OTT Composer Changed the Game for Publishers

May 13, 2021

Having been focused on advanced video solutions at Innovid for the past few years, I’ve witnessed life before and after Innovid’s OTT Composer, a creative tool that allows brands and publishers to build their own interactive CTV ad experiences. In the “before times”, interactive CTV was still thought of as an emerging capability, and publishers were focusing their time on just making sure ads could go live correctly. Unlike desktop and mobile, CTV devices and apps lacked video player and tag type standardization, so every setup was unique and very, very manual. Fast forward to today: not only is CTV an integral part of any marketing mix — up 60% year over year in impressions — but it’s also seeing some of the most innovative creative developments in the industry.

Innovid’s OTT Composer, the first self-service tool of its kind, is a catalyst of this change, arming marketers and publishers with the creative solutions they needed to deliver innovative ad experiences and speed up the adoption of CTV. Ads developed with OTT Composer are built to communicate with our proprietary SDK, enabling creative experiences to run seamlessly across over twenty-five CTV device types.

For marketers, this means having the ability to innovate quickly through a variety of features and formats to produce unique, purposeful ads that accomplish specific KPIs. If a brand wants to drive conversions or online sales, for example, they can utilize QR codes and SMS text features to promote tangible next steps. We’ve seen an uptick in these conversion-driving formats throughout the past year as brands sought new ways to connect with consumers during the pandemic.

For publishers, access to OTT Composer means having the ability to offer advertisers a way to quickly develop personalized, engaging interactive CTV ads that can run at scale. I’ve worked with many publishers and partners who expressed that licensing our OTT Composer meant more than just having access to new functionality — it meant unlocking an entirely new channel and product offering. Most recently, I worked with PadSquad to scale their high impact desktop and mobile ad products into CTV. Foregoing pre-built templates, our teams created custom interactive CTV formats that were in line with PadSquad’s top performing, existing digital offerings. With OTT Composer, PadSquad is now able to offer advertisers the ability to seamlessly extend desktop and mobile campaigns to the biggest screen in the home.

It’s been exciting to watch innovation flourish, to see new formats and features take CTV from a lean-back to a lean-in experience. To be a part of the still-developing interactive CTV story is, for lack of a better phrase, really cool. If you’re interested in learning more about our OTT Composer or about what’s possible with interactive CTV, contact our team here.