How Digital Advertising Works in the Age of Streaming

March 8, 2022 By Stats Digital

Streaming services are the future

Gone are the days when airing periodic television commercials was enough for businesses to generate quality customer leads. As the popularity of streaming services grows, it may be the end of traditional TV advertising.

Unsurprisingly, people being stuck at home in 2020 led to a major increase in the number using video streaming services. In fact, free streaming services like Pluto TV, Tubi, and The Roku Channel — which rely on advertising revenue — were forecasted to see their monthly viewership double from 2019 to 2021, according to a report from eMarketer.

“By the end of 2025, each of these services will have more than 50 million monthly viewers, and The Roku Channel will approach 70 million monthly viewers,” the report says.

Understanding that streaming services are the future will help you in this new era of marketing. While advertising during a nightly newscast may have been the norm, now you must consider which platforms will get your brand in front of the right potential customers.

Understanding CTV and OTT

Two terms you need to know are connected TV and over-the-top device.

CTV refers to a television set that can connect to the internet, either through built-in internet capabilities or through an OTT device.

OTT is a device or service that facilitates the delivery of internet-based video content. Devices include Blu-ray players, gaming consoles, and streaming boxes, but can also include services or apps like YouTube, Sling TV or Hulu.

In other words, CTV is the TV screen that shows the content, and OTT is the delivery method or service. OTT is more than a TV screen and can include people streaming services on their phone tablet, or desktop. Streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Video, and Hulu are delivered through both CTV and OTT devices.

CTV and OTT advertising

There are a number of benefits to advertising on streaming services.

CTV and OTT ads can appear before, during, or after a movie or show. You can target audiences based on the platform, can pay for actual impressions rather than an estimate, can use full scale audience targeting, and can enable frequency capping with flexible optimization. In addition, advertisements on most OTT and CTV platforms are non-skippable, meaning more people will be exposed to your brand.

With CTV and OTT you have the ability to customize how and when people see your ads. The result is that viewers get relevant ads that may be more interesting to them.

Another benefit of this type of advertising is you can easily collect data about how many people saw your ad and whether it increased traffic or sales. These insights will help you determine whether to make changes to your campaign, pause, or extend its run.

Buying CTV and OTT advertising

When buying CTV or OTT advertising, keep in mind these important best practices:

• Know your audience. Build your campaign around your ideal customer by understanding who your audience is, where they live, their age, their buying habits, and their consumption patterns.
• Target your audience across multiple platforms. Consumers use more than one video platform, so it is beneficial to work with a vendor that can target your audience across multiple inventory partners and platforms.
• Know your media mix. Does your vendor have direct deals with OTT providers or are they buying open exchange inventory? Is your inventory CTV, or is it a mix of OTT platforms or pre-roll video? Can you layer in additional channels, such as display, audio or video to get a higher frequency of ads at a lower cost? These are all important questions to ask your vendor and questions they should readily answer.
• Track your KPI’s effectively from the start. Ensure you have access to important metrics and that those metrics are being utilized for optimization during the campaign. Important metrics include views, completion rate, inventory breakdowns, online conversion tracking, and in-store visit tracking.

Successful CTV and OTT advertising campaigns require balancing exposure across the spectrum of digital media. Fortunately, you don’t have to be an expert, as Stats Digital will help you design a campaign that gets your message in front of the right consumers across multiple platforms. Contact us below if you want to explore.