Creating a Winning CTV Strategy: Defining SVOD and HVOD KPIs

Throughout our series, we have explored best practices for creating a successful CTV strategy. Our last post outlined the top KPIs for the varied landscape of FAST and AVOD services. This post will dig into the top KPIs of SVOD and HVOD services.

SVOD and HVOD streamers often rely on mobile and CTV itself for easily accessible KPIs to measure and optimize campaigns and drive audience growth. But, which KPIs are the most important? What should you, as an SVOD and HVOD service, monitor to grow your audiences? 

To measure and optimize a CTV marketing and revenue strategy – and grow your business – you need to understand the ideal KPIs for subscriber growth and churn reduction. We’ll cover those here and close out the subject with insight into how Wurl can help. 

KPIs for subscriber growth and churn reduction

While publishers of FAST and AVOD channels are looking to grow viewership, which translates into more available ad inventory, streamers and publishers running SVOD and HVOD apps and channels are focused on growing their subscription base. Marketing efficiency is the name of the game – the goal is to acquire new subscribers for the lowest possible ad spend. Beyond UA (user acquisition) growth, we can’t forget to keep existing subscribers happily engaged to prevent churn. It’s a balancing act that, if done right, can increase subscription base and revenue.

Defining your KPIs – specific to the unique goals of SVOD and HVOD – and knowing how to measure performance effectively will grant you the insights necessary to navigate the hyper-competitive streaming market, target audiences most likely to convert and stay, and maximize your ROI. Here are KPIs you’ll want to consider as you manage campaigns:

• CPP (Cost per Purchase): A commonly used metric in digital marketing that measures the cost efficiency of campaigns by tracking the cost of acquiring a single paid subscriber. CPP target progress is the best indicator of your marketing campaign ROI. 
• CPA (Cost per Acquisition): A pricing model that tracks the effectiveness of ad campaigns in successfully converting acquisitions. The metric is determined by dividing the total advertising spend by the number of acquisitions – in your case subscribers.
• CPT (Cost per Trial): A type of CPA, CPT tracks the cost of acquiring a single viewer who begins a free trial. CPT targets help you understand how much it costs to attract new pools of free trial subscribers (who may eventually become paid subscribers).
• CPI (Cost per Install): Another type of CPA, CPI tracks the cost of acquiring a single viewer who installs your app – this includes free trials and subscriptions. 
• LTV / CAC (User Lifetime Value / Customer Acquisition Cost): A key metric to determine your long-term ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) target. It’s the golden ratio of user acquisition and demonstrates the importance of CPP. To meet your LTV / CAC target, you need to drive down the cost per paid subscriber. 
• MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue): Setting clear MRR targets helps you devise subscriber churn reduction strategies. 

Wurl delivers straightforward CTV insights

There’s a lot for streamers running SVOD or HVOD services to measure in terms of growing subscribers at the lowest possible cost and reducing churn. As helpful as it is to define these SVOD and HVOD KPIs, having solutions that mobilize CTV insights in an actionable way is even more impactful. The purpose and value of KPIs is to track your progress and drive optimization models. 

Wurl’s ContentDiscovery is an AI-powered solution that enables owners of SVOD and HVOD apps and channels to find new subscribers and achieve a greater price efficiency for their key performance indicators — including CPP, CPT, and LTV / CAC. Powered by AI, ContentDiscovery learns and analyzes content, and automatically targets high-value viewers to promote content they’re inclined to watch. 

ContentDiscovery helps drive substantial subscription growth, all while providing 100% measurable results. With ContentDiscovery’s dashboard, you’ll see your overall ROAS, down-funnel metric performance, and your creative asset performance. 

If you’re looking for a breakdown of KPIs and CTAs for AVOD and FAST channels, check out this blog. And if you haven’t yet, feel free to check out the rest of our CTV strategy blog series where we cover distribution, monetization, marketing, and much more!