Reviews
Part of Seven steps to compare connected TV advertising reviews
Why a connected TV advertising selection checklist prevents rework
Use a connected TV advertising selection checklist to score platforms on pricing, data access and compliance before you commit new media budget.
What to take away
- The Advertising Standards Authority has applied the CAP Code to marketing on companies' own websites since 1 March 2011. The Non-broadcast Code sets the baseline for the online parts of a streaming plan.
- Score audience evidence, data access, compliance and cost in separate columns before you compare totals.
- Ask every supplier for the same items, in the same format, within the same fortnight.
- Keep the completed sheet with the contract so a later review has something to test against.
Order the rows: evidence before cost
Price sits last on the sheet. A low rate on inventory nobody in your target market watches costs more than a higher rate on a channel they already use. Work through the evidence rows first, then the money.
UK CTV CPM ranges and minimum spends are set by platform, targeting and season, so ask for both in writing.
Score Evidence Before Price
- Reach, frequency, completion by genre
- Nielsen Top 10 cross-check
- Date range behind headline figure
- Audience age skew vs plan
- Named programmes carrying buyers
- Verification partner and reporting cadence
This sheet is one stage of a wider process, explained in Connected TV advertising reviews and comparison methods.
Use these rows as the copy-ready checklist:
- Audience
- reach, frequency and completion rate by genre.
- Inventory
- named platforms, formats and targeting.
- Verification
- named partner and method.
- Reporting cadence
- frequency and sample report.
- Creative approval
- process and owner.
- Data fields
- exact fields, refresh rate and sharing clauses.
- Consent basis
- written basis for data collected elsewhere.
- Brand safety
- IAB UK Gold Standard alignment.
- Cost
- rate, fees and minimum spend.
Demand evidence and audience fit
Ask for reach, frequency and completion rates by programme genre rather than one headline number.
Nielsen publishes weekly Top 10 streaming and TV rankings, which give you an independent read on whether a supplier's audience claims match current viewing (Nielsen Top 10).
Check the date range behind any headline figure. A report covering one quarter says little about the next one. Genre-level data also shows whether the audience skews older or younger than your plan assumes. If a supplier cannot name the programmes that carry your buyers, treat the claim as unproven.
Inventory, formats and measurement access
Check who verifies impressions and how often reporting lands. Ask whether verification comes from DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science or the platform's own tool. Non-skippable inventory, interactive formats and household-level targeting carry different evidence requirements.
Ask which platforms carry the inventory and whether one report covers all of them. Examples include ITVX, Channel 4 and Sky. A supplier that cannot name its verification partner or its reporting cadence is unlikely to fix either after signing. Ask for a sample report before you ask for a rate.
Check compliance and data terms line by line
Compliance and data terms decide whether a campaign runs as planned. Both are quick to promise and slow to prove, so put them in writing.
Compliance and Data Terms
- CAP Code creative approval process
- Named owner for media approval
- Named owner for creative approval
- Last three rejected ads and reasons
- Exact audience fields and refresh rate
- Onward sharing clauses in writing
- Consent basis for third-party data
Rules that apply to streaming creative
Streaming ads shown in the UK sit inside the CAP Code, alongside on-demand and online video. Ask the supplier to describe its creative approval process and who signs off copy.
Media approval and creative approval are separate steps, and the sheet should name an owner for each. Request the last three ads it rejected and the reason given. Keep the approval trail with the campaign file.
Data, consent and brand safety terms
The IAB UK Gold Standard covers brand safety, fraud reduction and data use, which gives you a fair baseline for questions.
Request the exact audience fields on offer, the refresh rate and the clauses covering onward sharing. Segments built from other publishers' data need the same scrutiny as first-party lists. Where a supplier sells data collected elsewhere, ask for the consent basis in writing.
Run a before and after comparison on paper
A checklist is only useful if it changes a decision. Record what each supplier claimed before you asked for proof, then what you could evidence afterwards. The gap between the two columns is your negotiating position. Set a deadline for evidence, then compare only what arrived.
A connected TV advertising selection checklist works best as a scoring sheet, not a proposal document.
What a scored checklist looks like
Claimed before
- Audience
- Mostly 25-54
- Data access
- We can share segments
- Cost
- Single rate
- Compliance
- Fully compliant
Evidenced after
- Audience
- Dated reach report by genre
- Data access
- Named fields, refresh rate, contract clause
- Cost
- Rate, fees and minimum spend separated
- Compliance
- Written creative approval process
Score one point per row on the first pass. Weighting early hides which rows are weak. If audience carries most risk, weight audience at 2 and the other rows at 1. A platform with audience 2, data 1, compliance 1, cost 0 scores 4 out of 5, and the zero flags a stop point.
Sign-off, review dates and re-scoring
Set a review date and name the person who owns the sheet. Re-score whenever a platform changes its measurement partner or its reporting definitions. A re-score takes an hour and is cheaper than rebuilding a campaign mid-flight.
Where the supplier is an agency rather than a platform, Connected TV advertising agency reviews in England covers the extra questions to add.
Common questions
How many suppliers should I score?
Three to five is workable. Fewer gives you nothing to compare, and more turns the sheet into a project of its own.
What if a supplier will not answer a row?
Leave it blank and score it zero. A refusal is a data point, and it often predicts how the campaign will be managed.
Should the checklist change between campaigns?
Yes, but only in the rows that matter most for that campaign. Keep the core rows stable so comparisons across quarters still hold.
Who should sign it off?
Whoever holds the media budget, with a second reader from compliance or finance.
