A new study provides key insight into the most effective ways for brands to enhance connected TV (CTV) ad creatives to ensure they deliver on objectives. Commissioned by omnichannel advertising platform Azerion UK and undertaken by creative data provider DAIVID, the research, ‘The Evolution of TV Advertising: Delivering Effective CTV Executions’, is the first to measure outcomes of this nature.

The results were showcased today at Azerion’s CTV Breakfast Briefing, held to enable CTV industry peers to discuss the current requirements and challenges in the CTV market.

CTV ad creatives can be expanded beyond those deployed in traditional TV advertising to deliver more relevant messages for viewers and deepen engagement; dynamic overlays that appear on top of the video content to allow visual enhancements and interactive elements are increasingly widely adopted, for example.

DAIVID’s AI-powered creative testing technology compared assets for a selection of Azerion-run CTV campaigns, measuring attention, emotional response, brand recall, and consumer intent to determine the overall effectiveness of the ads when creatives were enhanced with overlays.

Creative enhancements that generated high scores had the following attributes:

• Content alignment: subtle placement, along with consistent colour schemes and messaging that feels integrated with the original ad, keep the brand present without disruption.
• Relevant timing: appearing in sync with key scenes reinforces intent, rather than distracting attention.
• Consistent messaging: echoing key visuals or slogans reinforces the creative and enhances recall without feeling forced.

At the other end of the scale, less effective overlays presented the following:

• Clutter: too many visual elements (logos, taglines, CTAs) compete for attention, reducing clarity and emotional engagement.
• Lack of storytelling: functional elements without a clear link to the storyline, or emotional cues that didn’t spark engagement.
• Over-promotion: an overtly branded tone can limit space for emotional build-up and reduce spontaneity and warmth.

With advertisers benefiting from CTV’s data-driven capabilities, which refine the 'one-to-many' broadcast solution of traditional TV, so that content is delivered to multiple audiences, CTV ad spend in the UK is forecast to almost double by 2028 to £2.94 billion.

Azerion wanted to better understand how consumers respond to new creative capabilities so that brands can match data-driven targeting with effective content. The study findings will enable the company’s design studio to develop CTV ad creatives that deepen audience engagement, while integrating with wider omnichannel campaigns enabled by Azerion’s technology platform.

DAIVID combines data compiled using facial coding, eye tracking, and survey responses with computer vision and listening APIs to provide users with insight on the performance of an ad within seconds. Trained using millions of human responses, the company’s AI models accurately predict ad effectiveness by understanding how people react to distinct creative elements.

"Technical innovation means a frequent flow of new ad formats – but these don’t always translate to a better experience for the consumer," says Mark Taylor, head of CTV at Azerion UK. "To continually evolve our offering, we work with market leading partners for the insight that will drive improved outcomes for clients. DAIVID’s expertise in determining what makes an ad effective has produced new thinking on how brands should approach CTV creatives, enabling us to stay at the forefront of creative best practice for the channel, so that brands and advertisers can harness smarter advertising to build their business."

Ian Forrester, DAIVID’s CEO and founder, says: "In today's saturated digital landscape, ads must work harder than ever to stand out and drive action. It’s not just about good or bad creative - it’s about the right ads in the right places to supercharge performance. Azerion understands this, and its new study demonstrates how creative data is the essential signal that can unlock CTV's full potential, ensuring its data-driven benefits are perfectly matched with highly effective creative."

Forrester continues: "Our analysis shows that well-executed creative enhancements can increase positive emotion by over 6%, improve brand recall by 4% and boost next-step actions like search, purchase and brand recommendations by up to 4.5%. These combined uplifts can have a significant impact on overall ad effectiveness."

An overview of the research is available from mark.taylor@azerion.com

Azerion

Azerion is a leading full service digital advertising partner for agencies, brands, and publishers. We offer addressable unique audiences across the whole customer journey at scale. We work with over 400k advertisers across 300k publishers, del...

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