Why OTT can be a game changer in your marketing

We all know that video is huge to engage an audience. But what if what if you could run video to a targeted audience when you KNOW they’re watching? That’s Over The Top! That’s OTT! Let’s dig into OTT (Over The Top) and see how it can work for you.

What is OTT?

It’s actually a few different ways to serve a TV commercial to an exact audience.

Set Top Box: The box with your cable subscription and remote control to stream your favorite content via apps. A lot of streaming content can also be accessed via Xbox and PlayStation gaming consoles that taken center stage in many living rooms.

Smart TV: No longer just a screen, these televisions are equipped with an operating system so that they can connect to the public Internet network and directly stream content. Streaming devices like Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku, connect TVs to the Internet to stream content onto any TV.

APP TV: iOS, Apple mobile Apps, and Android Apps on Google Play. These apps allow consumers to stream content on mobile phones anytime, anywhere. Users can also directly “cast” or project from a smartphone to televisions, which allows the mobile to serve as the new universal remote. And let’s not forget how many people stream video over the Internet onto laptop, desktops, and tablet.

Benefits of OTT

1. Highly Targeted Advertising

OTT offers a way to match ads with the right users more effectively. OTT brings these tools to more channels and platforms that historically could not target or track engagement. In the past, television advertisers could never really be sure how many people viewed one of their ads or if any further action was taken because of the ad.

2. Customer Segmentation

OTT apps offer marketers the ability to segment customers more precisely, including live user segmentation. The metrics available are like many other digital programing (such as podcasting). We can see many audience insights including geography, device types, episode retention, and more.

Top OTT apps include:

• Sony Crackle
• fuboTV
• Pluto TV
• Sling TV
• Tubi TV

3. Increased Efficiency

Using a mix of cable TV and Third party data, we can serve video ads to a specific audience and only pay for the advertising after it’s hit the target. From a consumer’s point of view, paying for a bundle of TV channels that goes mostly unwatched is unnecessary and inefficient. Instead, pay for the channels you want to watch. As marketers, we’ll reach those channels.

More OTT benefits

→ Ability to target at the screen size
→ Large accurate reach
→ Unmatched scalability of audience targeting
→ Non-skippable content that allows advertisers to engage with a unique audience that is committed to the content they are consuming
→ Reach a unique group of video consumers that advertisers can’t target with traditional TV commercials
→ Serve video ads pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll within streamed content on the big screen and other connected devices
→ Allows advertisers to combine the impact of TV with the precision of digital
→ Reach Everyone

The best marketing strategy for TV commercials is to run a traditional TV campaign next to an OTT campaign to insure reach the entire available audience. Another advantage of OTT is being able to reach an entire generation of “cord cutting” consumers who have left cable behind and rely solely on OTT applications and mobile services.

OTT is here to stay

Studies suggest that OTT video services will overtake traditional broadcast TV within the next 5 years. OTT has grown 54% in the past year and revenues in the Global OTT market will increase to $18 billion next year, more than doubling the market from just three years ago. For a targeted way to reach consumers…that’s Over The Top!

If you would like to learn more about how your business can use OTT targeting to grow your business, don’t hesitate to speak with one of our marketing experts at Harper.

Contact us today to get the conversation started!

About the Author: Steve Harper

Radio/TV and media personality Steve Harper leads Harper Marketing – a premier, full service marketing agency on Long Island, NY.  Harper Marketing specializes in digital and traditional marketing for businesses of all sizes.