What is OTT Advertising? OTT stands for “over-the-top” and, according to Amazon, represents any content that is delivered directly to viewers via a streaming video service over the Internet. OTT advertising, therefore, is a form of video advertising delivered directly to viewers through their streaming devices, including smart phones, iPads, or connected TVs (CTV). The term “over-the-top” is to denote the bypassing of traditional television providers, circumventing the traditional cable box and allowing advertisers to reach their audiences directly.
This blog post answers 3 questions about OTT Advertising: what is OTT advertising able to accomplish compared to other advertising campaigns, what is OTT advertising similar to in terms of traditional campaigns, and how can it be utilized to attract new customers and boost conversions.
What is OTT Advertising Useful For?
The primary benefit of OTT advertising is that it provides media companies (and advertisers) unparalleled freedom to get their ads in front of customers without being bogged down by pre-planned broadcast schedules or geographic limitations. It is an incredibly useful tool to have in a robust Amazon advertising strategy and can help brands reach customers outside of the Amazon marketplace.
OTT advertising used to be exclusive to brands that ran Demand Side Platform (DSP) and it was always a managed service. Previously, brands either had to go through media planners at Amazon or go to an Amazon-approved agency and have them run OTT. This structure meant OTT always had some sort of managed service fee for brands to be able to run it.
Anyone typing keywords associated with an OTT advertising campaign will see those ads on their streaming devices. This gives brands the ability to reach a large pool of potential customers away from the Amazon algorithm who have already shown interest in a product but maybe have never heard of your brand before.
What is OTT Advertising Similar to?
OTT advertising is similar to Amazon’s Sponsored Brand Video ads, which are CPC ads that increase brand awareness and conversions. As mentioned in our sponsored brand videos blog post, a survey by Wyzowl found that 68% of consumers prefer to learn about products or services through video, and we know from previous discussions that videos have significantly better engagement and conversion.
The only limitation with sponsored brand videos is they only appear on page one of the search engine results page (SERP) and occasionally on product detail pages.
Since OTT ads appear outside of the Amazon ecosystem, they have the potential to reach more unique shoppers than even sponsored display ads. We know from previous research that video ads convert better and can help educate consumers about a brand and its products.
How to Utilize OTT Advertising
Amazon has added an extension to their existing sponsored brand video ad console that allows brands to target shoppers with video ads off amazon. You now have the option to run more focused OTT campaigns through the DSP console, choosing exactly which publisher will show your ads, and the option to run broader OTT campaigns through the streaming TV ad console.
Ideally, OTT advertising campaigns should integrate with other campaigns in your current strategy and direct new customers to the appropriate product page. OTT ads can be run concurrently with other ad types, which will naturally see a lift in revenue due to the influx of new shoppers coming in from these ads.
It’s also a good idea to incorporate the unique insights offered by OTT advertising into your Amazon analytics. Here are a few metrics you can track through OTT campaign:
- Cumulative Reach
- Detailed Page Views
- Organic branded searches
- New to Brand Sales
- New to Brand Orders
The Results Speak For Themselves
Kaspien has spent the past several weeks testing the new OTT advertising options, and the results are very promising. In just the first four weeks, brands have seen an 8% increase in total brand revenue MoM and an increase of 162% in organic branded searches. This indicates a definitive increase in both brand awareness and conversion.
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