OTT Advertising
OTT “Over the top” advertising. You’ve heard of it. You sort of know what it is. You (like the rest of us) are tired of the acronyms. But you should probably consider it as part of your advertising mix. Here’s why...
Accessing OTT Content
Recently, my wife and I were trying to reconcile our different aesthetic inclinations regarding home design. I like contemporary homes and she is more into rustic, bohemian design. Worried that our styles might be less-than-compatible we both made Pinterest boards to show each other. Okay, so our styles aren’t so different. We both like a lot of light (who doesn’t), green plants and big windows, but I might have to cut back on the metal exteriors and she might have to cut back on the rugs.
Fast forward two weeks and we’ve exhausted all available episodes of “Grand Designs,” a home building/design show, available on Netflix. Not ready to be done, we turned to Google search which revealed that an app called TubiTV had additional episodes available.
Using my internet-connected TV, I downloaded the app TubiTV for free, just like I would any other streaming app (Hulu, Disney+, Netflix, etc.). No sign-in was required, nor was I asked for any payment information. It was easy to find the show I was looking for, and along the way I made a mental bookmark of at least one other show and movie available in their library that I’d like to return to.
Advertising on OTT Apps
So how can apps like TubiTV and its competitors (Pluto TV, Vudu, YouTube and others) stream TV shows and movies for free? Ads, of course. I watched a 48 minute TV episode and it housed 3-or-4 30 second advertisements. It didn’t feel too intrusive. In fact, there was a notification that an ad was coming soon, which was a nice touch since the ad breaks didn’t exactly occur at natural breaks. Some ads featured national brands but others were local, and these were the ones that really stood out. A bank with a recognizable name used local scenery effectively, casting a more significant impression then I would have expected from the platform.
Similar to all digital advertising opportunities, advertising on OTT is exciting because it’s highly targetable and you are only charged when a real person watches the ad. Demographic and geographic targeting are table stakes these days, so of course the ads are only shown to certain ages and areas, but targeting can go much deeper using channel and behavioral targeting. Recent studies suggest people aren’t necessarily dropping their paid subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and/or Disney+; however, they are increasingly trying free, ad-supported streaming apps and going back to them for content they cannot access elsewhere. If you are anything like me, I feel like I am already paying for one too many online streaming services, so I’d rather watch a show with a couple 30 second ads then rent the same show for $3 without ads.
Is OTT right for your business? Get in touch with us and we can talk about if it would fit well into your advertising mix!