More and more households are cutting the cord. We no longer rely on traditional cable companies and television networks to deliver movies, shows, and other content to us. Streaming media services have taken over. eMarketer (www.emarketer.com) estimates that more than half the US population views streaming type media content. Streaming media includes both live streaming (watching programs real-time online) and subscription type on-demand services (where you choose from a library of shows and movies). Examples include Hulu, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Google Chromecast — among others. These services and devices are referred to as Over-the-Top video services (OTT). They bypass the traditional media or cable networks in their delivery.
This means two things for business marketers. First, TV type advertising can now be highly targeted to select audiences. Second, the cost of TV advertising has dramatically decreased. Advertisers can pick and choose who sees their ads. Marketers can select the geography and granular demographics of viewers. They can even target prior online behavior of potential viewers. Targeted ads reach the right audience while minimizing ad spend going to the wrong market. Targeted ads, by definition, are going to a select part of a broader pool of viewers. So, advertising to that smaller group is less expensive than purchasing a “prime-time” spot on a traditional network that blankets all viewers.
Bottom line is that — yes you can afford to advertise on “TV”. Campaigns with budgets of a couple of thousand dollars a month can yield results with OTT advertising. This is especially true when built into a broader digital campaign.
Let us know if we can help you work OTT advertising into your digital strategy.
