Making TV Commercial Performance Visible with CTV Ads: How We Reached Network-Ad-Level CPA

Connected TV (CTV) advertising is spreading rapidly. It is often thought of as an “awareness” channel, but with the right design it can also deliver very strong results for app acquisition (installs and member registrations).

This article presents a case study of a finance app that, by running ads on TVer (a major Japanese video streaming service for TV programs) with The Trade Desk and Adjust, achieved CPA (cost per acquisition) on par with network advertising such as Yahoo! Ads and Meta Ads.

Case Summary

• Challenge: The effect of TV commercials was a black box, so return on investment was unclear
• Approach: Delivered ads to premium inventory such as TVer through The Trade Desk, and measured app results by connecting it with an MMP (Adjust)
• Result: Acquired members at CPA equivalent to performance ads such as Google, Meta and Yahoo
• Key point: CTV was turned into a performance medium by treating it as “measurable TV”

Challenge: The Effect of TV Commercials Was Invisible

The company had run terrestrial TV commercials for many years, and awareness of the app was high. Even so, it faced the following problems.

• Opaque effect: They had a sense that “running TV commercials somehow lifts the numbers”, but could not calculate an accurate CPI or CPA
• Younger viewers moving away from TV: As more people stopped watching terrestrial broadcasts, existing reach methods were hitting their limits
• No basis for budget allocation: Without visible results, they could not decide the best budget split between digital advertising and mass media

We therefore proposed CTV (connected TV) advertising as a solution that combines “the impact of the TV screen (awareness effect)” with “the measurability of digital advertising (acquisition effect)”.

What We Did: The Trade Desk x Adjust x TVer

1. Media Selection: Premium Inventory Centered on TVer

Prioritizing brand safety and high video completion rates, we focused delivery on premium video inventory that originates from broadcasters, starting with TVer. Because ads are viewed at the same quality as TV commercials, reliability is assured.

2. Platform: Using The Trade Desk (TTD)

We adopted The Trade Desk, the DSP with the top global market share, and achieved efficient reach through pinpoint delivery to specific attributes and frequency control that limits overexposure.

3. Measurement Foundation: Integration with Adjust (MMP)

The most important point of this initiative was connecting the app measurement tool Adjust with The Trade Desk. We built an environment that measures across devices whether people who saw an ad on TV went on to install the app or register as members on their smartphones.

Result: CPA on Par with Network Advertising

Comparison	Network ads (Google/Meta/Yahoo)	This CTV initiative (TTD x TVer)
CPA (cost per member acquired)	Baseline	Equivalent level (±0%)
Video completion rate	Low to medium	Very high (95% or more)
Brand damage risk	Yes	None (carefully selected professional content)

Even though the ads ran in the context of TV programs on TVer, acquisition cost was as efficient as web performance ads such as Google and Meta. Beyond direct clicks, we also confirmed a lift in branded searches (Organic Search) after CTV viewing, which helped raise overall acquisition.

Why CTV Worked for App Acquisition

• Making use of “second-screen viewing”: Many CTV viewers use their smartphones as a second screen, so the path from an impactful message on the TV screen to an immediate search and download in hand matched well with a considered-purchase product like a finance app
• Accuracy of cross-device measurement: The Trade Desk’s Household Graph (household-level identity technology) linked TVs and smartphones accurately, letting us properly credit conversions driven by TV viewing that had previously gone unrecognized
• Alignment of creative and target: Instead of broad delivery, we narrowed delivery to audiences with real demand and minimized wasted impressions

The beliefs that “TV advertising can’t be measured” and “CTV is only for branding” are now a thing of the past. If you question the effect of your TV commercials, or want to broaden your app acquisition channels, please get in touch.