Are you familiar with OTT and streaming services? If you use Hulu, Netflix, the Spectrum TV app, or something similar, you’re an OTT consumer. But have you incorporated OTT into your marketing plan?
At AMA Madison’s February Signature Speaker Series event, Ryan Kuhl, Manager of Advanced Advertising for Spectrum Reach, shared how to create an effective ad strategy that includes the connected over-the-top (OTT) consumer.
If you haven’t started including OTT in your marketing, you’re not alone. There were 199 million OTT viewers in 2018, but only 15 percent of marketers regularly include OTT in their plans. Ryan’s presentation offered three great takeaways for marketers interested in OTT opportunities.
How OTT has Revolutionized the Video Landscape
Can you remember a time before Netflix? Although it’s only been around since 2007, Netflix and other OTT and streaming services have drastically changed how we access and view video content. But even with all of those options, “live” TV is still the most popular way to view programming. The big change is that the majority of households still watching “live” TV are also on OTT. In other words, it’s not that everyone is “cord-cutting” and ditching their TVs, but rather they’re “cord-stacking”—meaning they’re keeping their traditional TV services and adding services like Netflix, Hulu, Sling, YouTube, Twitch, Crackle, etc., etc. So, it makes sense that you should consider expanding your marketing strategy to include those platforms as well.
How to Create an Effective Marketing Strategy for an OTT Campaign
The first step in creating an effective strategy is defining your audience. Are you trying to reach empty nesters? Families? Young couples? College students? Once you’ve narrowed down your demographic, you can design content and figure out where it will make the most impact—from selecting a platform where your ads should run to choosing a specific show that attracts your target audience.
Questions to Ask Every Vendor and Yourself about OTT
Another key aspect of an effective OTT marketing campaign is harnessing the data capabilities that are available, and the best way to do that is by asking the right questions in the planning stage. Some research up front will help you define your target audience, align your content with them, scale your campaign appropriately, and ensure that you have the right metrics and reports in place to track your campaign’s success.
Ryan’s presentation highlighted some very interesting statistics about the OTT trend and how we as marketers can incorporate multi-screen advertising into our strategies. Now get out there and start extending your reach and engaging your audience!