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It’s a ‘Vibe’: How One Company Is Revolutionizing the Streaming Ad Market for SMBs

Vibe's Gaby Pozzi, Vincent Paoli and Rachel Egan-McGovern
Vibe's Gaby Pozzi, Vincent Paoli and Rachel Egan-McGovern

The streaming era presents small- and midsize businesses (SMBs) with a unique opportunity to grab a healthy slice of the advertising pie.

According to Vibe.co Founder and CEO Arthur Querou, SMBs make up two-thirds of the U.S. economy but only account for 5 percent of ad spending on television. Now, with many viewers transitioning from linear TV to budget-friendly, ad-supported streaming services, Vibe.co is making it easy for this underserved segment to get their products in front of a growing audience. TRD sat down with the Vibe.co team to learn how the company is leveraging cutting-edge AI tools to transform Connected TV (CTV) advertising for SMBs across the US.

Platform Makes TV Ad Buying as Simple as Social 

When it came to starting a company that would open up streaming TV advertising to the underserved SMB sector, tech entrepreneur Querou wanted to create a platform that would be so easy his mother could set up a campaign. In 2022, Querou and his team launched Vibe.co, which enables clients to place an ad on TV in five minutes for as little as $50 a day, without signing a contract.

Vibe provides a streamlined platform for companies — from solopreneurs to enterprise-level businesses — to access Streaming TV ad inventory. Advertisers receive instant access after registering. Through a drag-and-drop application, they can target what kinds of customers they want to reach based on demographics, interests, and geographic locations, and where it wants to reach them via a choice of more than 500 streaming apps and TV channels.

In-platform budgeting tools allow brands to set spending limits for daily buys or entire campaigns, using Machine Learning and historical data to forecast average CPMs, impression rates, ROAS, and more. Thanks to real-time dashboard analytics, advertisers can make adjustments to maximize optimization without ever having to pause their campaign. Meanwhile, ads can be sent to mobile devices or tablets as well as TVs to extend streaming reach, and retargeting tools can reengage previously interested viewers to trackably increase conversion.

“We’re democratizing the TV space and making it accessible to all,” says Gaby Pozzi, Vibe’s Inbound Team lead.

And for the first time, many small- and medium-sized businesses think, “I can be up there with the Coca-Colas of the world — I can see my own ad on TV,” she says. “There’s a lot of excitement behind knowing that they can actually compete in this market.”

For many SMBs wanting to make a CTV buy for the first time, Vibe simplifies the campaign setup and adtech jargon that might still feel unfamiliar.

“Before discovering Vibe, TV and streaming advertising seemed out of reach for my small business,” says Dan B., Co-founder and Marketing Director of a Midsize Business. “With Vibe, I’m able to fully understand how and to whom my ads are being served up, helping me not only evaluate their effectiveness but change up targeting, inventory, or other aspects of ads to bring down CPM and cost per website session.”

Thanks to Vibe.co’s payment structure, trying the platform is risk-free.

“Having no contract allows advertisers to come in and kind of understand and test a new platform and see how it’s going to build into their marketing mix without having to invest too much upfront,” says Vincent Paoli, Customer Success Manager at Vibe.co.

AI Tools Manage, Generate and Convert

Most clients come with video in hand, often an ad repurposed from social media. The new Vibe Studio AI creative tool is there for businesses that don’t, or for those that want to refresh existing creative, by building CTV-ready ads at no extra cost.

“It only takes a few minutes to get the first preview of a commercial with Vibe’s new AI creative tool,” says Rachel Egan-McGovern, Vibe.co’s Head of Sales. “It maps back to a company’s website, or even their Google Business Profile, and pulls in images that will then create the commercial for them. You have full editing control over your content — the voice over, color scheme, length, CTA, and images are all flexible. It’s pretty simple and easy to use.”

Other AI components include Vibe IQ2, designed to improve conversion rates more than fourfold; Vibe AI Assistant, acting as a personal marketing expert to help set up impactful CTV campaigns, and Vibe Connect, providing direct access to CTV ad channels, including 10 major sports leagues.

For maximum ROI, Pozzi recommends implementing Vibe’s pixel, which tracks advertisers’ web traffic in a number of ways, especially by channel. “So, we can understand, for instance, that CNN is actually converting to more purchases than ESPN,” she says.

Coming Up

Vibe entered the market at the perfect moment. The CTV industry is experiencing meteoric growth in usage, capabilities and investment.

“I can remember when mobile ads became a huge thing,” Egan-McGovern says. “CTV is following that same trajectory. You can advertise nationally. You can advertise by DMA. Now, you can target down to ZIP code. We can not only tell you, from a ZIP code perspective, how many people went to your website, but how many purchased a product.”

What does the future of streaming ads hold? Beyond advanced audience targeting, Egan-McGovern expects streaming ads to become more interactive, including shopping in real time.

“What excites me about CTV is we’re just getting started on the capabilities of a vastly growing medium,” she says.

Chat with a Vibe team member today to learn more.