TV viewing habits have transformed a lot over the past few years as cable TV providers have been losing subscribers because of online-based streaming services like YouTube TV, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, and more.
With the rise of the internet and high-end mobile devices, it is easier for a company to reach and engage with multiple customers and potential buyers to view its products and services.
Understanding OTT Advertising
OTT advertising is the advertisements provided to viewers within video content. OTT or streaming TV ads provide a chance for marketers and advertisers alike to reach a new audience at a scale as more viewers shift into streaming video content instead of standard cable and broadcast TV.
This form of advertising is called OTT because of its ability to replace traditional TV providers with their limited media distribution. Because of that, OTT advertising allows anyone to connect and engage with various audiences without interruptions.
Using OTT for advertising new products and services of a company allows entrepreneurs to broadcast their advertisements without geographic limitations or pre-planned broadcast schedules.
Apart from OTT advertising, there is SSAI (server-side ad insertion). It’s often utilized interchangeably with DAI (dynamic ad insertion). You see, it’s the technology that inserts customized ads and stitches them effortlessly into a single stream.
Three Best Practices for OTT Advertisements
If you want to be successful with OTT advertisements, these are the best practices you need to be aware of:
Know Your Audience
Increasing visibility to your audience is a great way to boost brand awareness. But, the first thing advertisers should do is learn and understand their audience. These include researching their interests, behaviour, habits, and so on.
Be Consistent
Your target audience will view your streaming content using devices most accessible to them. Once you start making OTT advertisements, it is essential to consider consistency. For example, if your first ad features your logo on the side, you must do this in other promotions you will make. This is a great way to let your viewers know who you are.
Integrate Clear Call-To-Action (CTA)
Since your OTT advertisements come in the form of video, there’s no way you can add a URL they can click to visit your website. In that case, using an audio or visual call to action before your ad ends is essential. Make sure that your CTA is compelling and will intrigue your viewers to visit your website.
How To Measure OTT Advertising Success
Here are some of the ways you can measure the success of your OTT advertising.
Brand Reach
Brand awareness is quite challenging, especially if you are just a starter. One vital key to consider to improve your brand’s popularity is reaching your audiences. The rise of different video formats has increased content consumption.
Did you know that US adults spend almost four hours of their time watching digital videos daily? Studying a brand’s reach will help determine whether your target audiences view your OTT advertisements.
New-To-Brand Metrics
Although linear televisions allow you to advertise your brand, you are unsure whether it reaches your target audience. In addition, the consumers who might see your ads might be limited. Aside from that, you might have difficulty measuring the success of those campaigns.
The video monetization platform will give you new-to-brand metrics with OTT advertising. You can use these metrics to determine whether your audiences are taking action after viewing your advertisements.
Audience Split Tests
Audience split tests refer to performance tests held by randomly selecting audiences and using control cohorts. The first group will be the one to receive a placebo ad, while the other one will serve as the ad treatment.
You can observe the conversion rates of the two groups for about one month. The conversion rates will tell you whether your OTT advertisement is effective and how it affects the buying decision of your audience.
Two Main Benefits of OTT Advertising
OTT advertising is one beneficial video monetization platform. Audiences will be more likely to love it since they don’t need to pay for television where convenience and content are limited. This is also beneficial for advertisers since they can generate more income and reach a broader range of customers.
Aside from that, here are the other potential benefits of OTT advertising:
Dynamic Ad Insertion
One of the benefits of OTT advertising is that it allows you to interchange video advertisements or even banners in AVOD, live, or linear content.
Advanced Analytics
OTT platforms provide you with data metrics regarding your audience. You can determine which advertisements are effective and which ones are not. Thus, you can optimize your promotions in the future.
Two Challenges in OTT Advertising
OTT advertising is not perfect. You need to know its flaws before integrating it into your business. Here are some of them:
Functionality
Most OTT platforms do not have the same features available in web browsers. For instance, advertisements run in an internet browser allow you to track all necessary information, including cookies or pixels, which will let you know the conversion rate of a specific ad. Unfortunately, this functionality is currently unavailable in most OTT devices.
Measurability and Management
Advertisers who want to make OTT content can only upload them using OTT platforms or cable providers. This might limit the measurability and management of your OTT advertisements. For example, you run your ad through cable providers. This will restrict you from managing the ad in real-time. Beyond that, there is no way you can measure the performance metrics of the ads.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, OTT advertising is far better than linear TV when launching ads. But you need to familiarize yourself with its ups and downs to ensure that you are making a better decision for the overall growth of your brand.
We hope you find this post engaging and informative at the same time. We wish you the best of luck on your OTT advertising journey.