OTT Marketing Key Strategies: Staying Ahead in the Streaming Age

In this digital era, where 80% of the U.S. adult population uses their smartphone to consume online content on a weekly basis, ignoring the power of streaming ads is not good for marketers. The marketing landscape is constantly changing with the rapid evolution of digital tools and technologies. Like any other area of modern business operations, companies must embrace agility to keep up with innovation. In 2020, OTT has been a trend to watch—and it’s not going anywhere. With this rise in viewership comes another opportunity for marketers — OTT advertising. 

So, what is OTT marketing, and why is it so popular right now among marketers? 

Let’s dive in.

What is OTT Marketing?

The transmission of ads directly to the viewers through internet video streaming is called OTT Marketing. It includes running video ad interruptions, banner ads and sponsored content on video streaming devices, like 

• Smart TVs
• Mobile devices
• Personal computers
• Gaming consoles
• Streaming boxes like Apple TV
• HDMI sticks like Chromecast

Over-the-top marketing is a modern means of connecting and engaging with tech-savvy consumers via online streaming media in a more effective and efficient manner. The most popular ad delivery on streaming services are Apple TV and Hulu. However, OTT can also serve you with various features, such as messaging services, audio streaming, web-based voice-calling solutions and other like Pandora. However, OTT formats can be in videos, audio tracks, and display ads. 

Different Types of OTT Ads

• Pre-roll ads: Catch attention before the content begins.
• Mid-roll ads: Seamless breaks for targeted messages.
• Post-roll ads: Leave a lasting impression after the content.
• Banner ads: Eye-catching messages, right where you look.
• Overlay ads: Enhance content with unique, clickable prompts.

Differentiation from traditional TV advertising 

OTT marketing is quite different from a regular television commercial. Traditionally, television advertising was dominated by the network and the companies that advertised on it. While over-the-top marketing enables businesses to bypass traditional television providers, who typically control media and content delivery across areas.

Marketers now have a tremendous weapon to approach consumers directly and persuade them to buy their products, thanks to over-the-top (OTT) commercials. 

Videos streamed through over-the-top (OTT) services, like Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, Disney Plus, Peacock TV, and other video streaming platforms, account for 25% of the collective time consumers spend using their TVs, according to a recent Nielsen survey.  

Rising popularity and adoption of OTT advertising

Today, most of the marketers prefer OTT advertising because it delivers ads directly to viewers through streaming devices and services. 

• Reaching a Niche Audience- Unlike traditional TV broadcasting, which has to cater to wide audiences, OTT services can target specific audiences.
• Increasing Engagement- When marketers include OTT into their overall marketing strategy, they can re-target their audiences through OTT, audio ads, social media, websites and other channels that they are going to prefer. Thus, this can increase engagement.
• Minimizing Ad Spend Waste- By targeting the specific audiences, OTT ads can stretch your marketing budget further and dramatically reduce spend waste. They make it more likely that your ads are shown only to viewers who are likely to be interested in your brand.

Key Benefits of OTT Marketing

1. Precise Audience Targeting: -The primary benefit of OTT marketing is the precision it offers in audience targeting and engagement. The platform enables you get valuable data of your viewers, such as user data, habits, demographics, meticulous tracking viewers preferences and more.
2. OTT Advertising: – As audiences move towards the OTT sector, the ability to show them personalized ads and track click-through rates will mean marketers will have the advantage of legacy media in terms of attractive packages of content – but impact with a very modern ability to measure.
3. High-Quality and Non-Skippable Ads: – Compared to traditional television ads or skippable video ads, OTT ads are non-skippable. This means viewers have to watch the entire ads, ensuring that the advertiser’s message is delivered in its entirety. The non-skippable nature significantly enhances the quality and effectiveness of ads.
4. Powerful Data Insights: – The OTT platform is integrated with unparalleled features to capture analytical data. Marketers can also track the performance of their campaign, whether their business reaches to its target audience and hit its goal ROI.
   

OTT Marketing Best Strategies & Practices

OTT marketing offers you a unique opportunity for brands to connect with their targeted audiences in the most effective way. The OTT marketing campaigns help marketers enhance reach, and engagement, and boost conversions.

• Know Your Target Audience: To create OTT marketing campaign, first you need to identify your target audience and their requirement. Accordingly, you can tailor your content.
• Leverage Audience Segmentation: To deliver personalize ads to your specific audience, you can incorporate few data in your campaign like demographic, geographic, and behavioural data.
• Create unique & High-Quality Content: Make sure your ads content is engaging and informative to capture maximum viewers’ attention.
• Select for Cross-Platform Advertising:  Once you prepared your marketing campaign, you need to select the best platform for advertisement. Precisely selecting the right platform can help you to reach your target audience globally. This will also boost the overall exposure of your campaign.
• Measure and Optimize: The best thing is that you can also track and measure the performance of your campaigns regularly, and identify how’s it working or what’s not. 
• Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Ensure that each of your ads contains a compelling CTA to encourage viewers to take the desired action.

Wrapping Up

OTT marketing offers an unparalleled opportunity for brands to connect with their audience in a more personalized and effective way. Incorporating these data in your OTT marketing campaign, brands can ensure that their ads are reaching the right people at the right time.  However, there are also challenges to consider, such as the fragmentation of the streaming market and the need for effective measurement and attribution. 

All in all, we can conclude that the story of OTT marketing is one of the greatest innovations and opportunities for content owners. Want to built a marketing strategy for your OTT platform? Connect with our experts at

Rishabh Jain - Director, Product Development, Enveu

Rishabh Jain is one of the co-founders and heads the Product Development at Enveu. A tech evangelist and deep tech advocate, he has been working in the Technology space, being part of many Big Data and IoT initiatives for over 10 years.