Gone are the days when brands used to use only traditional marketing tactics such as TV advertisements, Radio, Newspaper, etc. to promote their products and services.
Instead, they have included utilizing various digital marketing tactics such as social media marketing, SEO, PPC, etc. for quite some time now. And the thing about the marketing industry is that it’s constantly evolving. You’ll always have to keep an eye out.
If you don’t already know, OTT advertising has been one of the hottest topics in the digital marketing industry for quite some time. If you are unfamiliar with OTT it stands for Over-the-Top-TV or meaning streaming services like Hulu, Amazon Prime and others.
With the introduction of various streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc. the Video industry has started becoming increasingly diverse, with most people having more than one service.
People don’t like to be told what to do or when to watch their favorite entertainment shows. And that’s exactly the reason they have started adding additional streaming to services to their current viewing habits.
With Covid-19 spreading at such a rapid rate, health authorities have asked people all across the world to practice social distancing and stay inside their homes. As a result, the number of people streaming has increased at an exponential rate.
Nearly 31% of the streaming time of an average person is spent on Netflix, 12% on Hulu, 21% on YouTube, 8% on Amazon Prime Video & 28% on other services.
Alongside this, 63% of our respondents have claimed that they pay for at least one audio streaming subscription, whereas nearly 53% pay for two.
With such rapid growth, the question is,
“Why Should Businesses Consider Spending On Over-The-Top TV (OTT) Now More Than Ever?”
And that’s exactly what we will take a look at here.
Why Should Brands Invest in OTT Advertising Now More Than Ever?
Listed below are the points we will take a look at:
- Larger Audience Reach
- Bold Targeting Opportunities
- Micro & GEO Targeting
- Powerful Analytics
- Easier To Budget
- Non-Skippable Ads
- Easy to Transition
Let’s analyze each one of the points one at a time.
Large Audience Reach
Let’s just admit it. Video used to be only Over the Air, Cable and Satellite services. Now people expect Video on Demand, and this can come in the form of any streaming service from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Network channels, Hulu and many more.
Not only is OTT considered to be flexible for the consumers, because they can be selective and pay for the programming that they really are looking forward to seeing. It is also very portable to other streaming devices such as laptop, tablet, and smart phone.
With millions of people all across the world adding at least one additional service, whether it be Disney, Hallmark channel, or any of the other services mentioned before, it’s time you seized the opportunity and included OTT advertising in your marketing strategy.
It’s not just millennials who love to watch their favorite shows on different OTT platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, etc, the demographics are constantly growing to include Gen X and beyond. As a result, you’ll be able to reach out to a wide range of age demographic.
Bold Targeting Opportunities
Nowadays, it has turned out to be really easy for businesses/ marketers to reach out to their target audience. As of now, the top 4 OTT platforms namely Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, YouTube TV earn a huge chunk of their revenue via digital subscriptions.
They don’t focus majorly on advertising. However, their outstanding success has led to the creation of multiple platforms that have already started earning their revenue via ads within the video content.
Initially, you might find creating a strategy for your OTT advertising to be complex. However, you’ll be amazed to learn that it won’t be much different from your Social Media or PPC ad campaigns.
It’s your product, service, or brands that you are putting in front of your audience. You already know who your target audience is. All you need to do is to learn which OTT platforms your target audience is the most active on.
Once you do that, you will be able to attract a wide range of your target audience with ease.
Micro & GEO Targeting
Micro-targeting’s tactic of zeroing in on your potential customers and publishing high-quality content in order to influence decision making.
In short, it’s behavioral targeting.
Talking about OTT advertising, it’s targeting gold.
Once you have an idea of who you are looking forward to reaching, you can start exploring data such as your target audience’s viewing habits, their streaming time and so much more.
With such valuable information in your hands, you will be able to customize your marketing strategy and turn it absolutely perfect.
With that being said, let’s take a look at what geo-targeting is.
There’s a term to describe GEO Targeting, i.e. “Niche Targeting.”
Here you will be narrowing down your potential customers, based on their geographic locations.
This tactic is considered effective for local content.
Powerful Analytics
Tracking analytics is one of the vital aspects of a digital marketing strategy. What if you are spending thousands of dollars on your marketing campaigns, without even knowing where you stand?
What if the campaign isn’t yielding the results that you expected?
And that’s exactly what analytics will help you with. Analytics is considered the backbone of future marketing. Almost every digital marketing channel such as Social Media, Google Ads, etc. offer marketers as well as business owners detailed analytics. That’s the only way you will be able to track your ROI.
And the same will be the case with OTT platforms. Most of your target audience will be accessing the content through their mobile devices or desktops. These platforms will be providing advertisers with the option to track usage as well as the user’s demographic data.
Easier To Budget
How many dollars will you have to spend on OTT advertising? That’s the question most marketers, as well as business owners, will come up with. You can use the analytics to set your OTT advertising budget. Chances are that you might learn that you are able to reach out to a wider range of your target audience and track their results through analytics. It’s all about the data showing you. And that’s one of the biggest plus points of digital marketing is that you can see and track the results. With OTT advertising, you’ll be able to go in as well as make tweaks based on the analytics and set your budget accordingly.
Non-Skippable Ads
If you have watched your favorite shows on OTT platforms, you’d already know that there’s no getting around advertisements. And that’s a plus point for the brands looking forward to promoting their products and services.
You already will be showing your ads in front of your target audience. Even if the viewers decide to grab a sandwich or soda during the time your ads are displayed, chances are that he/she’ll take the device along with him/her.
In the case of your audience watching their favorite shows on desktop, they won’t be able to change the channel until the commercial ends. Exiting out of the program will lead to them losing the spot. If they head over to another page, the commercial will automatically be paused. And it will resume when they return.
Amazing, right?
Easy Transition
Will it be hard to make your transition to OTT marketing?
Absolutely not! It won’t even trouble you a bit. It’s the same concept. All you need to do is to produce outstanding video content professionally. You’ll need to make sure that the content is engaging and visually appealing. That’s it. Apart from that, transitioning to OTT will be a piece of cake.
Conclusion
The era of OTT advertising is finally here and it’s here to stay. Over the course of the next few years, this technology will evolve at a rapid rate as more people ditch their televisions and turn to smart devices.
If you don’t include OTT advertising in your marketing strategy, you’ll be missing out a lot.
Hence, it’s necessary for the marketers as well as the business owners to plan their marketing strategy centered accordingly.
And if you don’t know how to get started, feel free to reach out to us.