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Introducing Dynamic QR Codes for CTV Ads

Buyers
2
minutes
Technical Level
November 18, 2023
2
minutes
February 16, 2022
Technical Level
Frank Maguire
VP, Insight, Strategy & Sustainability
In response to our latest research on decreasing consumer attention to TV ads, we are excited to launch CTV Dynamic QR Codes, a research-backed solution to help improve the attention and performance of advertisers’ connected TV ads at no additional cost.

What are CTV Dynamic QR Codes?

CTV Dynamic QR Codes are a first-of-its-kind enhancement from Sharethrough that automatically adds QR Codes to connected TV advertisements that target the Sharethrough Exchange. 

Our technology pulls the clickout URL directly from advertisers’ VAST tags and generates a QR code that is dynamically added to any connected TV ad. Advertisers can also optionally customize additional elements of the QR code such as background color, logo in QR code and the call-to-action. Setup is the same as buying any CTV ads in a DSP and no additional fees are added to CPM bids. 

Advertisers have the option to further customize the dynamic elements of the QR code for their CTV campaigns.
Advertisers have the option to further customize the dynamic elements of the QR code for their CTV campaigns.

Backed by Research

At Sharethrough, researching consumer behaviors and cognition is core to how we build our products and enhance ads to fit with user expectations. In December of 2021, we surveyed 1,000 people over the age of 16 and asked them a series of questions related to their TV viewing habits, preferences and experiences.

TV Ads Have An Attention Problem

According to the research, 76% of consumers do not pay active attention to TV ads. When asked what they do instead of paying attention to ads, 79% of people said they have their phone or another device in their hands during commercial breaks. While this is alarming, we saw an opportunity to adapt TV ads to those behaviors with the possibility to increase attention. We focused on the comeback kid of the pandemic: the QR code, for which we tested its ability to improve attention and engagement during TV viewing.

QR Codes Improve Attention to TV Ads

We tested the CTV Dynamic QR Codes on 1,000 real consumers who were displayed ads with and without QR codes. The results confirmed our hypotheses with QR codes showing a 12% lift in viewer’s attention! The increased attention not only provides advertisers a greater chance of viewers scanning the QR code but, possibly more importantly, a better chance that they are going to remember the brand and messaging. 

CTV ads with QR Codes increased viewers’ attention by 12% compared to ads without.
CTV ads with QR Codes increased viewers’ attention by 12% compared to ads without.

Benefits of Tracking QR Code Scans

The increase in attention alone is reason to include QR codes on all CTV ads but the additional performance metrics also add another level of benefits advertisers can’t get from most connected TV ads.

QR code scans are trackable through standard click trackers which provides directional indication of the viewer’s engagement and attention to the brand’s offering. In the similar way that CTR provides directional reporting for standard digital ads, scan rate reporting from QR codes provides both directional indicators of success, allowing them to compare performance of different creatives and offers a clearer path to attribution signals – like purchases, sign-ups or page visits – than TV ads have ever provided.

Getting Started with CTV Dynamic QR Codes

Getting started with CTV Dynamic QR Codes is easy and comes at no additional cost with any connected TV ad spend on the Sharethrough Exchange.

No Additional Costs

We believe enhancements like this only mutually benefit advertisers and consumers, so we include them standard without any increase in CPMs.

Turnkey Activation

Activating CTV Dynamic QR codes is as simple as activating any programmatic connected TV ad. QR codes are automatically added to CTV creatives that target the Sharethrough Exchange within all major DSPs. There is no additional lift for ad buyers and they have the option of customizing the call-to-action, logo within the QR code and background colors. 

Adding a QR Code to your connected TV ads is easy and at no additional cost.

To get started or for more information, contact a Sharethrough rep or fill out the form on this page

Subscribe on this page to stay up to date as we roll out more information on best practices and case studies related to CTV Dynamic QR Code campaigns.

To view the free infographic, fill the form below.

In response to our latest research on decreasing consumer attention to TV ads, we are excited to launch CTV Dynamic QR Codes, a research-backed solution to help improve the attention and performance of advertisers’ connected TV ads at no additional cost.

What are CTV Dynamic QR Codes?

CTV Dynamic QR Codes are a first-of-its-kind enhancement from Sharethrough that automatically adds QR Codes to connected TV advertisements that target the Sharethrough Exchange. 

Our technology pulls the clickout URL directly from advertisers’ VAST tags and generates a QR code that is dynamically added to any connected TV ad. Advertisers can also optionally customize additional elements of the QR code such as background color, logo in QR code and the call-to-action. Setup is the same as buying any CTV ads in a DSP and no additional fees are added to CPM bids. 

Advertisers have the option to further customize the dynamic elements of the QR code for their CTV campaigns.
Advertisers have the option to further customize the dynamic elements of the QR code for their CTV campaigns.

Backed by Research

At Sharethrough, researching consumer behaviors and cognition is core to how we build our products and enhance ads to fit with user expectations. In December of 2021, we surveyed 1,000 people over the age of 16 and asked them a series of questions related to their TV viewing habits, preferences and experiences.

TV Ads Have An Attention Problem

According to the research, 76% of consumers do not pay active attention to TV ads. When asked what they do instead of paying attention to ads, 79% of people said they have their phone or another device in their hands during commercial breaks. While this is alarming, we saw an opportunity to adapt TV ads to those behaviors with the possibility to increase attention. We focused on the comeback kid of the pandemic: the QR code, for which we tested its ability to improve attention and engagement during TV viewing.

QR Codes Improve Attention to TV Ads

We tested the CTV Dynamic QR Codes on 1,000 real consumers who were displayed ads with and without QR codes. The results confirmed our hypotheses with QR codes showing a 12% lift in viewer’s attention! The increased attention not only provides advertisers a greater chance of viewers scanning the QR code but, possibly more importantly, a better chance that they are going to remember the brand and messaging. 

CTV ads with QR Codes increased viewers’ attention by 12% compared to ads without.
CTV ads with QR Codes increased viewers’ attention by 12% compared to ads without.

Benefits of Tracking QR Code Scans

The increase in attention alone is reason to include QR codes on all CTV ads but the additional performance metrics also add another level of benefits advertisers can’t get from most connected TV ads.

QR code scans are trackable through standard click trackers which provides directional indication of the viewer’s engagement and attention to the brand’s offering. In the similar way that CTR provides directional reporting for standard digital ads, scan rate reporting from QR codes provides both directional indicators of success, allowing them to compare performance of different creatives and offers a clearer path to attribution signals – like purchases, sign-ups or page visits – than TV ads have ever provided.

Getting Started with CTV Dynamic QR Codes

Getting started with CTV Dynamic QR Codes is easy and comes at no additional cost with any connected TV ad spend on the Sharethrough Exchange.

No Additional Costs

We believe enhancements like this only mutually benefit advertisers and consumers, so we include them standard without any increase in CPMs.

Turnkey Activation

Activating CTV Dynamic QR codes is as simple as activating any programmatic connected TV ad. QR codes are automatically added to CTV creatives that target the Sharethrough Exchange within all major DSPs. There is no additional lift for ad buyers and they have the option of customizing the call-to-action, logo within the QR code and background colors. 

Adding a QR Code to your connected TV ads is easy and at no additional cost.

To get started or for more information, contact a Sharethrough rep or fill out the form on this page

Subscribe on this page to stay up to date as we roll out more information on best practices and case studies related to CTV Dynamic QR Code campaigns.

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About Behind Headlines: 180 Seconds in Ad Tech—

Behind Headlines: 180 Seconds in Ad Tech is a short 3-minute podcast exploring the news in the digital advertising industry. Ad tech is a fast-growing industry with many updates happening daily. As it can be hard for most to keep up with the latest news, the Sharethrough team wanted to create an audio series compiling notable mentions each week.

In response to our latest research on decreasing consumer attention to TV ads, we are excited to launch CTV Dynamic QR Codes, a research-backed solution to help improve the attention and performance of advertisers’ connected TV ads at no additional cost.

What are CTV Dynamic QR Codes?

CTV Dynamic QR Codes are a first-of-its-kind enhancement from Sharethrough that automatically adds QR Codes to connected TV advertisements that target the Sharethrough Exchange. 

Our technology pulls the clickout URL directly from advertisers’ VAST tags and generates a QR code that is dynamically added to any connected TV ad. Advertisers can also optionally customize additional elements of the QR code such as background color, logo in QR code and the call-to-action. Setup is the same as buying any CTV ads in a DSP and no additional fees are added to CPM bids. 

Advertisers have the option to further customize the dynamic elements of the QR code for their CTV campaigns.
Advertisers have the option to further customize the dynamic elements of the QR code for their CTV campaigns.

Backed by Research

At Sharethrough, researching consumer behaviors and cognition is core to how we build our products and enhance ads to fit with user expectations. In December of 2021, we surveyed 1,000 people over the age of 16 and asked them a series of questions related to their TV viewing habits, preferences and experiences.

TV Ads Have An Attention Problem

According to the research, 76% of consumers do not pay active attention to TV ads. When asked what they do instead of paying attention to ads, 79% of people said they have their phone or another device in their hands during commercial breaks. While this is alarming, we saw an opportunity to adapt TV ads to those behaviors with the possibility to increase attention. We focused on the comeback kid of the pandemic: the QR code, for which we tested its ability to improve attention and engagement during TV viewing.

QR Codes Improve Attention to TV Ads

We tested the CTV Dynamic QR Codes on 1,000 real consumers who were displayed ads with and without QR codes. The results confirmed our hypotheses with QR codes showing a 12% lift in viewer’s attention! The increased attention not only provides advertisers a greater chance of viewers scanning the QR code but, possibly more importantly, a better chance that they are going to remember the brand and messaging. 

CTV ads with QR Codes increased viewers’ attention by 12% compared to ads without.
CTV ads with QR Codes increased viewers’ attention by 12% compared to ads without.

Benefits of Tracking QR Code Scans

The increase in attention alone is reason to include QR codes on all CTV ads but the additional performance metrics also add another level of benefits advertisers can’t get from most connected TV ads.

QR code scans are trackable through standard click trackers which provides directional indication of the viewer’s engagement and attention to the brand’s offering. In the similar way that CTR provides directional reporting for standard digital ads, scan rate reporting from QR codes provides both directional indicators of success, allowing them to compare performance of different creatives and offers a clearer path to attribution signals – like purchases, sign-ups or page visits – than TV ads have ever provided.

Getting Started with CTV Dynamic QR Codes

Getting started with CTV Dynamic QR Codes is easy and comes at no additional cost with any connected TV ad spend on the Sharethrough Exchange.

No Additional Costs

We believe enhancements like this only mutually benefit advertisers and consumers, so we include them standard without any increase in CPMs.

Turnkey Activation

Activating CTV Dynamic QR codes is as simple as activating any programmatic connected TV ad. QR codes are automatically added to CTV creatives that target the Sharethrough Exchange within all major DSPs. There is no additional lift for ad buyers and they have the option of customizing the call-to-action, logo within the QR code and background colors. 

Adding a QR Code to your connected TV ads is easy and at no additional cost.

To get started or for more information, contact a Sharethrough rep or fill out the form on this page

Subscribe on this page to stay up to date as we roll out more information on best practices and case studies related to CTV Dynamic QR Code campaigns.

About Calibrate—

Founded in 2015, Calibrate is a yearly conference for new engineering managers hosted by seasoned engineering managers. The experience level of the speakers ranges from newcomers all the way through senior engineering leaders with over twenty years of experience in the field. Each speaker is greatly concerned about the craft of engineering management. Organized and hosted by Sharethrough, it was conducted yearly in September, from 2015-2019 in San Francisco, California.

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Frank Maguire
VP, Insight, Strategy & Sustainability

About the Author

Frank has spent over a decade at Sharethrough conducting research studies to better understand how humans respond to advertising and sharing strategies, insights and best practices that help brands and agencies adapt their unique advertising challenges to ever-evolving media consumption behaviors. He is a digital advertising industry veteran, beginning his career working for clients including Nestle, Pfizer and Wyndham on the agency side and then opening up and growing Sharethrough's East Coast headquarters in NYC.

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