Years ago, TV and radio commercials were a surefire way to drive new customers to your business. Virtually everyone watched TV or listened to the radio at some point during the day, so catching them on their morning commute or after dinner was almost guaranteed. These days most people have ditched traditional TV and radio for streaming services. This doesn’t mean you have to lose them as potential customers! When someone uses an Internet connection to stream media, they’re using over-the-top (OTT) services. OTT and streaming ad marketing is the perfect online advertising tool to capture audiences who use online platforms. Learn more about how OTT and streaming ad marketing works, and how it can benefit your business today!
What Are Over-the-Top Services?
OTT refers to platforms and devices that stream movies, TV shows, and other content directly to users and subscribers, including music streaming platforms. There are many devices people can use to access OTT content:
- Smart TVs
- Internet-connected TVs
- HDMI streaming devices
- Game consoles
- Phones
These days, it seems like a new streaming platform is popping up every day. Some of the more popular OTT streaming services include:
- Netflix
- Spotify
- Sling
- Hulu
- YouTube TV
- Amazon Prime
How Many People Can I Reach with OTT Advertising?
The number of people you can reach with streaming ads is almost limitless! In 2021, nearly 73% of Americans used an OTT video streaming service, and 25% of homes accessed five OTT services! In 2021 alone, the market reached $3.1 billion; by 2025, that number is expected to reach $332.52 billion. But you may be wondering how all those users translate into revenue. The completion rate (the number of people who view the complete ad) is above 90%, meaning most users don’t skip over ads. 66% of subscribers have said they discovered a new product or service while streaming! That’s a whole lot of people you could reach with OTT marketing!
The Benefits of OTT and Streaming Ads
Reaching a massive — and still growing— audience is a major benefit of streaming ads, but there are other positives to OTT advertising:
- Reach a local audience with geo-targeting — Target specific locations with your ads to increase foot traffic to your local business.
- Target specific audiences — Because OTT and streaming ads can be highly targeted to specific audiences, your ads will be more successful.
- Powerful analytics — OTT and streaming ads provide clear metrics that allow you to know who is watching, when, and on what device. You can use this information to target your ads more specifically.
- Increase audience interaction — Depending on the platform, you may have the option to have clickable ads that can take your audience directly to your website, increasing traffic and attracting new customers.
- Easier on your budget — By using analytics and data, you can use your money more effectively by reaching customers who are more likely to be interested in your business.
How Cobalt Digital Marketing Helps You With OTT Advertising
Step 1: Pick Your Commercial
Whether you’ve created content specifically for your streaming ads or need something custom, Cobalt Digital can help! We’ll work closely with you to ensure your message is perfect and will resonate with your audiences.
Step 2: Decide On Your Audience
At Cobalt, we make decisions based on data and analytics. If you know your target audience, great! If you need support choosing the right segments, we can provide advanced customer targeting so that only the right people see your ads.
Step 3: Choose Your Platforms & Devices
Our Cobalt Formula™ means we’ll help you strategically target audience segments on the right video and music streaming platforms (and devices), all at a reasonable cost to you. We work on all major platforms to ensure your brand makes its way into as many targeted homes as possible.
Step 4: Easy Optimization
Depending on your campaign goals, our team will measure a wide range of metrics, including impressions, views, and video completion rates. We’ll then be able to make adjustments and update for optimization.
Cobalt Gets the Job Done!
As you can see, when you work with Cobalt, you get a team that can support your holistic digital marketing efforts! We can help you with OTT marketing and streaming as well as social media, web design, SEO, and so much more. We use that one-of-a-kind Cobalt Hustle to get the results you need!
