Over the Top (OTT) advertising concentrates on streaming entertainment services like Hulu, Peacock, and other popular platforms. Over the last decade, millions of people have cut the cord on cable and moved toward streaming. As consumers continue to prefer diversified sources of entertainment, your ad campaigns should focus on advertising on OTT.
Adding new campaigns to your marketing efforts can quickly boost your campaigns, so read this quick overview to learn about OTT advertising, why it should be a priority, and how to get started.
What Is OTT Advertising?
OTT ads take place on streaming services. OTT platforms like Sling, Disney +, HBO Max, and YouTube are "over the top," meaning they reach consumers without traditional cable television.
Through streaming platforms, you can refine your audience profiles with more exact detail. Rather than scheduling airtime during the local evening news, for example, you can program your ads to target viewers of a specific age, with particular interests, or at a specific stage in the customer journey. This is part of OTT’s magic – highly targeted campaigns that reach the right people.
What Is CTV?
CTVs, or Connected TVs, are dedicated hardware allowing television streaming. Rokus, Xboxes, and other technologies that transform televisions into ways to display streaming media are "cord-cutting" devices that facilitate the growing shift to streaming media.
With CTV advertising, you can target consumers based on the overall usage of their Roku or Xbox; this can be useful when viewers spend a lot of time on a combination of platforms through their CTV rather than just one. Either option is valuable based on the viewer's habits and your campaign's goal.
The Growing Role of Streaming TV
According to research by Statista and UScreen, streaming television ad revenue comes from four main sources:
- 51.58% comes from advertising video-on-demand (AVOD)
- 40.16% from subscription video-on-demand (SVOD)
- 5.1% from pay-per-view, known as transactional video-on-demand (TVOD)
- 3.16% from Video Downloads (EST)
What does this mean for your business? As you start your OTT and CTV ad campaigns, you can follow these general results to plan out which channels to explore in your first rollout. However, your unique market may have a different spread.
After all, according to the same Statista research, SVOD users generate almost twice as much revenue as AVOD users. If you can reach loyal followers of specific subscription content, you can see higher customer spending levels per shopper.
Refining your campaigns over time to reach the most easy-to-convert buyers and most profitable buyers can make OTT ad campaigns even more powerful.
What Are the Benefits of OTT Advertising?
Some of the key benefits of OTT advertising are:
Rounding Out Your Campaigns
Expanding the number of platforms consumers will interact with your brand no matter what industry you're in is a strong positive. Increasing touchpoints and making your brand relevant in various contexts keeps you top-of-mind and encourages familiarity.
Reaching Your Niche
Some platforms are more valuable than others, depending on what you sell and who you sell to. If you sell locally, a local platform is an excellent choice. If you sell nationally to a select audience, you need to be on media where those consumers spend their time. OTT/CTV advertising can even help you drill down through both filters: your ads can appear only to your target audience in select geographic areas based on the specific product you're selling.
How Do You Advertise on OTT?
It's easy to advertise on OTT platforms, Mid-West Family Southwest Michigan can manage the campaigns on your behalf. Our platforms will give you access to hundreds of possible channels and help you refine your campaigns to focus only on the relevant options.
What Types of Results Can You Expect from OTT Advertising?
OTT campaign results will depend on the size of your budget, the industry you're in, and how well-targeted your campaigns are. For example, it may take time to see profitable results if you're just starting. But as you find strategically placed options and adjust your ad creative to align with audience interests, you can quickly convert more shoppers or increase brand awareness.
How Do You Measure the Effectiveness of OTT Campaigns?
The analytics your OTT campaigns can provide is one of the strengths of this advertising method.
You can directly see results such as:
- View Times
- Ad View Duration
- Cost per Visit
- Clickthrough Rates
- And more
Depending on your tech stack, you can use attribution technology to determine the impact of OTT ads even when a sale isn't directly connected to the ad view.
Jump Into OTT Advertising with Mid-West Family Southwest MI
Managing OTT advertising is easier when you have a partner you can trust. At Mid-West Family Southwest MI, we specialize in helping small and local businesses add OTT advertising to their arsenals. Contact us today to learn more about our experience and how we can help you ramp up sales through streaming ads.
