Financial services buying guide
Financial Services CTV Partner Selection Guide
Build a CTV shortlist, compare the evidence behind each proposal, and agree on a test before committing more budget. Use the same product, markets, outcome, and cost definitions for every candidate.
By Amanda Judge Updated Start with the brief
Give every candidate the same campaign
Compare proposals against your acquisition goal and the work your team can manage.
Compare CTV providers ↗- Product and markets
- The approved financial offer, customer eligibility, service area, and campaign restrictions.
- Customer outcome
- The enquiry, application, approval, funded account, bound policy, or client outcome you can document.
- Team responsibilities
- Who owns media, creative, client approvals, search, landing pages, and CRM reporting.
- Budget and test conditions
- Total spend, observation window, data access, success criteria, and conditions for pausing.
A platform provides buying tools. A managed engagement assigns agreed work to a partner. Use our managed and self service CTV comparison to decide which responsibilities to retain.
Six evaluation areas
Score the evidence in each proposal
Agree on the weights before demonstrations. Score written evidence and sample outputs. Treat required data permissions and approvals as conditions that must be met.
01 · Inventory and supply transparency
Ask which publishers, exchanges, resellers, and buying routes the candidate expects to use for your audience and markets. Confirm app level reporting, invalid traffic controls, and how delivery exceptions are handled.
Request: A forecast, sample placement report, supply path explanation, and the reporting access included in the contract.
The IAB CTV Programmatic Guide describes standards that support delivery and transparency. Ask where those standards apply to the proposed buy and where publisher limits remain.
02 · Audience data and permitted use
Separate customer data, partner data, and purchased audiences. Document how each audience is created, matched, refreshed, suppressed, and deleted. Confirm identity providers, retention, and permissions for the actual product and market.
Request: Audience definitions, data sources, approved uses, matching limitations, and a deletion or suppression process. Your privacy and compliance owners must approve the data use. A media audience does not establish eligibility for a financial product.
03 · Measurement and customer outcomes
Separate delivery, attributed response, and incremental results. Ask which exposure signals are available, how devices or households are matched, which outcome windows apply, and how duplicates and unmatched records are reported.
Request: A sample report, data dictionary, event definitions, reconciliation example, and the proposed lift method if causal claims will be made.
The IAB Standardized Measurement Guide for CTV discusses fragmented signals and measurement differences. Compare answers against your financial services measurement plan.
04 · Creative approvals and campaign records
Confirm how scripts, assets, disclosures, market variants, expiration dates, and approvals are stored. Name the person who can pause media and the process for replacing an asset.
Request: A sample approval record, version history, escalation path, and an explanation of how delivered creative is traced to an approved master. The advertiser retains the legal and compliance review that applies to its business.
05 · Buying decisions and campaign optimization
Name who changes bids, budgets, supply, audiences, geography, frequency, and creative. Distinguish automated changes from human review. The event used for optimization should connect to the customer outcome the business values.
Request: A responsibility list, change log, review cadence, and an explanation of how delayed CRM outcomes affect budget decisions. Site visits and funded accounts should remain separate measures.
06 · Complete costs and commercial terms
Itemize media, technology, data, verification, measurement, creative, management, and internal staff time. Confirm minimums, term, cancellation conditions, reporting access, and treatment of delivery shortfalls.
Request: An itemized proposal that identifies embedded margins and additional fees, with a clear basis for any savings claim. Use our CTV budget planner to compare planning assumptions.
Separate linear TV rates from CTV pricing
Our buying power secures traditional linear TV media rates at 50%-80% off across our linear buys. The proposal identifies the comparison rate, negotiated rate, and terms. That discount does not describe CTV CPMs. Production, management, and measurement are priced separately.
A media discount does not establish acquisition cost or incremental funded outcomes. Review how to buy TV advertising and the itemized local TV cost guide for buying and proposal questions.
Proposal questions
Ask finalists to show their work
Use the same campaign scenario in every demonstration. Request a sample report, data dictionary, workflow, and redacted issue log.
Supply, audience data, and reporting access
- Which supply paths are forecast for our audience and markets, and how will delivery be reported?
- How are household reach, frequency, viewing by multiple people, and device duplication handled?
- Which exposure records can our analytics team receive, at what level of detail, and under which restrictions?
- How are customer audiences onboarded, refreshed, suppressed, and deleted?
Measurement, costs, and reconciliation
- Which fees sit outside the quoted media CPM?
- How do you distinguish attributed outcomes from incremental outcomes?
- Which holdout or market comparison tests can you support?
- How will planned and delivered supply, reach, frequency, outcomes, and costs be reconciled?
Creative approvals and incident response
- How do you enforce approved creative, disclosures, geography, and expiration dates?
- Who can stop a campaign, and what is the documented escalation path?
Pilot and decision
Test delivery, operations, and outcomes
Choose a pilot long enough for the agreed customer outcome to mature. Document what the test can establish.
- Agree on the test
Use comparable markets, audiences, creative, landing paths, outcome definitions, and reporting windows. Set success and stop conditions before launch.
- Review the campaign and its records
Track delivery and customer progression alongside missed deadlines, reporting corrections, supply changes, approval failures, and response time.
- Record the decision
Keep the scorecard, supporting evidence, assumptions, exceptions, and named owners. State what the partner will manage, what your team retains, and what must improve before more budget is released.
Issues to resolve before selecting a partner
- Guaranteed applications, approvals, funded outcomes, or ROAS without defined terms and evidence.
- Unexplained supply paths, fees, identity methods, or missing report exports.
- Attribution presented as causal proof, or completion rate presented as proof of attention.
- Claims of compliance without named approval owners and campaign records.
- Optimization to a proxy event without a plan to reconcile customer outcomes.
Common questions
Choosing a CTV partner
What should I look for in a financial services CTV partner?
Prioritize documented supply, permitted data use, explainable measurement, reliable approval workflows, clear responsibilities, and complete costs. Weight those areas against your product and campaign requirements.
Is managed or self service CTV better?
Self service can fit teams with the people, tools, and time to operate a platform. Managed services can add planning, buying, coordination, and reporting support. Compare the work and total cost for your actual brief.
Should the lowest CPM win?
No. Compare inventory, audience, fees, reach, frequency, and customer outcomes. A lower media CPM can still produce a higher cost per acquired customer.
Can a CTV partner guarantee compliance?
A media partner can support controls, records, and workflows. The advertiser's qualified reviewers determine the rules and approvals that apply to its product, markets, claims, and data use.
How should I compare attribution claims?
Require the identity method, conversion window, exclusions, duplicate handling, data access, and available causal testing. Keep attributed outcomes separate from incremental outcomes.
How long should a partner pilot run?
Long enough to deliver the planned reach and observe mature customer outcomes. Timing depends on the audience, geography, frequency, response volume, sales cycle, and test design.
Review your CTV shortlist with us
Bring your product, markets, budget, and reporting requirements. We will scope the media, creative, and measurement around the customer outcome you need.