The streaming media industry is gaining maximum traction and is becoming increasingly popular among modern day audiences. It has quickly become the ideal way of reaching an audience effectively. Latest statistics have already proven that OTT provides higher engagement than any other form of media distribution. With this popularity the demand for OTT advertising also increases. It provides an effective way of creating a profound connection between a brand and an interested consumer. It also helps the OTT businesses in running their business with sufficient funds.

OTT Advertising – The Introduction

OTT advertising refers to advertisements of different branded commodities along with the video content by an OTT. It provides wider publicity opportunities for brands due to its large audience base. These advertisements are delivered to the audience over the OTT platforms through the internet as a consistent part of the business. The difference between an OTT ad and a regular TV ad is that OTT ads are designed according to the audience interest by tracking their interests from their browser activities whereas regular TV ads are intended for a mass audience.  

OTT Advertising – How is it delivered?

There are definite steps followed to deliver ads on OTT platforms. It actually depends upon the choice basis of the ad protocol, relevant to the platform and its compatible OTT device.

First Step

Grouping of audiences is the primary step that is done for any particular campaign. This group is discovered from the platform database and is filtered using certain metrics. Grouping of audiences will help streamline the delivery of ads according to their understanding.

Second step

The second step is to prioritize the launching of ads with the help of OTT ad tech supporters. It will link up the audience group to a particular subscriber listing on all OTT platforms.

Third Step

In the third step the Ad is being played to the audience as well as tags are used as an instruction to the media player on how to play the video to the viewer. The instruction is carried out by the video player.

Final Step

The report of the outcoming of the Ad is provided to Advertiser for further use. This report can help them to collect valuable information about their targeted audience and react accordingly to convert them into active paying consumers.

Insertion Method of OTT Ad

The OTT Ad insertion is done in two ways

• CSAI – Client-Side Ad Insertion
• SSAI – Server-Side Ad Insertion

CSAI: It is the passive method of ad insertion. In this case, the ad is started onto the platform beforehand of the viewer checking the video connected to the ad. This process is used in most of the cases of ad insertion. However, it has a downside of having a higher possibility of getting blocked out by ad-blockers.

SSAI: It is an active preference of ad insertion. Since the ad gets connected into the video which will evade any unwanted breaks in the video. The video quality is preserved at the uppermost level in this method of connecting an ad to the video. You are right to presume this is a superior method of Ad insertion. Data that can assist the publisher to choose either to select CSAI or SSAI.

Benefits of OTT Advertising  

Reach A Huge Audience

OTT ads provide a good opportunity to reach a huge group of audience at once. It helps brands to capture maximum audience attention. For advertisers there is a whole sea of customers waiting at the OTT end.

Use Better Data Analytics

Data and analytics can help OTT advertisers to target niche audiences as well as demographics, which are available from several web-based platforms that host OTT advertisements. You can see several analytics reports starting from viewing times to completion rates.  

Analyzing Consumer Behavior

With the help of OTT Ads analytics, you can easily track and analyze consumer behavior. You can observe which device they are using to consume content, what time they are consuming content and many more. Tracking consumer behaviors as well as acting on those insights can help you provide a personalized customer experience and ultimately increase customer faithfulness, satisfaction, and retention.

High Click-Through Rates

You must have observed that most of the YouTube ads include a clickable link—and there’s a reason why. Clickable ads invite the middle-man to view the ad easily. Unlike TV, OTT audiences don’t have to use another device to search for a particular product. They can just click the clickable ad to discover more information. It’s quicker, easier, and more trackable than TV-based ad traffic.

Ending Notes

OTT is growing and will continue to grow in future and henceforth it provides a huge opportunity for businesses to target new audiences in new methods. Now that you have gained some information about OTT Advertisements and if you are planning to launch your own OTT platform with ad support, you must check out Muvi. 

With Muvi One you can also launch Video Streaming Platforms offering video contents as well as live sessions. Muvi Ads allows you to choose to set up both skippable and non-skippable video or audio ads on your customizable streaming platform. It also allows your end-users with a choice to skip an ad or watch it till the end while you drive the ad revenue. 

Take a free trial to explore the super cool features of Muvi!