Finding Smarter CTV Audiences (with Peter Crofut)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Adtech Unfiltered

Episode: Finding Smarter CTV Audiences (with Peter Crawfoot)
Host: Noor Naseer
Guest: Peter Crawfoot (ad tech professional, consultant, former Google; currently with Worl, a CTV technology provider)
Date: September 2, 2025

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Overview

This episode explores the rapidly evolving landscape of Connected TV (CTV) advertising, emphasizing smarter audience discovery, contextual targeting, and the growing importance of “premium moments” for advertisers. Noor Naseer speaks with industry veteran Peter Crawfoot about trends like FAST (Free Ad Supported Streaming TV), the role of generative AI, the future of measurement without cookies, and innovations that help capture consumer attention in streaming environments. The conversation highlights the shift from focusing solely on inventory and audience to aligning ad messages with viewer emotions and context.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining the CTV Ecosystem and Audience Discovery

• CTV defined: Platforms like Roku, LG, Samsung, with content publishers (A&E, CNN) using Worl technology to distribute and monetize shows via ad-supported streaming ([01:23–02:41]).
• Audience Discovery: Worl’s "Brand Discovery" product uses contextual targeting to match ad sentiment to the content being watched—timing ad breaks for maximal resonance ([01:23]).

"We have a product called Brand Discovery, which is a contextual targeting solution for CTV that matches the sentiment of the content being watched to the sentiment of the actual creative." — Peter Crawfoot [01:23]

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2. The Rise and Impact of FAST Channels

• Market shift: FAST channels are gaining traction as viewers seek premium, free content with ads instead of subscriptions ([02:41–03:30]).
• Evolution of Content Quality: Premium shows now readily available on FAST, dispelling myths about low quality ([03:30–03:50]).

"There's this misconception that fast channels aren't premium, when in fact they really are." — Peter Crawfoot [02:48]

• Advertiser advantage: More competitive CPMs and less commitment needed compared to linear TV upfronts ([03:50]).

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3. From 'Premium Audiences' to 'Premium Moments'

• Concept of Premium Moments: Moving beyond just finding premium audiences or inventory to capturing high-value, emotionally resonant moments ([03:50–05:06]).
• AI and Scene-Level Targeting: AI now enables marketers to pinpoint emotional states, aligning creative with content in real-time ([03:50–05:06]).

"We need to get to premium moments. What are those moments that are going to emotionally resonate?" — Peter Crawfoot [03:50]

• Consumer attention challenge: Example of a misplaced diaper ad disrupting a sports viewing session, highlighting the importance of matching context and creative ([05:06]).

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4. Emotion, Attention, and Performance Marketing

• Formula for success: Audience + timing = performance ([05:06–06:16]).
• Emotional resonance is key: Emotional relevance correlates with attention and ultimately with campaign goals (brand lift, search, or online/offline sales).

"If you have a KPI, we have an emotion or we can discover an emotion for that." — Peter Crawfoot [06:16]

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5. CTV’s Role in Holistic Marketing Strategies

• CTV as a performance driver: Marketers should integrate CTV with digital video and linear TV, focusing on where audiences engage emotionally ([07:08]).
• Measurement shift: Traditional media buys and measurement approaches don't always translate—iteration and innovation are crucial ([07:08]).

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6. Measurement, Attribution, and Incremental Outcomes

• Attribution challenge: No last-click or cookies; focus instead on incrementality (searches, website visits, sales, foot traffic) ([08:15–08:58]).
• Importance of A/B testing: Run experiments to gauge brand lift or sales, using quality measurement partners ([08:58]).

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7. Contextual vs. Behavioral Targeting on CTV

• Shift to Contextual Intelligence: Generative AI enables deeper context—analyzing emotion, genre, and brand safety at scene level ([09:43–10:43]).
• Privacy and Personalization: Contextual targeting seen as privacy-friendly and more relevant, especially in non-skippable, large-screen TV environments ([10:43]).

"This isn't your grandparents' contextual solutions any longer...in non-skippable environments...that personalization becomes very, very important." — Peter Crawfoot [10:43]

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8. Data Strategy, Privacy, and Clean Rooms

• Fragmented Data Landscape: Marketers must define clear data strategies, applying AI to business challenges, not the other way around ([11:20]).
• Privacy Practices: Avoid collecting PII, focus on content signals. Contextual intelligence reduces false positives and ensures brand safety ([12:20]).

"It all starts with data. And where is that data? ...The tools with generative AI [let you] look at that data wholly realistically and then understand what levers are going to drive the outcomes." — Peter Crawfoot [11:20]

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9. Tech Innovations and AI’s Expanding Role

• Contextual intelligence at scale: AI enables "virtual couch surfing," analyzing user journeys and optimizing scheduling/placement ([13:17–13:47]).
• Discovery and Measurement: AI simplifies discovery and connects the dots between viewing patterns and outcomes ([13:47]).

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10. The Road Ahead: Consolidation, Interactivity, and Commerce

• Industry consolidation: Expect traditional networks to divest linear, speeding CTV growth ([14:23]).
• AI-driven multi-screen touchpoints: Solutions needed for a fragmented device landscape ([14:23]).
• Persistent challenges: Walled gardens, fragmentation, standardization, and attribution lack remain but are being addressed faster than ever ([14:23–15:13]).
• Next frontiers: Interactive ads and CTV-driven commerce are the most promising growth areas ([15:31]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "[FAST accessibility] is giving you ultra-premium content for no money. The trade off is very good for the viewer and for the advertiser as well." — Noor Naseer [03:30]
• "Audience plus timing equals performance. And that's not just us grading our homework...when you find that moment and using AI to match the sentiment of the content and the ad, over and over, we prove performance." — Peter Crawfoot [05:06]
• "The challenge is attribution. There's no last click, there's no cookies in that environment...do some A/B testing, use contextual targeting...and always making adjustments." — Peter Crawfoot [08:15]
• "This isn't your grandparents' contextual solutions any longer. It's important in the age of personalization and privacy..." — Peter Crawfoot [10:43]
• "It all starts with data...you have to think about what are the challenges in your business and then how AI can be applied to your business strategy to enhance that." — Peter Crawfoot [11:20]

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Timeline of Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic / Quote | |------------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:23 | Introduction of Worl, Brand Discovery product, contextual CTV targeting | | 02:41 | FAST channels, premium content, and ad monetization | | 05:06 | Defining "premium moments" and importance of timing | | 06:16 | Correlating emotion, attention, and advertiser performance | | 08:15 | Attribution and measurement challenges in CTV | | 09:43 | Differences: Contextual vs. Behavioral targeting | | 10:43 | Modern contextual solutions and privacy considerations | | 11:20 | Data strategy and AI integration | | 13:17 | Exciting innovations: contextual intelligence, generative AI | | 14:23 | Industry consolidation and anticipated growth | | 15:31 | The future: interactive ads, commerce opportunities |

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Conclusion & Takeaways

• Advertisers should move beyond seeking only premium audiences—focus should be on creating resonance at “premium moments” where context and emotion align ([15:52]).
• Measurement in CTV requires a flexible, testing-driven, and incremental outcome mindset; cookie-based, last-click models are obsolete ([15:52]).
• Emerging technology—especially contextual AI—can bridge privacy requirements and demand for personalization, but data strategy is crucial.
• The streaming ad space is poised for rapid innovation, especially in areas like interactivity, commerce, and holistic cross-device measurement.

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This transcript-based summary retains the informative and enthusiastic tone of the speakers and highlights actionable insights and developments for modern marketers navigating the world of CTV advertising.

Transcript

[Noor Nasir]

Hey, this is Noor Nasir for Adtech Unfiltered. Today on the podcast, we're diving into what's new and meaningful in streaming. The growth and excitement around CTV surges on. But a lingering question for advertisers is how can they discover better audiences to best capture viewer attention? To help answer this question, our guest today is Peter Crawfit. He's a longtime ad tech professional and consultant with an extensive history at Google and most recently with World, one of the largest CTV providers connected to premium streamers, including Roku, Samsung and lg. Peter shares how contextual targeting is being reshaped in today's maturing CTV world through matching the sentiment of content with the right creative and moment. We'll explore the rise of fast channels, the role of AI and personalization, and how performance marketing is evolving on the biggest screen in the home. Let's get into this conversation with Peter now.

[Interviewer / Host]

Pete, thanks for being available to talk about audience discovery, streaming content and just the space that you're in today.

[Peter Crawfoot]

Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for having me in. I'm a big fan of basis. I go way back with Sean a long time.

[Interviewer / Host]

Fantastic. Yeah. Well, we'll, we'll see if we save some questions about Sean in the, in the early digital days. So we'll just get some baseline from you. I want to know about what trends you're seeing about audience discovery as it relates to the streaming space today. Great.

[Peter Crawfoot]

Just to take a step back, frame that. So I'm with worl and what we do is we are one of the largest technology companies that connect premium content publishers to streamers. And then we have a product called Brand Discovery, which is a contextual targeting solution for CTV that matches the sentiment of the content being watched to the sentiment of the actual creative. And five seconds before the ad break, you make sure that the sentiment matches, which equals timing, which also equals performance.

[Interviewer / Host]

I heard you say streamers.

[Peter Crawfoot]

Yeah.

[Interviewer / Host]

Do you want to define even what streamers are?

[Peter Crawfoot]

Yeah. So when we define streamers or platforms that have content that are out, so we have partnerships with lg, we have partnerships with Roku, Samsung and others. So those are the streamers. And on the content side you have publishers, let's say that have A and E or cnn, they have a back catalog of content that they actually want to make available for free, but or what we call fast free ad supported streaming television to monetize those properties where the technology that allows for the ability to schedule those shows, the ability to do the ad insertion and then the Technology to do the distribution of those programs into the streamers where people are connecting with those shows.

[Interviewer / Host]

How has the momentum around FAST really proliferating impacted opportunities in the streaming advertising space?

[Peter Crawfoot]

That's a great question. So first, if you look at macroeconomic environment right now where you have dollars contracting, consumers are more willing to receive advertising provided it's personalized. So we are seeing quite the proliferation of fast channels coming online for, you know, for audiences to find and discover in a free ad supported model for less subscription. And then the other thing we think about which is really exciting is there's this misconception that fast channels aren't premium, when in fact they really are. And we are seeing more and more of that premium content coming available from content publishers like some of the ones that I had mentioned.

[Interviewer / Host]

Yeah. And from my perspective, more as a consumer versus somebody who works in advertising, it's less of a misconception than it has been a shift in the content that's available. So if you looked at it, let's say six, seven years ago, it wasn't as good of content and now fast accessibility is giving you ultra premium premium content for no money. So the trade off is like very good for the viewer and for the

[Peter Crawfoot]

viewer, but also the advertiser as well. Right. Because the CPMs in those are very competitive compared to when you're doing upfronts or making large commitments. And there's also more competition for less inventory in those upfront. So this is an exciting area and been spending a lot of time with brands and agencies educating about the efficacy of FAST and you know, more importantly then how do you find not only the audience because we keep talking about premium audiences. We keep talking in our industry, which I think there's an over reliance on of premium audience and then premium inventory. But we need to get to premium moments. What are those moments that are going to emotionally resonate? I think FAST allows that because of some of the live nature of it and our ability from a technology standpoint where it's evolved with AI industry wide to be able to get to that scene level, that extra personalization and understanding where that consumer is in their emotional journey as it relates to the content.

[Interviewer / Host]

I love to actually hear a little more about premium moments because I was talking to somebody else earlier today and we were chatting about gaming and we didn't get into the nuances of it. But I think that sometimes you're reaching a distracted consumer who's not ready to break away and hear a message. Can you tell me a little bit more about what makes a moment a premium one.

[Peter Crawfoot]

Yeah. So how we think about it is audience plus timing. So audience is only one part of the equation. Audience plus timing equals performance. And that's not just us grading our homework. Right. Whether we're working with external measurement vendors. When you find that moment and using AI to match the sentiment of the content and the ad over and over, we prove performance. And the best way that I like to explain this for anyone out there listening, if you have teenagers or young kids in college coming home, I've witnessed my son and his friends come in one night trying to watch sports video. And the next thing that happened is they got a, they got a diaper ad in the middle of that and they were trying to flick the remote. Didn't understand because you're in the largest screen in the home that's in a non skippable environment. And you know what they did? They flicked the ad off. It created a negative experience. And the next thing you know, they just, they went to another channel to find the action sports that they were looking at. And I just thought that's a missed opportunity. And how many times does that play out every single day.

[Interviewer / Host]

It also is a loss of attention. Right. We already know that there's been a degradation in people's span of attention. So we have so much more responsibility to make sure we're, we're clinging to people and keeping going.

[Peter Crawfoot]

You make a really good point with attention. Emotion, we correlate emotion to and it has an impact on attention. And if you combine those two things in that formula, that equals actual performance. Whether that is you're trying to drive brand awareness, whether you are trying to drive more search traffic and, or website traffic or incrementality. And so there's a collapse in the funnel somewhat. We always joke if you have a KPI, we have an emotion or we can discover an emotion for that.

[Interviewer / Host]

Let's talk about adopting or adapting strategy rather. When we are increasingly leaning towards connected television and the opportunities associated with fast. But we're coming from a world where we also have a lot of digital video and linear television opportunity. How should people think about streaming CTV as a part of maybe a larger sight, sound in motion strategy and activation plan?

[Peter Crawfoot]

That's a great question. I think the, it's, they should be thinking about it as a driver for performance. Right. And I think about, you know, understanding where your audiences are, what they're actually doing, and then figuring out how you should show up in those moments that they're interacting with content. I think measurement is also you know, there's a different paradigm of how marketers need to think about measurement because what worked in the old environment doesn't necessarily work here. And CTV is a beautiful place to tell stories, to emotionally resonate, to connect with those users. And I think then the next version, you know, how do we get into interactive experiences and then how do we actually get into commerce and performance? And that's something as we're owned by Applovin and as our CTV arm, we're really excited to innovate around that space within performance.

[Interviewer / Host]

So you had brought up driving traffic and you just mentioned other types of interaction like commerce. I think that's a challenge space for a lot of advertisers who like CTV but don't always see follow up engagement as something that is easy to source from the CTV world. How do you address someone who feels really challenged by thinking about subsequent engagement from ctv?

[Peter Crawfoot]

Beautiful, right? What you just said is the challenge is attribution. There's no last click, there's no cookies in that environment. And so when you think about it, it's test, it's test and iterate, test and learn. Do some A B testing, use contextual targeting and then do your normal targeting. But think about it from, you know, starting with because the consumer doesn't care, they don't care about technology. Think about what it is that they want to experience, what do you want to convey? And then also be looking at what you've done in digital and comparing those two and always making adjustments around that.

[Interviewer / Host]

So follow up question there you said to AB test, but if I'm a B testing, what am I looking for in an environment where there isn't a last click opportunity?

[Peter Crawfoot]

So you're going to be looking. Typically what we find is that you're going to be looking. Some marketers want brand awareness, others then are going to look towards driving incrementality to search and or website. And then the third is incrementality in sales. So are you looking to drive foot traffic if you're a retailer or are you looking to increase sales? Those are the typical benchmarks that you want to look at. And you can do that through, you know, various measurement vendors to be able to tie back that efficacy in the absence of full attribution from a click.

[Interviewer / Host]

So now with streaming, there's been so much more focus on the opportunity to target appropriately through contextual. How should we think about contextual targeting versus behavioral targeting in the space of CTV or streaming?

[Peter Crawfoot]

That's an excellent question. So it starts with contextual intelligence. And AI has really fueled that and generative AI in the last year. So it's understanding first where the audiences are, what are they looking at in the content. And then instead of behavioral, there's. Because we get into behavioral, then there's brand safety. Right. And so it's thinking about analyzing segments of emotion, genre and brand safety and looking at those holistically to then have a better picture to where a consumer is viewing. Because one show can be multiple genres, one show can evoke by a scene, multiple emotions. I would think of it that way. And it's a different paradigm.

[Interviewer / Host]

Contextual has been around for a long time. At least the term has contextual targeting and now it has application in the CTV space. If someone is hearing it, they seemed underwhelmed. How would you square it up for them? So they understand why it's a meaningful opportunity today in a way that is different from the past.

[Peter Crawfoot]

Yeah, this isn't your grandparents contextual solutions any longer. It's important in the age of personalization and privacy to first put your frame of mind or hat on from the point of the consumer or the audience viewing that content. And today in non skippable environments, on the largest screen in the home, that personalization becomes very, very important. So just it's better to understand where people are on that journey.

[Interviewer / Host]

I want to ask also of course about data and privacy compliance. How important is data in shaping both content recommendation and advertiser decisions in the streaming environment?

[Peter Crawfoot]

It is of paramount importance and I think that's true of all channels. The challenge is if you're a marketer or even an agency, all the fragmentation that happens with different data is first to understand what is your data strategy. Too many people think about AI as oh, we need an AI strategy. Actually you have to think about what is the challenges in your business and then how AI can be applied to your business strategy to enhance that. It all starts with data. And where is that data? And you know, with the advent and explosion of cloud computing, with the advent of clean rooms, there's really a way to have a and the tools with generative AI to look at that data wholly realistically and then understand what levers are going to drive the outcomes that that advertiser is looking for.

[Interviewer / Host]

Now that there's so much increasing scrutiny around data compliance and privacy, how do you see the balance between targeting meaningfully in a world that is increasingly streaming oriented?

[Peter Crawfoot]

Great question as well. One, not collecting any PII data. The second is when you are, you know, you understand what people are viewing the content you can get a lot of false positives. So good example of that is, let's just say someone's targeting a family animated friendly movie like Shrek and you're a CPG company or a baking company, and all of a sudden, when Lard Farquhar is choking the gingerbread man, do you want to show up there? And so the way the taxonomy happens with targeting, you know, up until now has been very generic. What happens when you better understand and use contextual intelligence? You're going to be more brand safe and you're respecting that user's privacy because you're showing up with a personalized message that resonates with.

[Interviewer / Host]

I want to talk about tech and innovation with you as well. Streaming has been around for a while. There's been hype since 10 plus years minimum. What are you most excited about as far as innovation in the streaming at tech space?

[Peter Crawfoot]

A couple of things. One is contextual intelligence to understand user journeys. The second is the use of generative AI and then for that ability to connect consumers and have them easily find the content that they're looking for. And you have more consumers today now viewing on streaming and their connected devices than you do in linear television.

[Interviewer / Host]

How are automation and AI really transforming the space? I feel like you spoke to it a little bit, but if you were to elaborate about AI with more specificity,

[Peter Crawfoot]

what would you say in our case, and I think in general, AI can act as a virtual couch surfer to really understand at scale what is actually happening in the program that's being watched, when it's being scheduled, how it's being discovered, how you can measure what data that that can produce. And so that is something where I see an explosion happening and then doing that in a way to make it simple to understand where you need to be and how you need to show up to drive outcomes.

[Interviewer / Host]

If there's one thing you're excited about as far as the prospective innovative opportunity in the CTV space in the next five years, what would it be?

[Peter Crawfoot]

Some of the consolidation happening and watching some of the larger traditional networks starting to divest some of their linear assets, I think that's going to speed it up. I think with AI that there are more touch points, There are multiple screens. So how do you speak in a way that's going to be scalable? Some of these challenges and opportunities are what get me up every morning and still excited. Because the last thing I'll say around that is the problems that we see and challenges today are the same issues that we've had since the dawn of the Internet, walled gardens, fragmentation, lack of measurement standards, no agreement on attribution or what currencies are. It's a different flavor within ctv, but I think with the tools available to us, we're able to solve that in a much different way more quickly than we ever have in the history of our business.

[Interviewer / Host]

It's an exciting space, especially since we all like to consume ctv. Now there's more robust opportunities coming full circle. Where once we were saying it didn't have ads with the advent of svod and now we're going back towards it being an increasingly ad supported opportunity. And it's a good opportunity. So excited to see what comes next.

[Peter Crawfoot]

Yeah, we are too. And one final thought is around interactive ads. Ads as well as commerce and being able to have a central source of when you're doing something is also the next area for growth in our business.

[Interviewer / Host]

Yeah, people want to figure out the challenges associated with that problem, but we'll, we'll take it next time. Thanks so much, Pete.

[Peter Crawfoot]

Yeah, thank you for having me here.

[Noor Nasir]

That wraps up today's conversation with Peter Crawfoot. Two takeaways. Being able to identify premium moments where context and emotion align is something I see. More advertisers curious to explore these types of offerings ask advertisers to think beyond impressions alone and instead lean into other factors of resonance. Second, Peter reminded us that measurement surrounding CTV continues to demand a new mindset. Like other digital channels that have needed to convert away from cookies and last click attribution, CTV success has always required testing, iterating and embracing incremental outcomes like

[Interviewer / Host]

search, love or foot traffic.

[Noor Nasir]

Thanks again to Peter for his thoughts. If you enjoyed this episode of AdTech Unfiltered, please give the show a follow up on the podcasting app of your choice. This is Noor Nasir. Many more episodes coming up this month, so we'll see you in a bit.