Fox boosts tune-in for 'Masked Singer' by 15% with real-time mobile, CTV ads

Brief:

Fox boosted tune-in to its hit singing competition series "The Masked Singer" by 15%, or three times an industry benchmark, by delivering real-time video ads to viewers of mobile devices and connected TVs (CTVs), per a case study shared with Mobile Marketer by programmatic video platform Tremor Video DSP, which worked on the campaign.
The video ads had a completion rate of 80%, according to the case study. The ads ran from Dec. 31 through Jan. 2, when "The Masked Singer" premiered, and saw a click-through rate (CTR) of 1.3% among 1.4 million unique views.
Tremor Video DSP relied on exclusive Alphonso TV data to retarget TV audiences considered most likely to be interested in watching the show, per the case study. "The Masked Singer" steadily built an audience and was the top-rated show on Feb. 27, the night of its two-hour season finale, Variety reported.

Insight:

Fox's campaign for "The Masked Singer" shows the potential behind reaching audiences with targeted ad placements on connected TVs and second-screen devices such as smartphones. Retargeting helps marketers reach relevant and responsive users more efficiently while reinforcing the brand's messaging, a spokesperson for Tremor Video said in a statement shared with Mobile Marketer. Reaching consumers on second screens helps to reinforce messaging and boost brand recall, while targeting them in real-time can shift viewing behavior, as the campaign's results suggest.

While advertisers fret that smartphone users are too distracted to notice advertising, studies suggest that mobile ads get the most attention while viewers also are watching TV. More than half (59%) of U.S. adults said they were receptive to mobile ads while watching TV, ahead of activities like lying in bed before sleep (51%), eating a meal (36%), shopping (25%) or running errands, per a survey by mobile ad platform Aki Technologies.

Second screening improves the viewer's chances of following up on an ad by 75%, significantly improving its effectiveness, according to a study by media agency MediaCom and technology company ViewersLogic. U.S. adults spent an average of three and a half hours a day on mobile devices last year, and that time is expected to surpass TV viewing sometime this year, researcher eMarketer forecast.

Meanwhile, the case study reinforces the growing significance of CTV ads, often at the expense of mobile ads. CTV ad impressions increased 193% from 2017 to 2018, accounting for 44% of impressions in Q4 2018, according to findings by Extreme Reach. Similarly, impressions on CTV campaigns last year made up 28% of total impressions on Innovid video campaigns — a 17% year-on-year increase from 2017 — according the company's Global Video Benchmarks report.