Most CTV creative is a linear TV spot with the aspect ratio changed. We build modular creative systems, versioned for platform specs and performance formats, so you can test variants across your CTV inventory instead of running one commercial for six months.
The Problem
Your CTV Creative Is a Repurposed Broadcast Spot
Most brands running CTV campaigns are airing the same :30 spot built for linear television, just resized to fit a streaming player. That spot was built for brand recall on a shared living-room screen, not for a platform where every impression is trackable and every viewer can act on a remote. Without a clear call to action, a QR code, or a companion banner, CTV inventory gets treated like linear reach instead of a direct-response channel. The result is spend that looks like brand awareness but never gets measured like it.
Every Platform Has Different Specs, and Nobody's Versioning for Them
Hulu, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, and Tubi each have their own file specs, duration requirements, and interactive ad unit formats. A single :30 master file does not satisfy all of them, and cutting a proper :15 down-sell, a companion asset, or a QR-enabled variant for each platform is a production job most teams have not budgeted for. Traditional ad agencies built for linear TV buy one cut and call it done. That leaves inventory unfilled or filled with a mismatched asset that gets rejected or underperforms.
Production Costs and Timelines Don't Match How CTV Actually Runs
A traditional broadcast commercial runs $50,000 to $500,000 or more and takes 8 to 12 weeks from concept to delivery. CTV media buying moves in weekly and biweekly cycles, with budget shifting toward whatever creative is converting. If your production pipeline can only produce one hero spot a quarter, you cannot respond to what the data is telling you, and you end up running a stale creative against fresh, cheaper inventory.
Creative and Performance Data Live in Different Departments
The team that made the creative rarely sees the completion rates, click-through on interactive overlays, or downstream conversion data tied to that creative. Media buyers optimize placements and audiences but have no mandate or budget to commission a new cut. That disconnect means the same underperforming spot keeps running because nobody owns the loop between what the creative does and what gets made next.
How We Help
We start by pulling your current CTV creative library alongside your platform mix and ad server setup. That means watching every spot currently running, checking it against the spec requirements of each platform you are buying on, and mapping which assets are true CTV cuts versus repurposed linear or digital video.
From there we build a creative strategy that separates brand-format spots from performance-format spots. Brand spots run at :30 or :60 for reach and top-of-funnel campaigns. Performance-format spots run at :15 or :6, are built around a single clear offer, and are designed for platforms that support QR codes, shoppable overlays, or companion banners.
Production is built modular from the start. We shoot or source footage that can be cut into multiple durations and aspect ratios from a single production day, instead of commissioning a separate shoot for every version.
We also build creative variant sets on purpose, not as an afterthought. That means producing two or three hooks, offers, or calls to action off the same base footage so your media buyer has something to actually test across CTV inventory instead of running one asset until it fatigues.
Once creative is live, we close the loop back to the media buying team. We track completion rate, interactive overlay engagement, and downstream conversion by individual creative asset, not just by campaign, and we bring that data back into the next production cycle. Underperforming cuts get retired or rebuilt with a new hook.
For teams deciding between building an in-house creative function or staying with a traditional agency, we usually recommend a hybrid: keep brand and campaign strategy in-house or with your existing agency, and use a flexible production bench for the shoot and edit work that scales up and down with your testing cadence.
What we deliver
- CTV creative audit of current spots against platform specs and funnel stage
- Modular production plan covering brand-format and performance-format spots
- Versioned cuts (:6, :15, :30) with platform-specific codec, caption, and interactive overlay specs
- Creative variant sets built for testing across CTV inventory
- Performance feedback loop tying completion rate and conversion data back to the next production cycle
The CTV spot that wins isn't the one with the biggest budget, it's the one built to be replaced by a better version two weeks later.
Our Methodology
Our approach treats CTV creative production the way performance marketers treat landing pages: as a system you keep testing, not a single deliverable you ship once. Every production cycle starts from the offer and the funnel stage, not from a script someone likes, and every cut is built with enough modularity that a new hook or CTA can be swapped in without a full reshoot.
We separate the shoot from the edit deliberately. A single production day generates the raw footage for a full quarter of variants, and the versioning work, durations, platform specs, captions, overlays, happens in post at a fraction of the cost of commissioning a new shoot for every test. That's the mechanism that lets a $5M-$100M ARR company run CTV creative at a testing cadence instead of a broadcast cadence.
If you already have a brand agency handling top-of-funnel creative, we plug in below that layer: we don't touch your brand spots, we build the performance-format variants, platform versioning, and testing cuts that most brand agencies aren't set up to turn around fast or cheap.
How We Work
The first 30 days are the audit and the first production cycle. We review your current CTV creative against your platform mix, define which spots are brand-format versus performance-format, and shoot or source the base footage for your first modular production run. By day 30 you have your first set of properly versioned, platform-specced creative live in market.
Days 31 to 60 are about building the testing cadence. We produce the variant sets, alternate hooks, offers, durations, off the base footage from the first shoot, and we set up the reporting connection between your ad server or DSP and the creative library so performance is tracked by individual asset. This is also when we align with your media buying team, whether in-house or agency, on how creative decisions get made from the data.
By days 61 to 90 the feedback loop is running: underperforming creative gets retired, winning creative gets versioned further, and we've established a repeatable production cadence, typically every 2 to 4 weeks, that matches how fast your media budget actually moves. Team structure stays lean: a creative lead who owns strategy and versioning, a production bench for shoot and edit that scales with volume, and a direct line to whoever owns your CTV media buying so data flows back into the next cut.
After 90 days, the engagement runs on a recurring production cadence rather than a project basis, so your creative library keeps growing and your testing pipeline doesn't go stale between campaigns. If your CTV spend is outrunning your creative team's ability to keep up, book a strategy call and we'll look at your current media plan and creative library together.
- Faster turnaround from offer to live creative variant
- Lower cost per tested concept versus traditional broadcast production
- Creative versioned correctly across platform specs instead of one-size-fits-all cuts
- A feedback loop connecting completion rate and conversion data to the next production cycle
- Reduced dependence on agency retainers for performance-format cuts
If your ctv / connected tv company needs creative production leadership, we should talk.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does CTV creative production typically cost compared to a traditional TV commercial?
A traditional broadcast commercial runs $50,000 to $500,000 or more and is built to run largely unchanged for months. Our modular production approach front-loads the shoot cost into a single production day and spreads the cost of versioning, durations, platform specs, and variant sets across post-production, which is materially cheaper than commissioning a new shoot for every test.
How long does it take to get the first set of CTV creative live?
The first production cycle, from audit through a live, platform-versioned set of creative, typically runs about 30 days. That includes reviewing your current assets, defining brand-format versus performance-format spots, and completing the first modular shoot and edit.
Do we need an in-house creative team, or can Winston Francois run production for us?
We can run the full production function, from strategy through shoot, edit, and versioning, or plug in alongside an existing in-house or agency creative team to handle the performance-format and platform-versioning work they're not set up for. Most of our CTV clients keep brand strategy either in-house or with their existing agency and use us as the production bench for testing cuts.
How is this different from working with a traditional TV ad agency?
Traditional TV agencies are built around a single hero spot, a long production timeline, and a big upfront cost, which fits linear buying but not CTV's testing cadence. We build creative modularly from the first shoot so that versioning, durations, platform specs, and variant hooks come out of post-production instead of a new commission every time.
How do you measure whether the creative is actually working?
We track completion rate, engagement on interactive overlays like QR codes or shoppable units, and downstream conversion by individual creative asset, not just by campaign. That data feeds directly into the next production cycle: underperforming cuts get retired or rebuilt with a new hook, and winning cuts get versioned into new durations, platforms, or offers.
What kind of company is a good fit for this?
This is built for Series A through growth-stage companies, roughly $5M to $100M ARR, that are already running or planning to run CTV media spend and need creative production that can keep pace with weekly or biweekly buying cycles. It's a strong fit if you're currently running one repurposed broadcast spot across all your CTV inventory, or if your creative pipeline can't turn around new cuts fast enough to test against what the data is showing.
