Moloco launches app-focused connected TV ad product

Moloco has launched Moloco Ads for Performance CTV for app marketers, extending its advertising business into connected television.

The product targets app marketers that want to use connected TV campaigns to drive app downloads and user engagement, rather than treat television mainly as a brand advertising channel. It uses the same artificial intelligence models behind Moloco's mobile advertising business and applies them to ad buying on the television screen.

Connected TV has become a larger part of the digital advertising market as viewers shift from broadcast and cable to streamed video services and internet-connected devices. Moloco cited eMarketer estimates that global connected TV ad spending is between USD $40 billion and USD $45 billion.

Moloco is entering a market where advertisers have often complained that connected TV still relies heavily on demographic targeting and post-campaign measurement. That has limited its appeal for app marketers, who are more accustomed to digital channels where campaigns can be adjusted continuously based on installs, engagement and other performance data.

The new product optimises each impression in real time against a specified marketing outcome and routes attribution through the advertiser's preferred mobile measurement partner. That allows marketers to compare connected TV activity with mobile campaigns using existing measurement tools.

In early campaign results shared by Moloco, connected TV campaigns delivered through the platform generated up to 1.5 times higher return on investment than mobile when both channels ran together. About two-thirds of users who installed an app after seeing one of its connected TV ads did so within six hours.

Those claims reflect a broader industry effort to make connected TV function more like performance marketing on mobile, where advertisers expect near real-time feedback and clearer links between spending and user actions. For app companies, that could make the living room screen a more measurable customer acquisition channel.

"Connected TV represents one of the biggest untapped opportunities for app marketers today," said Sunil Rayan, Chief Business Officer & General Manager, Moloco Ads.

"With Performance CTV, we're bringing the measurability and precision that app marketers expect from mobile to the world of television, giving them a genuinely new way to reach their audiences and drive results where attention has never been more valuable," Rayan said.

Market shift

The launch also reflects a wider shift in digital advertising as mobile, streaming television and retail media become more closely linked. Advertisers are looking for systems that can follow audiences across devices while still showing which impressions lead to installs, purchases or repeat use.

Moloco said its platform is built around three main features for buyers: access to household connected TV inventory from supply partners, publisher-level reporting through integrations with mobile measurement partners, and an open platform model that does not prioritise its own inventory or audience data.

That positioning is notable in a market where many ad technology firms control both buying tools and media supply. By stressing independence and third-party measurement, Moloco is seeking to appeal to marketers that want more transparency over where campaigns run and how results are counted.

Moloco said its wider advertising technology reaches two billion consumers across more than two million mobile apps. Founded in 2013, the company has built its business around machine-learning systems used for ad targeting, bidding and optimisation across the open internet rather than closed media ecosystems.

Customer example

One of the first cited users of the connected TV product was Fanatics Sportsbook, which used it as part of a campaign tied to college basketball.

"Moloco Ads for Performance CTV was a key component of our college basketball strategy for Fanatics Sportsbook this March," said Blair Hilton, Director of Performance Marketing at Fanatics Betting and Gaming.

"Moloco played a central role in delivering strong campaign results - performance exceeded expectations and enabled us to reach a broader audience efficiently," Hilton said.

The move gives Moloco a new pitch to app-based businesses at a time when competition for user acquisition remains intense and marketers are under pressure to prove returns from every channel. Its case for connected TV rests on whether app advertisers accept that the largest screen in the home can now be bought and measured using some of the same disciplines they already apply to mobile.