PadSquad, which specializes in creating high-impact advertising experiences, has partnered with CTV leader Innovid to gain in-house access to Innovid’s full suite of interactive CTV tools. The goal of the joint advanced CTV offering is to streamline and accelerate brands’ ability to create interactive and shoppable CTV ads.

According to PadSquad’s head of marketing Lance Wolder, it is the first time Innovid’s interactive CTV tools can be fully utilized by a third-party instead of through Innovid’s managed service. Lance said that with PadSquad’s team of over 20 designers and developers, being able to directly use Innovid’s tools will enable faster turnaround times for clients’ campaigns and also unlock new creative potential.

As we’re all aware, CTV is the hottest corner of the advertising industry. eMarketer’s latest forecast is for CTV to grow 27% to $26.9 billion in 2023 in the U.S. alone, despite all the economic headwinds. To date a lot of CTV spend has been fueled by brands replacing impressions lost as a result of linear TV’s rapid decline.

But, as I first wrote over 2 years ago, I’m a strong believer that ultimately CTV’s big opportunity is at the bottom of the marketing funnel, where attributable conversions for a range a KPIs become the goal. CTV uniquely combines TV’s traditional sight/sound/motion advantages  with digital’s targetability, interactivity and measurability. When CTV is fully baked, performance-oriented advertisers and even traditional TV advertisers will clearly see the opportunity and shift more of their spending.

There’s still a lot of work to do to get this full realization, but new research from Aluma Insights indicates there’s already a nice consumer tailwind at work. In a recent survey, Aluma found that half of online adults recall seeing shoppable ads on TV, of which 39% have engaged a shoppable TV ad, with 70% reporting they purchased a featured product either at the time or afterwards. The quick math on this is that approximately 14% of consumers are already engaging (though note this is not an actual conversion rate). And more of the engagement happens on social than in CTV, for now, which will also change over time.

PadSquad recognizes this dynamic and therefore is enthusiastic about immediate opportunities for the joint solution to accelerate CTV experiences that leverage mobile as the second screen interactive device, which is what PadSquad has specialized in for 10 years. Among a variety of ad formats, QR codes are the primary means for bridging the CTV world to the mobile world. Eventually CTVs will have all kinds of native interactive capabilities, but for now the second screen strategy seems like a highly practical on-ramp to provide consumers with immersive experiences.

I envision CTV as a mostly lower-funnel medium eventually. But as the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” It will take some time, but the PadSquad-Innovid partnership represents another piece of the foundation being placed.