The popularity of CTV among users has been on a steady rise for years now. Naturally, this was followed by a growing interest in CTV among advertisers. However, the industry has been slow to adapt, an issue that IAB recognized and moved to solve in 2024. Last November, I wrote about IAB Tech Lab’s CTV Ad Format Idol, an initiative to standardize ad formats in connected TV environments. We’re now starting to see the first results of this initiative.
The Seven CTV Ad Format Types
Upon receiving “over 100 ad format submissions from 36 companies”, experts in the Ad Format Hero Task Force identified seven distinct types of CTV ads. These include:
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Pause Ads
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Menu and Home Screen Ads
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Screensaver Ads
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Overlay Ads Over Content
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In-Scene Insertion Ads
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Ads Alongside or Adjacent to Content
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Squeeze Back Ad Within Ad Break
In addition to these, there is an array of immersive and extendable features that can be used to enhance the seven main formats.
Pause Ads
IAB defines Pause Ads as user-initiated advertisements that show up when the viewer pauses the stream. They can be either full-screen or partial-screen. A big advantage of this format, on top of its size, is that it is not intrusive, as it doesn’t interrupt the stream itself. This will likely make it a favorite among publishers.
Overlay Ads Over Content
Overlay Ads Over Content are in-video display ads that show up during the stream and cover only a small part of the screen. Their purpose is to strike a balance between non-intrusiveness (as they don’t interrupt the stream itself) and attention-grabbing (as they show up within the player).
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Menu & Home Screen Ads
Also known as Title Ads, this format shows up as a static or dynamic creative within the menu screen/home screen/title screen, depending on the UI. These ads are pretty free-form in terms of their format and size, as those will largely depend on the design of the CTV app.
Screen Saver Ads
Screen Saver Ads are relatively similar to Pause Ads, with one big difference. While Pause Ads are user-initiated, Screen Saver Ads are system-initiated. They show up after a certain time of inactivity, like a regular screen saver would. They can also be set up to refresh after a while.
In-Scene Insertion Ads
In-Scene Insertion Ads are a more advanced version of Overlays. Much like those, In-Scene Ads show up over the content as it’s playing. However, they are more native in nature – using spatial analysis, their placement is such that they appear as part of the content. For now, this format requires more extensive planning, but the Ad Format Hero Task Force is optimistic about its programmatic future.
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Follow UsAds Alongside or Adjacent to Content
Also known as Frame Ads or L-Shape Ads, these ads create an L-shaped banner around the content, temporarily making the stream slightly smaller. Much like other non-linear ads, they are great at catching attention without being too interruptive of the user experience.
Squeeze Back Ad Within Ad Break
Squeeze Back Ads are the same as the previous format in their form. However, unlike Ads Alongside Content, Squeeze Back Ads show up during an ad break, making it possible to serve two ads at the same time – one as the main ad break advertisement, and the other as a Squeeze Back.
You can see all of these CTV ad formats in action on the IAB Ad Format Hero page.
What’s Next?
CTV ad format standardization isn’t quite done yet. As part of the initiative, IAB Tech Lab is conducting an online survey until April 20th. If you’d like to share your opinion on and experience with the formats listed above, you can do so here.
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