike static display ads, videos allow for a multi-sensory experience that’s more likely to leave a lasting impression. Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to just 10% when reading and 54% of consumers want to see more video content from organizations they support.

Performance Across the Funnel
Whether you're focused on awareness, consideration, or conversion, video formats support full-funnel strategies.

Top Funnel: Brand awareness and reach via YouTube, Meta, TikTok, or programmatic video.
Mid-Funnel: Educational or testimonial videos that build trust and drive engagement.
Bottom Funnel: Retargeting with user-generated content to push for a donation.

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Why CTV Video Is a Game-Changer

CTV refers to video content streamed via internet-connected devices — smart TVs, gaming consoles, Roku, Apple TV, etc. It combines the storytelling power of traditional TV with the precision of digital targeting.

Massive Audience Shift
Recently, we have seen consumers transition from traditional cable TV to streaming platforms, such as YouTube, Hulu, and Peacock. With this transition, we have seen a decline in traditional cable advertising, which has allowed for CTV to see success on streaming services. According to research, roughly 87% of United States households now own a CTV device (Leichtman Research Group).

Advanced Targeting and Measurement
There are some real benefits to using CTV, and some of those include deterministic audience targeting, geo-targeting and contextual placement, and cross-device tracking. Unlike linear TV, CTV offers real-time performance insights, allowing marketers to optimize their ad as it shows.

Premium Environment, Brand Safety
CTV inventory typically resides within professionally produced content, enhancing brand perception and reducing ad fraud risks.

Benchmarks that Prove the Value

Here are some key performance metrics (KPIs) from industry studies that show comparisons from CTV video ads, social media video ads, and display ads (2024 averages):

Best Practices for Integrating Video and CTV

While compiling video can be tricky, it is important to have video content on hand to have a successful CTV ad. Some think that they need to have a video with a feature and a story to tell. While this is a strong tactic, having simple B-roll footage with a voiceover and background music can be just as successful. Our clients have seen strong results with impressive click-through rates and revenue from taking this approach.

Listed below are some of the best practices that Donlon Agency includes in our CTV ads with our clients. It is important to keep these in mind when developing your ad.

Start with your story: Craft compelling narratives that resonate with your audience in 15–30 seconds.
Design for sound-off environments: Use captions and bold visuals.
Test across platforms: Each platform (TikTok vs. Hulu vs. YouTube) has different audience behaviors.
Measure and iterate: Track video completion rate (VCR), cost per completed view (CPCV), and conversions.

As digital audiences grow more fragmented, the brands that win will be those that meet consumers where they are, with rich, immersive content. Video ads and CTV are no longer “nice to have” — they’re essential for driving real business outcomes.
If you're not already investing in CTV and video as part of your media mix, now’s the time to reallocate budget and embrace the formats that consumers and algorithms love.

Sources:

Michael Berry

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