OTT services are also known as Over The Top Services which are available on the internet globally. OTT services include forms of content consumption that go beyond TV and Radio, so they include platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO, Hotstar and more. The growth of OTT platforms in India has also been abundant.

Many of the services offer subscription models and advertising models. Which means that they sell spots to advertisers on their platforms to show products and services in between content that streams.

So how can you use OTT advertising & marketing to your advantage? Let’s take a look:

1. Increasing Audience Size on OTT

Image Source: Mediaindia Website

Multiple users are completely or partially migrating to streaming services. They either have not bothered to get a TV connection, or they are reducing the number of TV channels they subscribe to because most content is being consumed through OTT. In many cases, users have had TV subscriptions but are cutting the cord and letting the subscription go in the past few years.

While research numbers for India are not available, a recent survey by Pew Research Center (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/13/about-6-in-10-young-adults-in-u-s-primarily-use-online-streaming-to-watch-tv/) indicates that 61% of Americans ages 18–29 watch television through streaming services today, while only 31% of them mostly use a cable or satellite subscription. A mere 5% mainly watch TV through a digital antenna. For people ages 50–64, these numbers are 10%, 70%, and 15% respectively.

Which means that the audience size for TV may dwindle, but OTT is a promising place to be in which shows only growth.

2. Advanced Placement

OTT ads are dynamic, meaning that advertisers can pull or push ads towards a certain audience and tweak them instantaneously. This is unlike TV where the same ad is shown to each and every audience (regardless of relevance) for a long period of time.

Ads targeting on OTT platforms is dynamic, meaning you can decide what age, gender, and type of audience you want to show your ad to. While some of this dynamic ads tech is still in its nascent stage in India, the tech is bound to grow in the coming years.

3. Types of OTT Ad Insertion Methods

Image Source: Mediashark Website

I. Client-Side Ad Insertion (CSAI)

This is a method where there is a separate ad stream and a separate video stream. The client can decide where in the video will the ad appear, and the ad thus gets inserted in that point of the video. This is when the video stream stops and the ad stream starts.

The advantage is that the client can decide where to put the video. But because there are a separate video and ad stream, the ads are susceptible to ad blockers as ad blockers can detect when a separate ad stream is playing.

II. Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI)

Content on an OTT platform generally comes through a server. In SSAI the ad is pre-inserted on the server-side into the video stream and then reaches the viewer.

This means there is no separate video stream and ad stream, as the server combines the two and sends them across.

The biggest difference is that these ads are not susceptible to ad blockers.

4. Challenges in OTT advertising

Image Source: Ecallis Website

OTT platform marketing comes with its own set of challenges. First of all, there aren’t wide set industry standards in place, so different services function at different rates and cost differently. Currently, there is also no support for third-party ad serving and measurement.

Finally, there are also a number of other discrepancies as ecosystems of OTT providers are closed, so each provider has different visual standards, measurements, and conversion tracking.

And that is it. This was a basic breakdown for all new marketers on what OTT services are and how they function. Want to know more about digital marketing? Get in touch with us at Seagull today!

Are you someone who is venturing out into the world of digital marketing now? Well, if you are a newbie who has not handled a campaign, then one of the issues could be that you’re starting off with a small budget. You may also have a small budget due to some financial concerns and restrictions that your company may be going through.

So whatever the reason may be, there are plenty of marketers who are strapped for the budget in this day and age, and yet they still pull through stellar campaigns. So, how exactly do you do that? How do you take a small digital marketing budget and turn it into something amazing?

Banner Image Source: Growth Agency Website

Let’s take a look at some tips to win over Digital Marketing on a tight budget:

1. Start Longform Blogs

Longform blogs are one of the most effective ways to advertise your content on the internet and talk about your company in great detail. They are very easy to make, take little money, and will bump up your website from an SEO and organic ranking perspective.

So, if a person is searching for a query related to your product or is on your website looking to do some research, then your blogs are right there to answer their doubts.

It is essential, easy to do, and cost effective digital marketing.

2. Start Your Journey In PPC

PPC, also known as pay-per-click marketing, is one of the most cost-efficient ways to advertise a product or service. It is when you put up ads on Google that are related to search queries. For example:

Anita searches for “Apples” and you have an organic apple farm. Through PPC you can bid on the search term “Apples” and have your ad show up whenever anyone is searching for Apples. This means that you don’t have to wait years and years to build an organic presence, and your website shows up first because you put your ad up. And the good thing is that you only pay for the ad being there if Anita ends up clicking on the ad. Which is why it is called “Pay per click.”

The reason PPC is cost-effective is that you show your ad only to those who are interested in your product. The ad is not shown to anyone and everyone, which will put your precious money down the drain.

3. Engage Your Audience With Competitions / Giveaways

Insta competitions and giveaways have become wildly popular because of how good they are at getting you reach and engagement.

For giveaways, you can ask your followers to enter by tagging their friends or sharing your profile with them and giving you a follow. You can also conduct online competitions where they upload specific posts/videos to enter the competition and tag you.

Once you have multiple entries, choose your competition winners or pick a giveaway winner through a randomized raffle, and hand them over a gift. Now, this gift can be cost-effective like an Amazon voucher, a nice backpack, a crockery set etc. It doesn’t have to be something fancy.

These types of online competitions are a great way to bump up engagement and get more followers at minimal costs.

4. Start A Referral System

Image Source: Medium Website

Word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways of marketing. Customers are more likely to buy something that has been suggested by a friend than through an ad they have seen. A referral program incentivises your existing customers to recommend your product to other customers, thus growing your business and your audience.

Your referral program can include benefits for the person who is referring and the person who is being referred to. Most companies choose to go with a 5-10% off on their product/ service to anyone who uses a referral code.

5. Recycle Your Content

Most successful companies have a robust inventory of content. From blogs to videos, to social media- they have it all. But creating content is a tough job, and thinking of new ideas for all these channels can get taxing. Which is why you just need to up-cycle your content.

Have a really well-performing blog? Time to turn it into a video! Want to get more people to watch the video? Summarise it in a social post!

There are multiple ways in which you can restructure the same content and use it across multiple platforms.

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Month: November 2020

How Marketers Can Leverage From The Growth of OTT?