Over-the-top (OTT) advertising has been rapidly gaining traction over the past few years, especially since it allows you to reach more diverse and targeted audience groups. It's also much more accessible than you may think — you can adapt to it with your current marketing systems with minimal effort but for much higher gain. Not only do consumers prefer it, but OTT adoption is continuously growing.  

Approximately 239 billion hours were spent using video streaming apps on mobiles across the globe in Q4 2020, and there was a 115% increase in OTT streaming to TVs between 2020 and 2021. Even more, 51% of all the revenue made in the OTT market comes from advertising. Businesses are jumping on board to get a piece of the pie.   

Fortunately, OTT is highly accessible for businesses to use for advertising now. Here's how you can fit OTT advertising strategy into your marketing mix.  

How OTT Ads Work  

OTT advertising is when you advertise directly to your target audience (the viewers) over the internet via a device or streaming service. Much like with TV commercials, OTT ads are video ads — only they use online analytics and metrics to reach a targeted audience. The great thing about this capability is it allows you to be more granular in your targeting.  

You can also benefit from reaching a larger audience in more engaging and creative ways, advertise through non-skippable ads, and setting a reliable budget is easier than ever since you can use analytical data to make more informed decisions. Not to mention, research also shows that the average revenue per user (ARPU) for OTT video advertising is expected to increase by 72% over five years and hit $52.25 by 2025.  

You should also note that OTT ads are versatile and also include audio ads, like those on podcasts and music apps, like Pandora and Spotify. They're usually paired with display ads, running for about 15, 30, or 60 seconds.  

Leverage TV Commercials for OTT Ads  

You wouldn't believe how easy and beneficial it would be to leverage TV commercials for OTT ads. You may be surprised to learn that OTT ads are functionally no different from TV ads. You can even use the same commercials for each platform. The only difference with OTT ads is how they're delivered to audiences — such as through Hulu, YouTube, and Sling TV — and more targeted and data-backed content. 

Much like TV commercials, the length of your commercial is generally short, so you'll want to get your message out as fast and efficiently as possible. Just like the standard length of a TV commercial, OTT ads work best between 15 and 30 seconds — meaning you could easily leverage your TV commercial for OTT ads when targeting streaming viewers. 

Using a good mix of TV and OTT advertising has shown to be successful for most companies. Launching streaming and traditional TV ads in tandem increased ad recall by 34%. 

Online Analytics Work for OTT  

The digital age has brought many benefits to brands looking to reach and resonate with a specific audience over just about anyone who will listen. It means less wasted ad spend and more personalized advertising, and fortunately, OTT is no different. 

OTT ads play for specific shows and videos with more detailed demographic data tied to them, allowing you to reach a highly targeted audience in a captive setting. OTT is also available across devices, whether it's CTV, mobile, tablets, or desktops — meaning you also can target your ads across devices as well. Not to mention, you can reach people both at home or on the go, depending on how your target audience prefers to watch.  

Reaching these mobile users is so important because people consume nearly 38 hours of content per month, which means people spend as much as a whole work week watching videos on mobile apps. 

Incorporating OTT into Marketing 

Believe it or not, integrating OTT into your existing marketing mix isn't as challenging as it sounds and will undoubtedly be worth your time. After all, there's a reason the OTT industry is growing faster than many expected. OTT ad spend reached $990 million in 2020 and is expected to earn much more than a billion by the end of 2021. 

The truth is, OTT ads are highly accessible and versatile for marketers who are looking to switch from TV advertising to OTT or, even better, integrate it into their marketing strategy. Working with a media partner will not only make the process easier for you, it can also maximize your potential by giving you access to all the knowledge and experience they've gained over the years on this topic.