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OTT Advertising

What is OTT Advertising? Breaking Down Over The Top Ads

The simplest explanation of OTT (Over the Top) advertising is placing video ads on internet streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and other online video streaming services. 

What are the benefits of OTT advertising? 

For the past few years, TV viewers have been moving away from traditional viewing on broadcast television, cable TV and over the air signal delivery. The term “cord cutter” has been widely used to identify people who have moved away from cable and other forms of traditional TV viewing. In fact, a large (and getting larger) number of Millennials have never had cable TV and never will.

That does not mean that people are watching less TV, it just means that people of all ages are watching other forms of television or other streaming services. In fact, video viewership, including TV, is probably higher than it’s ever been. 

OTT advertising is a way to reach the “cord cutters” as well as people who have strayed away from traditional TV by using the streaming services mentioned above to reach potential customers. 

OTT offers more flexibility for business owners

Unlike traditional broadcast television advertising, OTT permits businesses to customize their advertising more than ever before. Businesses are able to adapt their advertising content to their area’s specific needs. For instance, an HVAC company might identify a problem related to local weather patterns for a single county or selection of zip codes, and they can tailor that message to that specific demographic. If this particular HVAC company has a limited service area, using broadcast TV alone wastes a large portion of their budget by placing ads in front of people who may be in less need of their product or service.

OTT reaches a much more specific target audience

Compared to traditional TV advertising, OTT advertising can reach a much more targeted audience. OTT ads can be placed within single counties, specific zip codes, and even target businesses and homeowners down to the street level. OTT uses a combination of demographic and psychographic parameters to allow users of the medium to target potential customers based on, for instance, homeownership, income, gender, education, and many other potential buying patterns. Since OTT is an online/ digital medium, reporting feedback (analytics) is specific and instantaneous.  

OTT provides advertisers with less ad spending waste

By allowing specific targeting geographical as well as demographically and psychographically, OTT has a huge advantage over traditional broadcast TV. OTT provides businesses with the capability of reaching a specific audience, based on what a business’s target customer is, within a specific area. OTT basically eliminates ad spending waste.

How is OTT advertising priced?

As a rule of thumb, OTT advertising, based on a CPM (cost per thousand) of impressions, is a bit higher than traditional TV advertising. However, if you drill down a little deeper and explore the actual costs involved, OTT is virtually a no-brainer compared to spending all your budget on traditional TV, radio, or cable ads.

 

As an example, the aforementioned HVAC company that uses traditional TV: Their service area is a diameter of 30 miles from their office, so basically, they serve only one county. Traditional TV in the area covers 13 counties, and even one or two counties in another state where their business isn’t licensed. So using traditional TV, this HVAC company’s ads are being seen by people in 12 counties this company does not serve. Talk about a waste of money….

Conclusion

By being able to reach a specific audience in a specific area, targeting people who are “cord cutters” or other people who have moved away from traditional sources of video viewing, OTT advertising is today’s most efficient way to reach the customer you want to reach for your business.

There is no better time than now to explore the use of OTT advertising in your marketing plan. If you would like more information or would like to discuss the use of OTT advertising in your business, feel free to reach out to us. Lawrence Media Group is a family owned and operated advertising and creative agency, located in Snellville, GA.

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