“The lines between social media and CTV are blurring, with more people watching social videos and creator content on TV sets,” said our analyst Jasmine Enberg. “Marketers must break down the silos between media and creative and think more holistically about their video strategies.”

Digital video consumption is evolving, and marketers are racing to adapt. Some 44.5% of marketers are spending at least 30% of their digital advertising budgets on video ads, and 78.4% run both social and CTV ads, per a new EMARKETER and Smartly study.

As audiences move seamlessly between social and TV screens, marketers are looking to build cross-channel strategies without compromising creative quality.

Bringing social content to bigger screens

While linear TV ads were once siloed from other channels, marketers expect CTV to be an extension of their social video’s success.

• Most (55.2%) make slight modifications to their creative, like length and format changes, but keep the core creative the same, according to the report.
• Only 24.1% develop different creative for social and CTV, per the report.

“Social assets are often built to be nimble, short, engaging, and tested through real-time feedback,” said Oli Marlow-Thomas, chief innovation officer at Smartly. “When repurposed

thoughtfully for CTV, that agility meets the power of a more immersive format.”

Leveraging CTV’s immersive formats, measurement strengths

Marketers are attracted to CTV as an equally immersive, but more targeted and measurable, version of linear TV.

• Some 42.1% of marketers who use CTV ads for video advertising say that the “ability to leverage interactive, digital creative elements” is the reason why they choose CTV over linear, per the report.
• To create memorable CTV and social video content, marketers are experimenting with motion graphics and animation (43.2%), as well as interactive and shoppable elements (41.8%), according to the report.

“CTV combines the power of social with a more premium user experience,” said Enberg. “While it’s still early days, interactive elements like shopping integrations are also transforming CTV into a full-funnel marketing channel.”

Prioritizing creative quality

Marketers want to spend more time understanding their audience and investing in the creative process, and less time creating subpar assets just for the sake of expansion.

When approaching digital video, marketers prioritize brand lift through awareness and recall, allowing them to focus on creative.

• Nearly half (47.3%) of marketers produce most video content for awareness, followed by consideration (20.0%), per the report.
• Storytelling and narrative-driven ads are most common in social and CTV (57.7%), per the report.

“High quality doesn’t necessarily mean highly produced,” said Enberg. “The definition of premium content is shifting from traditional studio production value toward content that is relatable, relevant, and features a strong narrative or storytelling.”

Pushing internal collaboration

While social and CTV share capabilities like personalization and full-funnel impact, marketers must still adapt their creative to fit the distinct needs of each channel.

For the most efficient cross-channel strategy, marketers can prioritize internal collaboration from the start of every campaign.

• While 87% of marketers have a creative team involved in production, just 13% involve them in optimizing ad creative, according to the July 2024 Digiday survey.

“Design for adaptability from the outset,” said Marlow-Thomas. “That means producing creative in modular formats—allowing assets to be easily resized, revoiced, re-edited, and re-sequenced for each channel’s strengths.”

Read the full report.

This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.