Create CTV Ads in Campaign Manager

Last updated: 2 months ago

With LinkedIn's Connected TV (CTV) Ads, you can use first-party data from our community of professionals to help you reach your audience on a large-screen experience. 

Important to know

For CTV Ads, targeting is limited to the United States (US) and Canada, and English must be the audience language.

CTV Ads and your video assets in Campaign Manager

Keep in mind that you can create CTV Ads using any video you’ve uploaded to Campaign Manager that meets CTV Ads specifications.

Only ads created specifically as CTV Ads can be sponsored or added to CTV Ads campaigns. Video ads created for a non-CTV Ads campaign can’t be used with a CTV Ads campaign.

Create CTV Ads in Campaign Manager

To create CTV Ads:

  1. Go to your ad account in Campaign Manager.

  2. Click the Create button in the upper-left corner of the page and select Campaign. 

  3. Select Brand awareness as your objective and click the Next button.  

    • CTV Ads are currently only available for the brand awareness objective.

  4. Select Classic as your campaign type and click the Next button. 

    • CTV Ads are currently only available for the Classic campaign creation type.

  5. Choose your campaign group or add a new campaign group, then click the Continue button.

  6. Confirm your campaign group details, add a campaign (optional), and click the Next button.

  7. In the Campaign details section, name your campaign and turn the Connected TV Only Campaign toggle on.

  8. Continue creating your campaign. Provide a source URL (optional) to describe what you’re marketing, build your target audience, and add URL tracking parameters (optional).

  9. Select your ad format: 

    • Choose Video if you’re uploading your video ad into Campaign Manager. 
    • Choose Third-party video – VAST if you’re partnering with Innovid, our third-party partner, to deliver ads using VAST tags.

  10. Review your placements. Please note, the LinkedIn Audience Network is automatically selected and can’t be changed, but you can choose to use app-level allow lists and block lists, as well as exclude certain categories of publishers based on IAB categories.

  11. Set your budget and schedule.

    • For Optimization Goal, you can choose either Impressions or Reach. 
    • For Bidding Strategy, you must use the default selection - Maximum delivery (auto-bidding).

  12. Optional: Set up Conversion Tracking for your campaign.

  13. Click the Next button, then click the Save button to confirm.

  14. Create a video ad for your campaign. Your video ad must meet CTV Ads specifications.

    • If you’re using VAST tags to deliver your ads, you’ll only need to give your ad a name and enter the VAST Tag URL.

  15. After you’ve created your ads, click the Launch campaign button. 

Important to know

While we strive for accuracy, CTV Ads forecasting results are estimates and don’t guarantee the actual performance of your campaign.

CTV Select program

We also offer the CTV Select program if you’re interested in partnering exclusively with NBCUniversal or Paramount publishers. Keep in mind, CTV Select is currently only available to LinkedIn managed accounts with a dedicated representative.

CTV Ads Brand Lift Testing

After you launch your campaign, you can run Brand Lift tests to help you measure the impact of your ads. You can choose the following test types:  

  • First-party Brand Lift Testing - You create a Brand Lift test in Campaign Manager, then review the results in Campaign Manager. 
  • Third-party Brand Lift Testing - A personalized off-platform service for large-scale advertisers, you’ll work with LinkedIn’s Measurement Analytics Partners (MAP) team and third-party validation partners to deliver the test and receive a report.  
  • Hybrid Brand Lift Testing - A combination of first-party and third-party testing, you create your Brand Lift test in Campaign Manager, then a third-party partner analyzes the results and provides a report.

Learn more about CTV Ads Brand Lift tests.

CTV Ads reporting metrics 

After you launch your campaign, go to your campaign dashboard to review: 

  • Campaign metrics - On your dashboard, you can review video metrics such as reach, impressions, frequency, eCPM, eCPR, video completions, completion rate, and conversions (if added during setup). Keep in mind, CTV video views, which include view rate and eCPV, aren’t reported since these ads are delivered on large-screen TVs within streaming content.  
  • Audience professional demographics - Click the Professional Demographics button on your campaign dashboard to review your audience’s professional demographics, such as job function, job title, and industry. 

Keep in mind, delivery metrics for a campaign are modeled, not exact. They include:

  • Reach - The number of unique member accounts with at least one impression. 
    • Keep in mind, members are required by our user agreement to have only one account per person. However, for a variety of reasons, some members might occasionally have more than one account. 
  • Average frequency - The average number of impressions shown to each member account that received at least one impression.  
  • Cost per 1,000 member accounts reached - The total spent on your ads, divided by every 1,000 member accounts reached.

You can also review your publisher delivery reports in the Brand Safety Hub in Campaign Manager. 

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