Connected TV is now a must-buy for 68% of advertisers in Australia, with more than 9 million people watching daily. It brings TV reach together with digital targeting, but only works if you measure it as the brand channel it is.
Television used to be a spray. Connected TV is a scope. Same screen, very different weapon.
Connected TV has moved from experiment to expectation in Australia. It is now considered a must-buy by 68% of advertisers, as budgets shift from linear TV to streaming.
More than 9 million Australians watch CTV content every day through apps like 7plus, 9Now, 10 play, SBS On Demand and YouTube. The programmatic market underneath it is growing fast, on track to climb toward US$2.96 billion by 2033 at a compound rate above 23%. CTV's draw is that it brings TV-style reach together with digital targeting and real-time signals, capabilities 58% of buyers now expect as standard over linear.
Why it matters
For Australian brands CTV closes an old gap. You can now run brand-building video with the targeting and measurement of digital, on the biggest screen in the house. The danger is treating it like linear and buying broad, or treating it like performance and judging it on last-click. It is a brand channel with a digital spine, and measuring it on the wrong metric will make a good buy look bad.
More than 9 million Australians watch connected TV content every day
What to do about it
Decide what CTV is for. If it is brand, measure it as brand, not as last-click performance.
Use the targeting, but do not slice so narrow you lose the reach that makes TV work in the first place.
Match creative to the screen. A 6-second mobile cut does not carry a lounge room.
Test the BVOD platforms' first-party data for targeting that linear never offered.
Track branded search and direct traffic lift after a CTV flight. That is where the impact shows up.
The biggest screen in the house finally has a brain. Use it like a brand channel with a memory, not a billboard.