Rain, the independent full‑service ad agency, announced a new offering called CTV Performance+, built in partnership with The Trade Desk. The service is positioned as a performance driven alternative to traditional brand‑centric CTV buys, promising higher cost efficiency while preserving access to premium inventory.
A performance‑first angle on a premium medium
Connected TV has long been prized for its high‑impact, brand‑safe environments, yet advertisers often struggle to justify spend on a channel that traditionally emphasizes reach over measurable ROI. Rain’s CTV Performance+ attempts to bridge that gap by applying data‑driven bidding strategies, curated inventory lists, and granular optimization controls to the CTV ecosystem.
The agency describes the approach as a blend of algorithmic bid management and selective inventory inclusion, allowing advertisers to “scale CTV while preserving strict efficiency benchmarks and performance KPIs.” By leveraging The Trade Desk’s marketplace, Rain can set minimum and maximum bid thresholds that aim to keep costs in line with performance goals, a tactic rarely seen in standard CTV campaigns.
Core components of the new service
Rain’s rollout outlines five distinct pillars that shape the CTV Performance+ workflow:
- Efficiency across premium AVOD, OEM, FAST, and vMVPD – The solution targets high‑value video‑on‑demand, original‑equipment‑manufacturer, free‑ad‑supported streaming, and virtual multichannel distributors, promising fluid optimization while maintaining premium placement.
- Bid‑range controls on Trade Desk inventory – By establishing floor and ceiling bids, the service seeks to improve buying efficiency without sacrificing access to top‑tier inventory.
- Custom app inclusion lists – Rain curates a whitelist of CTV apps, giving brands tighter control over media quality and brand‑safety parameters.
- Contextual inventory segmentation – Advertisers can opt into specific categories such as sports, news, or entertainment, aligning creative with relevant content pockets.
- Tailored inclusion lists per brand objective – The platform supports differentiated app lists based on each client’s strategic focus, ensuring that campaigns reach the intended audiences within premium environments.
These elements collectively aim to transform CTV from a largely impression‑driven channel into a measurable performance vehicle.
Early results signal tangible uplift
Rain cites two pilot implementations as evidence of the model’s efficacy. For language‑learning platform Babbel, the CTV Performance+ campaign delivered a 150 % higher return on ad spend (ROAS) compared with the brand’s other video initiatives, while also achieving a better cost‑per‑order (CPO) than any alternative tactic. In the case of global financial services provider Wise, the service generated a 54 % lower cost per registration versus other campaign formats.
While the figures are confined to these early adopters, they illustrate the potential for performance‑focused CTV to compete with more data‑rich channels like programmatic display or social video, especially for advertisers seeking premium brand environments without the typical cost premium.
Executive perspective
“With CTV Performance+, our clients have a scalable, cost‑effective path to invest in high quality CTV advertising. The approach provides strong publisher‑level transparency and detailed reporting through integrated dashboards,” said Ryan Gilbert, Vice President of Converged TV at Rain. Gilbert’s comment underscores the agency’s emphasis on visibility and accountability—features that have historically been limited in the CTV space.
Why the shift matters now
The broader adtech landscape has seen a steady migration of premium video spend from linear TV to streaming platforms. However, most CTV buying still relies on fixed‑price deals or bulk impressions, which can obscure true performance outcomes. By introducing algorithmic bidding and granular reporting, Rain is aligning CTV with the performance‑first mindset that dominates data driven display and social media.
Moreover, the partnership with The Trade Desk gives Rain access to a robust marketplace that aggregates inventory from dozens of publishers. This integration enables the agency to enforce bid caps while still tapping into high‑quality ad slots—a balance that many advertisers have found elusive.
Potential challenges and market reaction
Adoption of a performance‑centric CTV model may encounter several hurdles:
- Data availability – Unlike desktop or mobile, CTV devices often provide limited first‑party data, making accurate audience targeting more complex. Rain’s reliance on The Trade Desk’s aggregated data layers may mitigate this, but transparency remains a concern for privacy‑focused brands.
- Inventory scarcity – Premium CTV slots are finite, and aggressive bid caps could limit access during high‑demand events (e.g., live sports). The custom inclusion lists aim to address this, yet advertisers may still face trade‑offs between cost efficiency and premium placement.
- Measurement standards – Industry‑wide consensus on CTV attribution is still evolving. Rain’s promise of “detailed reporting” will need to align with emerging measurement frameworks such as IAB’s CTV guidelines to gain broader trust.
Analysts are likely to watch how quickly other agencies adopt similar models. If Rain’s early case studies hold up at scale, the approach could pressure larger media agencies to incorporate performance controls into their CTV offerings.
How advertisers can get involved
Rain encourages interested brands to reach out via its contact portal at https://www.rainagency.com/contact-us/. Prospective clients can expect a discovery phase that maps brand objectives to the five pillars of CTV Performance+, followed by a pilot rollout that leverages The Trade Desk’s inventory and Rain’s custom app whitelist.
Outlook
If Rain’s performance‑focused framework proves scalable, it could reshape the economics of premium CTV buying. By marrying high‑impact inventory with data‑driven efficiency, advertisers may finally reap measurable ROI from a channel that has traditionally been evaluated on brand lift alone. The industry will be watching closely as the service moves beyond the initial Babbel and Wise pilots and into broader adoption across verticals.
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