Exclusive CTV Audiences for Law Firms

Standard targeting lets competitors bid on your audience. Exclusive audiences, locked to your account, deliver 23% higher ROI. How to get them.

Most CTV targeting isn’t exclusive. Multiple advertisers buy the same behavioral segments, target the same zip codes, reach the same households. You’re competing with competitors for your own audience at auction.

It doesn’t have to work that way.

The Standard Model Problem

1

Build Audience

You build an audience (auto loan holders, motorcycle owners, specific zip codes)

2

Competitor Copies

Your competitor builds the same audience using identical criteria

3

Bidding War

Both campaigns compete for the same households, CPMs increase

4

Nobody Wins

Neither has an advantage. DSP and publishers benefit, you don’t

The Exclusive Audience Model

1

Build Custom Audience

Build audience based on your firm’s data and strategy

2

Lock to Your Account

That audience is locked to your campaigns exclusively

3

Competitors Blocked

Competitors cannot access or bid on those exact segments

4

Defensible Position

You reach households others can’t. No competitive bidding for your audience

This is what “exclusive audiences” means. Targeting that belongs to you alone. Competitors can copy your creative and match your budget. They can’t access your audience.

How Exclusivity Works

First-Party Data Exclusivity

Your client list creates a lookalike model. That model, trained on YOUR clients’ characteristics, is unique to you. Competitors don’t have your client data, so they can’t replicate your lookalike.

Custom Segment Combinations

Specific combinations of targeting criteria can be reserved. “Auto loan holders + motorcycle owners + specific zip codes + HHI $75K+” as a combined segment, locked to your account.

Partner Exclusivity

Some partners offer market exclusivity by category. One PI firm per DMA. If you’re in, competitors are out. They literally cannot access that partner’s targeting in your market.

Why Exclusivity Matters for PI Firms

Option A

Option B

Reduced Competition

When all PI firms bid on “adults 25-54 interested in legal services,” you drive up each other’s costs. Exclusive audiences remove that competition entirely.

Targeting Quality

First-party lookalikes are built on YOUR actual clients, people who became cases. Your data is more predictive than generic third-party segments.

Option A

Option B

Defensible Position

Competitors can copy your creative and match your budget. They cannot access your exclusive audiences. The advantage persists.

Efficiency Gains

Without competitive bidding, CPMs stay lower. You’re not paying the “competitor tax” from auction competition.

EXCLUSIVITY ADVANTAGE
23% higher ROI with CTV vs traditional TV Source: SoCal News Group
Lower CPMs without competitor bidding
Defensible market position competitors can't copy

Building Exclusive Audiences

From Client Data

Your best source: past clients who became cases.

  1. Export client list from CRM (anonymized appropriately)
  2. Match to household identifiers
  3. Build lookalike model (households similar to your clients)
  4. Deploy as exclusive targeting segment

This creates a segment only you can use. Only you have the underlying data.

From Website Visitors

Your website visitors represent expressed interest:

  1. Pixel your website for visitor tracking
  2. Build audience of visitors
  3. Create lookalike from visitor pool
  4. Retarget actual visitors
  5. Prospect to visitor-like households

Competitors don’t know who visited your site. This data is yours.

From Conversion Data

Go beyond visits to actual conversions:

  1. Track who called or submitted forms
  2. Identify household-level conversion signals
  3. Model “converter lookalikes”
  4. Target households that look like people who took action

Through Partner Exclusivity

Work with partners offering market exclusivity:

  1. Partner reserves your category in your DMA
  2. Competitors in your practice area cannot access that partner
  3. All targeting through that partner is effectively exclusive
  4. Applies to standard and custom segments alike

The Taqtics Approach

We offer true market exclusivity:

One firm per market. If we work with you in Philadelphia, we don’t work with other PI firms in Philadelphia. Period.

Your audiences are yours. Custom segments built for your campaign aren’t shared, resold, or accessible to competitors.

First-party integration. Your client data creates lookalikes only you can access.

This is what “cap the market” means. Own the targeting. Prevent competitor access.

Questions to Ask CTV Partners

Before signing with any CTV partner, ask:

  1. “Do other PI firms in my market use your platform?” (Honest answer tells you about competition)

  2. “Can I have exclusive access to my custom audiences?” (Custom segments shouldn’t be shared)

  3. “Will competitors be able to target the same segments I build?” (Standard segments are typically open)

  4. “Do you offer category exclusivity by market?” (Some partners do, most don’t)

  5. “How is my first-party data protected?” (Lookalikes should be proprietary)

If the answers suggest shared access, you’re paying for targeting competitors can copy.

Exclusivity vs. Scale Trade-offs

Exclusive audiences may be smaller than broad targeting:

ApproachAudience SizeCompetitionEfficiency
Broad targetingLargeHighLower
Exclusive customSmallerNoneHigher
Partner exclusivityVariesNone in categoryHigh

Smaller exclusive audiences often outperform larger competitive audiences because:

  • Higher relevance (modeled on your data)
  • Lower CPMs (no bidding competition)
  • Better conversion (more qualified households)

Combining Approaches

Optimal strategy uses both:

Exclusive layer: First-party lookalikes, custom segments, partner exclusivity Competitive layer: Broader behavioral targeting where exclusivity isn’t available

The exclusive layer gets priority budget. Highest efficiency. The competitive layer extends reach where needed.

For complete targeting strategy, see the CTV advertising guide.

References