Turning CTV Complexity into Opportunity

By Katie Arena, Global Head of Marketing at Clinch

Streaming has fundamentally changed the consumer journey. What was once a handful of ad breaks has become dozens of opportunities to engage consumers using home screens, pause ads, QR codes and interactive experiences. But more opportunities don't automatically translate into better outcomes.

That was the focus of a Cannes Lions panel featuring leaders from Publicis Health Media (PHM), OpenGlass and Clinch, including Clinch's Global Head of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Charel MacIntosh. While each panelist approached the topic from a different perspective, the discussion converged on a common theme: every new consumer touchpoint creates another opportunity to influence outcomes, but also another decision for marketers.

The Consumer Journey Is a Matrix

One of the panel's most compelling ideas came from PHM's Brad Liebow, who argued that today's consumer journey is no longer linear. "It's not just a static journey. Ultimately, it's a matrix journey."

A single viewing session can include moments of discovery on the home screen, browsing between streaming apps, long-form viewing, interruptions, re-engagement and interaction. Each touchpoint creates an opportunity to capture attention, but each also serves a different purpose in moving consumers toward an outcome.

That shift creates far more possibilities for marketers. It also raises the bar for execution. If every touchpoint represents a different opportunity, brands have to think beyond simply delivering an ad. They need to consider which creative belongs in each environment, what role it should play in the broader customer journey and how those experiences work together to drive results.

Every Touchpoint Has a Different Role to Play

One of the panel's central themes was that the growing number of CTV ad formats shouldn't be viewed as independent media units. Instead, each one has its own "superpower," creating a unique opportunity to engage consumers at different moments in their journey.

A home screen can spark discovery before a viewer has even selected what to watch. An in-stream ad can tell a richer brand story. A pause ad creates a natural opportunity for interaction without disrupting the viewing experience, while QR codes reduce friction by allowing the consumer journey to continue on another device. Each format serves a different purpose, and each has the potential to move consumers toward a different outcome.

As OpenGlass Co-Founder Jason Higgins explained, the industry is only beginning to understand how different combinations of these touchpoints influence results. A home screen followed by an in-stream ad may produce a different outcome than pairing a pause ad with a QR code or another interactive experience. Rather than asking which format performs best, marketers should be asking which sequence of experiences is best suited to the objective they're trying to achieve.

Creative and Media Need to Work Together

Several panelists noted that creative and media often operate in separate workflows, even though campaign performance increasingly depends on how they inform one another. Media decisions influence which creative should be shown, while creative performance should shape future media decisions. Measuring one without the other limits marketers' ability to understand what's actually driving outcomes.

Clinch’s MacIntosh emphasized that connecting creative to media begins long before a campaign is activated. It starts by defining the role each touchpoint should play in the customer journey, then designing creative specifically for that moment. A home screen placement may be intended to spark discovery, while a pause ad may be designed to encourage action. Treating every placement as another opportunity to reuse the same creative means missing the unique strengths of each format.

As more premium CTV inventory becomes available programmatically, marketers have greater flexibility to activate these experiences at scale. The opportunity is no longer just reaching the right audience. It's delivering the right creative for the right moment, then using performance insights to continually improve the next interaction.

Complexity Is Growing Faster Than Workflows

As the discussion progressed, a broader challenge came into focus. Every new touchpoint creates another creative decision. Brands must determine which creative is best suited for each format, consumer mindset and campaign objective. They must also decide which sequence of experiences is most likely to drive the desired outcome, whether that's discovery, engagement or action.

Multiply those decisions across dozens of publishers, audiences, creative variations and performance objectives, and the operational challenge becomes obvious. Layer on the need to adapt messaging based on context and performance, and the complexity grows exponentially. As Jason Higgins observed, the industry is only beginning to understand how different combinations of touchpoints influence business outcomes.

The panelists agreed that this complexity can't be managed through disconnected planning processes. Creative, media and measurement all generate signals that help inform future decisions. The more connected those disciplines become, the easier it is for marketers to understand what's working, optimize campaigns in flight and apply those learnings across future initiatives.

Closing the Loop with Measurement

The panel concluded by looking beyond impressions and toward outcomes. Brad Liebow argued that the next evolution in measurement is understanding not just where media ran, but how creative, context and sequencing contribute to business results. That means measuring creative performance alongside media performance, identifying what captured attention and using those insights to continually optimize future campaigns.

Ultimately, the discussion wasn't about the latest CTV format or the next advertising innovation. It was about recognizing that every new touchpoint represents a different consumer mindset and a different opportunity to influence behavior. That makes creative more important than ever. Rather than treating every impression the same, marketers have an opportunity to design creative that matches the context of each interaction and advances consumers through the journey in a more intentional way.

As streaming continues to evolve, the challenge won't be finding new ways to reach audiences. It will be making smarter decisions about how to engage them. The marketers who succeed will be those that understand the role each touchpoint plays, measure what works and use those insights to continually improve the customer experience.