Companies of all sizes can use OTT advertising to extend their audience reach in creative and innovative ways. Advertising through OTT gives your brand access to the living room, where families spend time together, often independent of what’s on at the moment. Viewers, especially younger audiences, are shifting away from traditional media and spending increasing amounts of time watching content via streaming services, streaming devices, and OTT apps. Beyond expanding OTT viewership, over-the-top marketing platforms are becoming more sophisticated, offering high-level targeting and attribution capabilities.
What is OTT
OTT stands for “Over the Top” and refers to film, television, and other digital content delivered by a streaming service via the internet as opposed to by cable, satellite, or broadcast TV. Any device that can stream video thru an internet connection such as computers, cell phones, tablets, Smart or connected TVs, gaming consoles, and streaming devices (Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV) can deliver OTT content. So instead of watching traditional television which controls the programming they can watch, viewers using a streaming service can choose to watch what they want when they want.
OTT vs. TV
Many people, especially younger people, are “cutting the cord” with traditional television services and moving to OTT streaming services for their daily content viewing. Many viewers are attracted to the “on-demand” aspect of streaming television. Also streaming services often cost less than traditional cable or satellite television services, which means a good number of consumers are making the move to these channels. In terms of advertising, the key difference between traditional television advertising and OTT video advertising is the multiple layers of audience targeting that are possible with OTT.
Why You Should Invest in OTT Advertising
OTT advertising is similar to Broadcast TV commercial advertising but is delivered by streamed by services like Hulu, Sling, Peacock, and a growing number of new streaming apps. As users begin shifting more and more towards streaming and away from traditional television, the potential of OTT video marketing has grown massively.
OTT advertising is data-driven. Traditional TV advertisers can only show a single commercial at a time. Advertisers on OTT platforms can target audiences by almost any data point that the audience generates. Streaming platforms allow advertisers to show ads to people based on demographics, location, device usage, interests and behaviors, past purchases, and more. Advertisers are also able to re-target OTT viewers on other platforms and sites, including other digital marketing avenues.
A quality, personalized OTT commercial can generate an immediate response. Many OTT users stream content on mobile devices. Mobile users can respond immediately to high-quality video advertising content that addresses their needs. Unlike traditional television, the OTT advertising conversion process can be practically instant. In addition to conversion metrics, brands are able to measure their success according to a wide range of performance indicators.
Blend worked with Rex Real Estate to produce this humorous 30-second spot for OTT and Cable Distribution as part of their “Rex Full-Service Simplified” campaign. Our experienced advertising production professionals provided the scriptwriting, casting, pre-production, production, post-production, finishing, and graphics for this successful OTT ad. This commercial campaign increased qualified leads to the Rex website by 40%.
Companies with comprehensive digital strategies are including OTT advertising as part of their overall marketing plan to take advantage of the powerful targeting potential, growing popularity, and ever-widening variety of places to advertise through OTT. For any Brand, it’s important to quickly adapt to changes in the marketing landscape. OTT video advertising is quickly becoming an essential component of any advanced digital marketing strategy.
If you’re looking to add OTT ads to your media mix, Blend can help. Our professional creative team in Los Angeles has the experience to produce high-quality OTT video ads that compel your target audience into action. If you’re interested in incorporating video advertising on OTT into your digital marketing strategy, we can help, contact Blend Today.