In today's marketing landscape, it's not enough to rely solely on traditional TV advertising. If you want the best results from your campaigns, it may be best to integrate broadcast television ads with digital advertising mediums. One of the best compliments to time-honored commercials is over the top television (OTT) advertising, which shares the same basic video format as the commercials we’re used to, while distributing it on a whole new platform that’s growing everyday. Based on data collected by Google in a Think with Google report, time spent streaming video in the OTT environment grew 28% year-to-year. Based on that statistic alone, imagine how many people are using Roku, Apple TV and streaming apps to watch video content on their internet-connected TVs and other devices.
As both TV and the ways people consume content are evolving, it's important to take advantage of the latest innovations in marketing, which OTT advertising can help you accomplish. The following are some of the key benefits you'll get by including OTT in your marketing mix.
You Have More Control
Reacting to changing market conditions is key in optimizing any ad campaign. OTT advertising gives you the flexibility to effortlessly pause and restart your campaign in near real-time. For example, your commercial might target women for a sale but the data may show that more men are engaging with your spots. Changing direction to take advantage of the new insights is as simple as a few clicks of a mouse.
OTT advertising also enables you to produce high-quality ads that combine the best of conventional and digital advertising. By merging high quality, compelling video content with the ability to click for more information (or to make a purchase), this means of marketing provides an unprecedented ability to create interactivity with viewers.
You Can Target with More Precision
Reaching the right audience with the right message is the cornerstone of any successful marketing plan. OTT allows you to place ads based on the specific demographics such as age, gender, and geographic location. You also have the ability to target other aspects like lifestyle preferences and behavior, the latter of which can be further segmented to hyper-target people when they are online, the type of content they watch, and how long they stay online each time they visit a specific site or app.
Advertisers also have the ability to collect qualitative information and use it to target OTT ads with even more precision. For instance, you might find that people with a specific zip code or those within a particular age group are more responsive. By delivering your message on a group of channels and apps that reach your desired audience, known as bundling, you can be more precise about who, when and where you deliver your message.
More Real-Time Analytics
Being able to nimbly shift from what isn’t to what is working makes all the difference in the performance of any marketing campaign. OTT ads give you the ability to analyze your metrics in near real-time, providing you the flexibility that you need to adjust to changing market conditions.
By monitoring and analyzing metrics like clicks, views, conversions, and direct responses, you can tweak your campaigns to optimize performance. Access to this high quality data gives you the flexibility to change your messaging or make other modifications mid-stream instead of waiting until the campaign completion to determine what went wrong. With the ability to see precisely how your campaigns are performing, you’ll never be in the dark.
You Can Access a More Engaged Audience
It's not just enough to show your commercials to an audience, you get the best benefit if they engage with your message. People consuming OTT are often more engaged, which means you'll be able to see more interaction with your ads through your precise targeting. Consumers engaging with OTT ads regularly customize their experience by choosing which ads they watch and, where and when they watch them. In turn, more people who see your ads will be actively looking for the services or products you have to offer, and you'll be able to get the kinds of results you want from your marketing efforts by catering to your audience's needs and wants.
OTT advertising is also accessible using any device with internet connectivity, including laptops, smartphones, and tablets, which means people can view your ads anywhere and at any time, whether at home or on the go.
Taking all of the benefits of OTT advertising into account, you can use it to reach audiences who are more interested in what you have to say, optimize your campaigns to maximize your return on investment, and take advantage of the latest in-home and mobile viewing technology. While traditional TV advertising is far from obsolete, you can develop a comprehensive advertising campaign by using OTT advertising in conjunction with traditional ads. Using a combination of both will give you the ability to reach more people who are more likely to become customers, helping you get the most from your ad spend.
