Moving Forward Marketing secures competitive CPMs and unskippable views

Matthew McClanahan, president of the agency Moving Forward Marketing, has seen a lot of changes in the media landscape when it comes to marketing and advertising a small- or medium-sized business.

He witnessed the shift from TV and radio to social media, and now he's seeing a return to TV advertising in the form of ads on streaming platforms like Paramount. He explains: "Study after study shows that a combination of video with audio is one of the most effective ways to get people to change their current behavior. TV is a natural fit for that."

He adds: "And that's why I've really gravitated to some of the streaming services, where you've got the big screen experience and they're not flipping around. They're sitting on their couch, they're watching on that big screen television. TV viewing has changed, where before you could make the argument that doom scrolling is no different than channel flicking of the past, where you're just, "Oh, the commercial's on, I'm going to change it." You get them in a much more open mindset where they are relaxed, they are ready to be entertained."

McClanahan says that experience creates an environment where, "if you have a good, strong, compelling message that's relevant to that person, or to somebody in their life, that's a real opportunity to have that breakthrough moment, where the person then does the thing you want them to do."

That's why he recommends advertising on Paramount to his clients, which run the gamut from jewelry stores to automotive dealers and everything in between. Despite the wide range, he says they all have the same questions: "How do I reach my audience? How can I give them a compelling message?"

McClanahan points out: "One of the real benefits of advertising with Paramount Ads Manager, especially to a small- or medium-sized business owner, is that you can geo-target. It's your own television station that lets you decide where it's airing, so you eliminate so much of that waste of traditional broadcast."

He adds: "I find that the social media platforms largely try and push you into doing what's best for them in terms of your audience definition, whereas Paramount Ads Manager has some dropdown categories that you get to choose from."

He notes that simpler targeting means "I don't think people should be afraid of it."

He recommends that his clients look at the CPM (cost per thousand views) metric when comparing CTV advertising on a streaming platform like Paramount to social media. "The wonderful thing about Paramount Ads Manager is that you can get high-90 video completion rates, meaning that somebody's watched your entire commercial at incredibly competitive CPMs. But if I apply that same standard to any of the social media platforms, I'm going to have CPMs for a video completion view that are going to be 400-500% more expensive."

He adds: "With Paramount Ads Manager, you're getting that full 30-second view for your video at an incredibly competitive CPM. And that doesn't include anybody else who might be watching at the time. Where obviously it's rare that a bunch of people are going to huddled around a phone scrolling through the same person's newsfeed, it's a more likely scenario that you're going to have an entire family or a group of friends sitting down watching a television show together."