Much has changed in the over-the-top (OTT) landscape. Since its existence over a decade ago, it has successfully ushered a multitude of subscription and ad-supported video-on-demand opportunities. It has also become a primary mode of advertising strategy that is currently shaping the industry. Due to this, as much as 60% of advertisers are committed to funnel much of their resources on advanced TV, mainly because OTT helps them reach out to a broader market, as reported by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in its Executive Summary.
In this post, we will share some insights into various opportunities and challenges that OTT advertising is bringing for advertisers and publishers.
Opportunities in OTT Advertising
Dynamic Ad Insertion
Advertisers can find value by identifying the channels where most of their consumers spend their time and money. Staying updated on media consumption helps advertisers identify channels in which they can monetize. Right now, consumers are paying more for online streaming services and access these through their mobile phones, and this impacts OTT advertising significantly. That said, OTT advertising should focus more on providing the best user experience possible for their target market.
Monetizing OTT means leveraging the use of dynamic ad insertion, which can ultimately lead to providing the best user experience. Dynamic ad insertion allows advertisers to exploit audience insights via a modern video ad server, making their ads more targeted for each viewer. As a form of programmatic advertising, OTT advertising allows users to access contextual ads in real-time.
Such a strategy is a win-win situation for both advertisers and publishers as they can benefit from the piqued interest of their consumers.
Accurate Audience Targeting
OTT advertising allows advertisers to get their hands on relevant consumer data. With it, they can better target their audience by using the device IDs. These device IDs are unique for each device, which means gathered consumer data is accurate. Once they have these IDs, it would be easier for advertisers to monetize their strategies. Some of the parameters that advertisers can use include geolocation, device usage, channel, and interests.
While OTT advertising opens up opportunities for advertisers and publishers that are not commonly offered by regular TV advertising, it does come with a set of challenges. And these must be addressed before it would be safe to say that OTT advertising would become the advertising medium of the future.
Challenges of OTT Advertising
Difference in Functionality
One of the main challenges of OTT advertising is addressing the gap in functionality. Unlike running an online ad, it is easy to assess the information based on the tracking insights, which can give you deeper insights into the conversion rates of a specific ad source. For OTT devices, it is impossible to do because each one has its own set of metrics. While services like VPAID can fill the gap, some OTT platforms still run into issues about implementing executable ad units.
Measurability
While OTT advertising can effectively zero in on target audiences, measurability is still an issue. Many advertisers are still encountering problems on how they can accurately measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. Since the ads go through the service providers, there is no direct management of the ads, and measuring performance metrics can be quite tricky but possible through the application of programmatic OTT.
The Final Say
These opportunities and challenges outlined here highlight that indeed, OTT advertising is making headway into the industry, mainly that the leading OTT players like Netflix and Hulu are riding in on the trend. Pretty sure that the opportunities that OTT advertising provides can easily overcome the challenges, as collaborations and technological advancements continue to evolve as well.
Do you want to know how AlgoriX can help you seize OTT opportunities? Contact us and our experts will be happy to assist you.
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