By Bob Earley
So, now that you have a fair understanding between traditional and digital advertising solutions, now comes programmatic or OTT advertising. What is OTT you ask? Is it the newest and greatest thing since “sliced bread” for advertisers?”
OTT simply means Over The Top. What does that mean? With more and more people choosing to cut the cable (and satellite) cord to watch TV shows and movies, they are moving towards streaming content.
OTT is offered on various platforms. Providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV and HULU. In order to watch your favorite sports program, movie or TV you need a service or device, such as Roku, Apple TV, FireStick, PlayStation Vue (This topic is a whole other post).
One of the great things about OTT is consumers can watch what they want when they want and not have to bundle a bunch of shows they find needless. If they want to binge watch hours of programming on say Neflix, bam! They can! And right there on their TV, computer, tablet, phone, etc.
From an advertising standpoint, one can target very specific audiences who have certain tendencies: lifestyles, shopping, TV habits. From this targeting, an advertiser can serve a very specific message that ties consumer behaviors to what one believes to be a viewer’s potential buying habits.
More benefits are:
• Geographic Targeting: target messages to specific DMAs (Designated Market Audience) or down to a zip code.
• Demographic Targeting: place your message based on age, gender
• Less Crowding: Ads placed thru OTT usually run in far less. competitive environment which will help with messaging.
• Intentional Viewing: Most viewers have selected to watch a certain program. And, if your ad is served on a “Non-skip” program, the viewer is likely to see your messaging.
Now, should one drop every dollar from their current ad budgets and move it all to OTT? Absolutely not! Like all good advertising strategies, understanding what the goals are for your business and then creating effective messages to be carried out in various advertising channels is always a wise move. A good media mix is one of the best ways to ensure the right messages are being sent to the right audiences at the right time. Happy marketing!
