Interactive ads for connected TV, designed for people across the room with a remote in hand and a phone nearby.
30+
Interactive ads and live demos
3
Screens: TV, mobile and social
7
Ad formats: Canvas, Overlay, Carousel, Expand, Hotspot, QR, Preroll
METHODS
Interaction design · 10-foot UI Ad formats · Second screen
- Problem
- A TV ad usually gets watched, not used. Interactive units had to invite people to click with a remote without getting in the way of the show.
- My role
- Designed and prototyped interactive CTV ad units for Innovid’s brand clients, working directly with teams like Subway and PlayStation.
- Brands
- Disney, Lionsgate, Universal, Fox, Nike, Cartier, Samsung, Renault, Lincoln, Jeep, Caesars Sportsbook, Subway, PlayStation and more.
Ads you browse with a TV remote
Innovid is an ad tech platform for connected TV. Brands use it to run ads on streaming TV that viewers can interact with, browsing products and options with their remote.
Alongside the Composer design system, I designed interactive ad units for Innovid’s clients, from the first frame to every screen a viewer could click through, plus live demos that showed brands what the format could do.
Designing for arrows and an OK button
Every unit had to work for three things at once: the person on the couch, the brand paying for the ad, and a remote with only arrows and an OK button.
The viewer
To keep watching, and to interact only if they want to.
A clear first frame with one invitation to interact.
The brand
Its product shown well on the biggest screen in the house.
Product stories in a few frames, from the brand to the details.
The remote
Only arrows and OK. No cursor, no typing.
Big targets, obvious focus states and a short path through each unit.
Inside Innovid’s format templates
Freedom inside the format
Innovid gave me a template for each format a brief called for, like Canvas, Overlay or Carousel, with the safe areas the TV needs. Inside those limits, I decided where everything went, so each ad worked for the brand and was easy for the viewer to use.
Built for the couch and the remote
People watch from several feet away and move with arrows and OK. I kept text large and layouts simple, with clear focus states and big targets, like Lincoln’s hotspots or Ikea’s room menu, so every frame read at a glance and nobody got lost inside an ad.
From the TV to the phone
Some units ended in a QR code, so viewers could pick up the offer on their phone without leaving the show. For brands like Cartier, Caesars Sportsbook and Zocdoc, the QR code was built into the unit itself.
Each brand on its own terms
From Samsung and Subaru to Dove and Mayo Clinic, every unit took on the brand’s look while the format kept it working on TV.
Why brands want interactive
Innovid’s platform-wide numbers show why brands kept asking for interactive units. Source: Innovid CTV Advertising Insights Reports, 2024 and 2025.
+71 sec
More viewer time than standard pre-roll for ads with galleries, overlays or QR codes (2024).
4.6x
Higher engagement for interactive CTV campaigns than for mobile video (2023).
3x+
Growth in QR code use on CTV ads in 2024, compared with the year before.
Every screen a viewer can reach
Every unit is a sequence. These boards show each one from the first frame to the last screen a viewer can reach.
More units
More interactive units from my time at Innovid.
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