BY Denise Gibson
CTV and OTT ads are doing so well that marketers are once again increasing their ad spending, says Advertiser Perceptions. Is that the right move for your client? Here’s what you need to know.
Why Your Client Should Invest in OTT Ads
OTT Continues to Make Waves
When it comes to KPIs, CTV and OTT ads are ranked most important, even more than social or search:
- CTV/OTT: 69% of marketers say this is the most important/valuable media type for achieving their advertising goals
- Social Media: 43%
- Linear TV: 35%
- Paid Search: 33%
- Digital Display: 30%
In fact, CTV and OTT are doing so well…that 61% of marketers plan to increase their ad spending this year. 38% will maintain their current CTV/OTT ad spending. Only 1% will decrease their spending for this ad media type.
The Benefits of CTV/OTT
Of course, marketers aren’t just randomly deciding to allocate more budget to CTV/OTT ads. They’ve earned it. According to Advertiser Perceptions, the biggest benefits of CTV/OTT are:
- Precise audience targeting
- Achieves brand awareness and performance marketing goals
- All the benefits of TV commercials plus digital capabilities
- Improved ad relevance
- These ads reach a highly engaged opt-in audience
Overall, the increased ad spending is thanks to CTV/OTT’s ability to target highly engaged audiences well.
Audience Targeting
As we all know, targeted ads are among the most effective available. And CTV/OTT ads have audience targeting in spades.
According to Advertiser Perceptions, these ads allow marketers to:
- Build custom audiences to target
- Target contextually
- Use first party data and geolocation for targeting
- Utilize interest/behavior-based targeting
- Use persona-based targeting
And this doesn’t just apply to massive national audiences. These ads can help you specify your client’s target audience down to local audiences. Linear TV just can’t keep up.
Creating the Most Effective CTV/OTT Ads
Of course, advertising using CTV and OTT can only take your client part of the way. Your client’s CTV/OTT ads themselves need to be well crafted to perform well.
According to a previous SalesFuel blog, based on data from Digiday, the most popular ads:
- Are 15 and/or 30 seconds long. Any longer than that and viewers start losing interest or even become annoyed
- Include creative that allows for viewer interaction
- Include shoppable QR codes so that potential customers can take action immediately
- Feature mobile integrations
- Are carousels featuring product/image/video galleries
Your client could create stereotypical ads on their own, but they’ll need your help for the remaining four points.
You’ll also need to be familiar with your client’s target audience to craft ads that will resonate best with them. You can start by looking up your client’s target audience’s profile on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel. There, you’ll discover:
- If the audience responds well to CTV/OTT ads based on their interactions with them within the past year
- Which demographics your client should be targeting and representing in their ads
- Which products or services to feature in the ads
- And much more
When to Place Those Ads
Once you and your client have created the perfect CTV/OTT ads, you need to make sure they’re placed well. According to a SalesFuel blog based on Yahoo data, consumers pay the most attention to these ads in the morning. Place the ads during the early or late morning to get them in front of more consumers.
Yahoo also says that pod positions are extremely important. “If an ad airs in the first in-pod position, it captures at least two seconds of attention 28% of the time…and viewers pay an average of 11 seconds more attention. Meanwhile, pods of <90 seconds up to 1–5 minutes enjoy relatively steady attention – between 38% and 36% attention, respectively.
So, be sure to keep your client’s CTV/OTT ads in the first in-pod position and keep them short.
Photo by: BRUNO CERVERA