Q+A: How MNTN’s CTV Strategy Tackles Challenges with Magnite

MNTN builds advertising software for brands to drive measurable conversions, revenue, site visits and more through television.

Magnite spoke with MNTN’s Director of Content & Research, Tim Edmundson, to determine how MNTN transforms CTV challenges – like fragmentation – into growth opportunities with the help of Magnite.  

What does MNTN offer marketers? How are you approaching CTV differently? 

MNTN transforms connected TV into a performance channel that is similar to paid search and social. We see CTV as the next great performance channel and are leaning into its capabilities that will deliver on that massive opportunity. 

Our self-serve software allows marketers to launch CTV campaigns in just a few clicks. The process is simple and intuitive — marketers just upload their creative, enter their budget and goal, and select their audiences. From there, our automated optimization technology takes over, adjusting campaigns thousands of times per day with real-time data. This ensures budget is spent solely in service of the selected goal — delivering efficient and smart spend that’s fully measurable and accountable. 

Tell us about how MNTN and Magnite work together.

Magnite and MNTN have been partners for years, stretching back to when we first started serving on CTV inventory. Our relationship allows us to work closely to develop new inventory tools and curate deals that provide optimal performance for our brands.

Through this partnership, MNTN leverages Magnite’s position as an industry leader to tap into premium, top-tier publishers. This is a foundational piece of our Living Room Quality initiative, which ensures we only serve on the best of the best networks on CTV, on actual TV screens, to capture the premium ad viewing experience that has so long been associated with television. 

With multiple options for ad-supported services available, fragmentation is inevitable. It can present challenges – but what opportunities does fragmentation offer?

Fragmentation is a double-edged sword in the CTV space. It creates scattered viewership for advertisers to try and reach and a headache in that marketers may need to manage multiple relationships with different streamers. This can result in different pricing, targeting capabilities, and measurement standards.

Fragmentation does have its benefits, however. It offers more options for audiences, with more content to keep them engaged and advertisers have diverse opportunities to reach viewers.  It also ensures that CTV has something for everyone. As streaming networks continue to establish their content catalogs and identities, CTV will solidify its position further as the new way people watch television.

What’s the best way to unify your approach to CTV?

The key to unifying the approach to CTV is leveraging technology that enables marketers to reach viewers across a wide variety of networks. MNTN and Magnite offer advertisers the chance to tap into a wide range of top-tier publishers, and MNTN’s software acts as a one-stop solution. From targeting to measurement and performance optimization, everything is streamlined and available in one place. This allows advertisers to minimize the complexities of fragmentation and tap into its upsides by engaging viewers where they’re watching with a unified solution. 

Give an example of an advertiser you’ve worked with and how they’ve utilized your services and relationship with Magnite for maximum growth.

MNTN has helped countless brands grow their business with the help of Magnite’s access to premium inventory. Rumpl, the makers of the original puffy, all-weather blanket, was looking for an ad solution to help drive new customer acquisition and wanted to test CTV as a high-impact channel. With MNTN, the results far exceeded their expectations. Thanks to the combination of the MNTN platform and Magnite’s inventory sources, their campaign outperformed their return on ad spend goal by 64%. 

Where do you see the future of CTV going?

CTV is well on its way to becoming the go-to experience for watching television. In fact, according to Magnite’s latest report, streaming is the most watched form of TV.

As more advertisers follow those viewers to CTV, there will be a growing demand for solutions that make the most of what CTV can offer. Namely, for it to act as a performance channel, total insight into revenue, ROAS, website traffic and other key metrics, coupled with a focus and optimization of performance metrics as the primary purpose of the campaign. The future of CTV advertising is aligned with the fact that it’s not linear TV — and it shouldn’t be treated like it. It can offer so much more, from targeting to measurement and performance. 

Looking ahead, what’s next for MNTN?

As the leader in the performance TV space, MNTN is looking to expand what marketers can do to drive measurable advertising on the TV screen. That means expanding on our innovations tied to targeting, in-depth reporting, and optimization. We’re not only listening to our customers and delivering on what they need — we’re working on technology they don’t even know they need yet but will become must-haves once we bring them to market.