Adding the Personal Touch: Our Findings for CTV Personalization

Getting your target customers to share details about themselves is right up there with squeezing water out of a stone or making silk out of a sow’s ear—simply put, it takes a Herculean effort. Or so you might have thought. 

Our findings revealed a few surprises about just how much consumers are willing to share about themselves, especially when it means content with greater relevance. Here are a few key highlights from our recent IPSOS report (which you can download in full here).

The Targeting Paradox: Do Customers Really Care About Data Collection?

It’s a widespread belief that consumers want more control over their data. Enter tighter privacy restrictions like GDPR, CCPA, CPA, the cookie-less future, and a slew of other regulations. Companies are now tasked with juggling a variety of privacy considerations while striving to meet consumer expectations of delivering relevant content, offers, and experiences. 

For example, 55% of consumers say they care about having control over data collected about them “a great deal.” However, 52% also say they expect to personally benefit from the data collected about them. As for how consumers feel about ads being more personal and targeted, the jury is split 50/50.

Bottom line: When it comes to consumers sharing their data, most of them feel like there should be a good reason for doing so and that it should ultimately benefit them.

Viewers Share Details When There’s Value in Return

Our research found that viewers will share surprisingly personal data if it means getting more relevant ads. In fact, more than 60% of consumers say they would share things like gender, age, ethnicity, hobbies, or interests with a streaming platform (when setting up a user profile) in exchange for relevant content. 

When it comes to household size, pets, and things you like to buy, more than half of consumers say they’d share those details.

Income was the least likely detail consumers wanted to share, coming from just 43% of respondents.

Personalization Works Better for Some Than Others

Customers in various categories shared they would be more likely to purchase an item if they received personalized ads for it. This likelihood of buying fluctuates between categories, with groceries taking the top spot. 

The fast- food category comes in second, with 39% of consumers declaring they’d be more likely to buy if they got a personalized ad. Apparel (37%), beauty (36%), and electronics and toys (36%) round out the top five.

Next Steps for CTV Advertisers

Putting it all together, it’s clear that CTV advertisers need to get more creative when getting to know their audiences. Being upfront about collecting data and showing users what’s in it for them will be the key to mitigating the impact of new privacy policies and the cookie-less future. 

Download the full report to learn more.