SteelHouse FAQs

Why are they so high?

(Ask this first so you have a reference point) What CPMS are you getting with your other streaming tv campaigns? Most other platforms are not giving you only premium content and they are serving on cheaper devices like cell phones and tablets. We're not co-mingling any in-app, web video, or pre-roll/mid-roll video on YouTube. We only serve commercials on large screen televisions, across exclusively the best performing blue chip networks on fully episodic programming. We do this because while the CPMs may be slightly higher than a blended cost, these drive far better performance, and that's our focus - the outcome.

What are your minimums?

***Do you have a test budget in mind?*** While we want to accommodate every advertiser interested in serving on Performance TV, in order to deliver the reach to seek out your best performing audiences and effectively optimize the campaign we require a minimum monthly spend of $25,000/month on Performance TV prospecting, or $10,000 per month on Performance TV Retargeting

Can we run on Hulu?

**Ask follow up question to understand why that may be important to the prospect** Yes, our campaigns can run on Hulu (we need approval from Natalie and Hulu for each brand) and we can report verified visits from Hulu inventory. Hulu is not transparent with tv networks, but we can report visits from Hulu as a platform. Can you help me understand why running on that channel is important to you?

Can I track campaigns in Adobe Analytics (or any analytics platform not named Google)?

Adobe Analytics would only track single-browser conversions from audience extension alone. Adobe Analytics would not be able to track cross-device performance, nor website visits directly from a streaming tv commercial. Google Analytics can successfully track all performance.

What does the user journey look like for CTV Prospecting and Audience Extension?

After we serve a streaming tv commercial into a household on a large tv, in their living room, on premium non-skippable tv networks, we can then take over every laptop, cell phone, tablet in the household for 3-4 display impressions.

Can I track campaigns in DCBM / DCM / Doubleclick / Google Analytics 360 adserver / or any other adserver?

Any adserver specifically tracks clicks. You can't click on a streaming tv commercial, so performance would only track single-browser verified visits from audience extension alone. Adservers can track impressions with an impression pixel.

Can I run display retargeting and CTV retargeting at the same time?

Are you referring to running display with SteelHouse alongside our Performance TV Retargeting campaigns? If the answer to this question is yes - Our Performance TV Retargeting campaigns contain display retargeting as part of the campaign. Performance TV Retargeting uses a combination of streaming tv commercials and display ads to a consumer at the same time. Thus you don't need both campaigns at the same time. Performance TV Retargeting outperforms display retargeting by an average 15%. If the answer to this question is no and they are using another retargeting partner at the same time - We suggest using only Performance TV retargeting with SteelHouse so you aren't over saturating your audience with messaging.

Can you optimize towards a ROAS or CPA goal for CTV Prospecting?

As a performance platform, our focus has always been delivering dollars in / dollars out. While we can report on those metrics, our focus with a prospecting channel like Performance TV is to optimize towards a cost-per-visit (or cost-per-completed-view) goal. We can help you find a visit goal that can back into a revenue based goal.

Why should I move dollars over from paid social or my other high performing campaigns to test CTV?

Ask follow up questions--I'm not sure I can answer that without a better understanding for how those are currently set up. Can you tell me more about those campaigns and the performance you're currently seeing?

Can I black-list and white-list publishers?

Can you help me understand why this is important to you? We can certainly black-list individual publishers but performance is often impacted when too many are pulled so our recommendation is always to let our performance engine seek out the audiences regardless of the network they're watching. We'll soon have the ability to blacklist within the platform, currently this is done through your customer success manager. White listing is not supported.

Do you offer zip code targeting?

Can you tell me about what you had in mind? What are you trying to achieve with your campaign? (We want advertisers to target the largest possible audiences.) It's important that we don't limit our audience pool to just a few zips. In order to reach, scale and optimize budgets we suggest to target at the city or DMA level. Yes we support zip code targeting.

What is ConnectedTV?

Connected TV (CTV) refers to any TV that can be connected to the internet and access content beyond what is available via the normal offering from a cable provider. It also refers to devices that use a television as a display and can connect to the internet to access content.

How does performance compare to Facebook Prospecting?

Glad you asked! We drive a similar cost-per-visit as Facebook video.

I only pay for clicks, why would I want to pay for every impression?

In regards to Performance TV - SteelHouse serves streaming tv commercials on televisions. Since you can't click on a television, that model can't exist for CTV. Our campaigns are not just serving impressions, but optimizing toward a performance outcome.

Do you report on how each audience performs?

In the coming months we are rolling out an audience insights view in our reporting to present which audiences are performing best. Stay tuned.

How long does it take to get a campaign set up?

It takes only a few minutes to setup a Performance TV Prospecting or Performance TV Retargeting campaign. Most DSPS and other advertising platforms have very cumbersome setup. We've automated the ad buying process so you can focus on finding and messaging unique audiences.

What are your CPMs?

Our CPMS on streaming tv commercials are $28-$32, if you add in extension the CPM is a blended $16-$18

Can we use our CRM list for targeting?

Our mission is to drive the best possible performance and we found the best way to do that is with Oracle, interest-based in-market audience targeting. CRM platforms like Liveramp and On-ramp are based on cookies. Televisions don't support cookies.

What's the difference between retargeting and audience extension?

Retargeting (Performance TV Retargeting and display retargeting) are serving ads to a user who's already visited your website. With Performance TV Prospecting, these are net new users who've seen your video creative and subsequently served display ads.

Does lowering the Audience Extension budget affect Cost-per-Completed-Views?

Since we're only measuring how much it costs to serve a full 15 or 30 second ad to be served on the largest screen on the house, that performance metric is not impacted by the audience extension budget.

Can you do look-alike modeling off my first party audience?

SteelHouse does not currently offer look-alike modeling. We have a new product releasing soon. In the meantime, we offer the largest selection of audiences available for targeting on streaming television through our unique partnership with the Oracle Data Cloud.

What is your margin?

SteelHouse is a platform just like Facebook. We give you tools to power your campaigns with a focus on your outcome and performance. If you are interested in a discount, you may enter an annual agreement in exchange for that discount. (INTERNAL NOTE) We don't track margin by account (against our tools, data costs, storage costs, and media combined) so this can't be revealed accurately.

What is SteelHouse known for?

SteelHouse is known for building powerful tools that drive direct-response performance.

What are some best practices with CTV creative?

Streaming TV commercials driving performance should follow the same best practices that any other direct response creative would follow. The domain and your logo should be present throughout the entire ad as you want the user to act with a site visit. Many of our partners use a vanity URL like http://www.advertiser.com/TV. The streaming tv commercial should end with a memorable call to action just like direct response. Many of our partners will use a discount or offer at the end of the commercial (not required in any way). There should be consistency with messaging in the streaming tv commercial and the vanity URL or homepage of your website. The messaging in your streaming tv commercial should also be relevant to the specific audiences you are targeting within the platform. I'd be happy to put you in touch with our creative partner, QuickFrame if you'd need additional support with creating a commercial.

What is the SteelHouse definition of Connected TV?

Streaming content through smart TVs, Apple TVs, Roku, Chromcast etc. with high impact, fully episodic, programming across blue chip networks with 15 or 30 second non-skippable commercials.

Where are these ads airing?

Streaming content through smart TVs, Apple TVs, Roku, Chromcast etc. with high impact, fully episodic, programming across blue chip networks with 15 or 30 second non-skippable commercials. SteelHouse only serves streaming tv commercials on televisions, as they have the highest visit rates. Our blue-chip tv networks include Bravo, Discovery, NBC, ESPN, etc.

Do I have control over the frequency?

The frequency is adjusted based upon what performs best. You may communicate a frequency cap to your customer success manager if desired.

How are you different from Hulu, Roku?

We care most about direct response performance. In order to achieve those aggressive performance targets, we are only serving commercials on large screen TVs across full-episodic programming on premium networks, known as Living Room Quality Content. There's absolutely no long tail, or wasted impressions on non TV devices. We're the only Performance TV partner who can deliver real-time cross-device reporting on traffic and revenue within Google Analytics right alongside your other channels. SteelHouse gives you the largest selection of 3rd party audiences from the Oracle Data Cloud to target audiences across this Living Room Quality content. The combination of this technology leads to the best direct response performance.

Can I white-label the dashboard? (agency)

We do not currently offer a white labeling of our dashboard. What most agencies interested in white-labeling do is simply schedule reports within the platform and rebrand them with the agency's logo. (Send them to Natalie to discuss the agency partner program)

Can you track app downloads?

We do not currently track app downloads, but are finishing an integration with Appsflier soon.

How do you know which devices to serve audience extension creative on?

We have a cross-device graph that includes hundreds of millions of devices in the US. Those devices are associated with IP addresses, which we target at the household level.

How does targeting work?

We have a direct API into Oracle's 75,000 audience segments that enables you to simply input a keyword and select the audiences you'd like to target. Thanks to the way the API has been architected, we have the largest volume of Oracle audience data in the Connected TV space. For 1st party audiences, you place a tracking pixel and are able to build real-time audiences available for targeting on streaming television.

Can you breakout click and view performance?

We operate off what we believe to be the truest indicator of human interaction which we call a Verified Visit. Since we don't work off a click and view model, it's not a metric we can break out.

How do we know we'll be getting qualified traffic?

We set out to build the industry's most accurate attribution technology to optimize away from the sometimes nefarious or accidental activity at the publisher level. By ensuring an ad is first in-view, driving a qualified website visit, combined with our in-market audience targeting assures we're seeking out only the most qualified human traffic

How does your attribution work?

We use an attribution model called Cross Device Verified Visits. A Verified Visit is a site visit driven from your campaigns from an ad that is in-view or from a streaming tv commercial, and the visit to the website must have occurred within a window of time defined by you. User sees a streaming tv commercial on their television or an audience extension ad that is in view by IAB standards. This user then visits your website on any device within their household, within a time frame you define. Most of our advertisers start with a time frame equal to their purchase cycle. Once the user converts, it's counted as a conversion within our reporting and within Google Analytics (and follows whatever attribution methodology the advertiser is using. (Another way of saying it) We serve a streaming tv commercial into a household and we grab the IP address. If we see that same IP address visit your website, in a time frame you define, we count that as a visit and so does Google Analytics using their cross-device API. There's absolutely no complex integration necessary, just place our pixel and the integration is automatic.

What level of account support do I receive?

What kind of support matters most to you? You'll have a dedicated onboarding team to provide as much training in the platform as needed, a dedicated customer success manager, and training specialists to support you. We automate all campaign optimizations so there's no heavy lifting in moving budget or complicated campaign setup.

How does your CPCV compare to YouTube's?

While our cost-per-completed view industry average is on par with that of YouTube's, they consider a "completed view" to be only 7 seconds while we consider it to be a full 15 or 30 seconds (2x-4x the length). Thus, YouTube's average cost per completed view is $.17 while SteelHouse is $.04.

Can I run without the display component?

Yes, however we see an average 5x improvement in visit rates when including the audience extension. What is the goal you're trying to accomplish with this campaign?

How does pricing work?

You enter budget and goal into our platform. Our technology is optimizing toward the shortest path to performance. You are billed on a dynamic CPM for that budget. There are absolutely no additional fees. SteelHouse does not charge for audiences (including the use of Oracle 3rd party audiences, no charge for the creative suite, no charge for analytics, no charge for our adserver, no charge for cross-device, no charge for Viewability, no charge for the use of Getty Images or Shutterstock content, and no charge for integration. Our goal is to drive the best possible performance so you keep your campaigns live.

Why is this the first time I'm hearing about SteelHouse?

You live under a rock. You live on an island in the Caribbean with no WiFi. Don't answer this question by saying, "you will soon, or best kept secret in adtech." Answer the question by pointing to our press, customer base, and establish credibility. Not sure, we have over 6,000 campaigns live with customers like Lands End, Advanced Auto Parts, and Rosetta Stone. SteelHouse works with agencies representing the major holding companies. (Pull up website, scroll to bottom to 'latest news and updates'). We're featured often on Cheddar, MSNBC and Fox Business. Would you like me to add you to our Connected TV newsletter that is focused on industry news?

Is this self-serve?

You'll have a dedicated onboarding team to provide as much training as you need. All that's required from you is to log in to upload your creative, build out or upload the banners, set the budget/goal, pixel your website and click to launch the campaign. Beyond these steps, we will provide all training/support, regular calls with a customer success manager, alongside any additional training from our specialists.

Who manages the campaign?

You'll have a dedicated onboarding team to provide as much training as you need. All that's required from you is to log in to upload your creative, build out or upload the banners, set the budget/goal, pixel your website and click to launch the campaign. Beyond these steps, we will provide all training/support, regular calls with a customer success manager, alongside any additional training from our specialists.