10/06/2025
The mobile user acquisition landscape keeps on evolving rapidly, and smart up-to-date marketers are discovering a game-changing addition to their media mix: Connected TV (CTV). What was once considered purely a branding channel, with tracking issues and lots of fraud traffic has transformed into a performance machine that’s driving real app installs and user engagement at scale.
As traditional mobile acquisition channels face increasing competition and rising costs, CTV emerges as the untapped goldmine that savvy UA managers can’t afford to ignore. Here’s why adding CTV to your user acquisition strategy isn’t just an option to consider but it’s becoming essential novelty media source.
The CTV Revolution: From Awareness to Performance
Connected TV has undergone a fundamental transformation. Gone are the days when television advertising was solely about brand awareness and top-of-funnel activities. Today’s CTV platforms offer sophisticated targeting capabilities, real-time measurement, and direct response features that rival traditional digital channels.
The numbers speak for themselves: According to SoCal News Group nearly 87-88.5% of US households are now reachable via Connected TV, representing a massive and continuously growing audience for mobile user acquisition campaigns. This reach, combined with advanced targeting options, makes CTV an incredibly powerful tool for app marketers looking to scale their acquisition efforts.
The Second Screen Phenomenon: Your CTV-to-Mobile Highway
One of CTV’s most compelling advantages for mobile UA lies in viewer behavior patterns. A remarkable 93% of viewers use a second device while watching TV, with 71% having their smartphone directly in hand during viewing sessions. This creates an unprecedented opportunity for seamless cross-device user journeys—from seeing your app advertisement on the big screen to immediately downloading it on their mobile device.
This dual-screen behavior eliminates the traditional gap between TV advertising and mobile conversion, creating a direct path from awareness to action that’s perfect for app install campaigns.
Precision Targeting Meets Massive Scale
CTV combines the best of both worlds: the massive reach of television with the precision targeting of digital advertising. Modern CTV platforms allow advertisers to target users based on:
- Demographics and psychographics
- Viewing interests and show genres
- Device types and usage patterns
- Geographic location and household characteristics
- Previous app usage and engagement behavior
This level of targeting precision ensures your app advertisements reach users who are most likely to install and engage with your app, maximizing your ROAS (return on ad spend) while maintaining the broad reach that makes CTV so attractive.
Interactive Formats Drive Immediate Action
CTV’s creative capabilities have evolved far beyond traditional 30-second spots. Today’s Connected TV platforms support interactive and shoppable ad formats that drive immediate response actions. For mobile app marketers, this means:
- QR codes that users can scan instantly with their phones
- On-screen prompts that guide users to app stores
- Interactive elements that engage viewers and drive higher conversion rates
- Seamless integration with mobile attribution platforms for accurate tracking
These interactive formats are particularly effective for app installs, as they capitalize on the moment of interest and provide frictionless paths to conversion.
Budget-Friendly Access to Premium Inventory
The CTV advertising landscape is becoming increasingly accessible to advertisers of all sizes. As more streaming platforms introduce ad-supported tiers, CTV CPMs are dropping significantly, making high-quality television inventory available not just to major brands but to app developers and performance marketers working with diverse budget constraints.
This democratization of CTV advertising means that even smaller app companies can access premium, engaged audiences that were previously out of reach due to high traditional TV costs.
Retargeting and Re-Engagement at Scale
CTV opens up new possibilities for retargeting and re-engagement campaigns. By leveraging household IP addresses and cross-device data, you can:
- Reach dormant users in their homes with compelling re-engagement messages
- Target users who have shown interest but haven’t completed installation
- Deliver personalized content based on previous app interactions
- Boost lifetime value through strategic re-engagement campaigns
This capability is particularly valuable for app marketers looking to maximize the value of their existing user base while simultaneously acquiring new users.
Measuring CTV Performance: Beyond Traditional Metrics
Modern CTV campaigns provide robust measurement capabilities that go far beyond traditional TV metrics. Attribution platforms can now track:
- Direct app installs from CTV campaigns
- Cross-device user journeys from TV exposure to mobile conversion
- View-through attribution and assisted conversions
- Lifetime value and retention metrics for CTV-acquired users
This level of measurement transparency allows UA managers to optimize CTV campaigns with the same precision they apply to other digital channels.
Integration Challenges and Solutions
While CTV offers tremendous opportunities, successful integration requires expertise in cross-channel campaign management, creative optimization, and measurement. The complexity of managing CTV alongside traditional mobile UA channels can be overwhelming for teams without the right platform and expertise.
This is where partnered solutions become invaluable. Working with a unified platform that can seamlessly integrate CTV into your existing UA strategy—while providing the tools and expertise needed for optimization—can be the difference between CTV success and expensive experimentation.
At Zoomd, we are always on the forefront of checking and testing media sources, checking and vetting new media sources that can benefit the campaigns we run for our diverse client portfolio. Our teams have successfully delivered CTV campaigns across diverse verticals, from gaming and e-commerce to fintech and lifestyle apps, across different GEO’s, consistently aiming to achieve lower CPI’s, high conversion rates compared to the known media sources we have integrated with. All with the aim to maintain high-quality user acquisition at scale. While in the past, when CTV was new this was a challenge, we now see the metrics, targeting and overall results improve and become steady across the board.
The Competitive Advantage: Acting Now
The CTV opportunity in mobile user acquisition is real and growing, but it won’t remain an open secret forever. Early adopters who integrate CTV into their media mix now will gain significant competitive advantages:
- Access to high-quality audiences before competition intensifies
- Lower CPMs and CPIs while the market is still developing
- Learning and optimization advantages that compound over time
- Diversified acquisition channels that reduce dependency on traditional sources
Your Next Steps: CTV Integration Strategy
Adding CTV to your UA mix doesn’t require a complete strategy makeover. When we start with adding CTV to our clients and partners media mix, we start with the following checklist:
- Auditing your current media mix to identify budget that can be allocated to CTV testing. What from the “testing” budget can be allocated to new CTV testing?
- Define clear performance goals and attribution methodologies for CTV campaigns
- Develop CTV-specific creative assets that leverage interactive capabilities. Not all creatives are created equal and match this CTV medium, it must be adapted specifically or created from scratch.
- Choosing the right platform partner that can integrate CTV seamlessly with our clients existing UA channels.
- Start with focused testing on specific audience segments and streaming platforms
- Scale based on performance data and optimize for your key performance indicators
Why Partner with Zoomd for Your CTV Success
At Zoomd, we know that running successful CTV campaigns is about more than just adding another channel to your media mix, it’s about thoughtful integration and hands-on management. Our unified user acquisition platform is designed to make CTV work seamlessly alongside your existing mobile UA efforts, so you get a holistic approach rather than siloed campaigns.
We focus on the details that matter: accurate cross-device tracking, creative testing, and ongoing optimization. Our technology makes it easy to experiment with different CTV ad variations and quickly scale what works best for your app or brand.
What really sets Zoomd apart is our collaborative, hands-on approach. We work closely with streaming platforms and premium inventory partners to secure placements that make a difference for your UA campaigns. Our team actively monitors and adjusts targeting and bidding in real time, so you’re not just getting set-and-forget automation, you’re getting a partner who’s invested in your results.
Clients come to us because they see the value in a team that’s responsive, strategic, and committed to real outcomes. With Zoomd, you’re not just running CTV ads; you’re building a smarter, more effective user acquisition strategy that evolves with your needs and the market.
The Future is Connected
Connected TV represents more than just another advertising channel, it’s a fundamental shift in how users discover and engage with mobile apps. The convergence of television’s massive reach with digital advertising’s precision and measurement capabilities creates unprecedented opportunities for mobile user acquisition.
The question isn’t whether CTV will become important for mobile UA. It’s whether you’ll be early enough to capitalize on this opportunity before it becomes standard practice. The data, the technology, and the user behaviour patterns are all aligned. The only variable is your willingness to act.
For mobile app marketers ready to unlock new growth opportunities, CTV integration isn’t just recommended, it’s essential for staying competitive in an increasingly complex user acquisition landscape.
Ready to explore how CTV can transform your mobile UA results? Contact Zoomd today to discuss your CTV strategy and discover how our proven approach can help you tap into this high-performing channel while maintaining the efficiency and scale your UA campaigns demand.
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Reference: Connected TV Marketing Statistics 2025 – SoCal News Group
Note: Household penetration statistics referenced in this article primarily reflect the US market, where 88% of American households own at least one internet-connected TV device.
