Over the past few weeks, many websites have been observing an increase in their daily traffic, owing to the COVID-19 outbreak. OTTs are few of the digital platforms experiencing such an increase. Amidst complete lockdowns and work from home mode, people are increasingly turning to OTT platforms for entertainment. According to JustWatch (a popular app that helps users find where to watch TV shows and movies among OTT platforms), there has been an over 100% traffic increase to their site since lockdowns were announced across multiple countries. Spain, tops the list with over 187% increase in users, while Italy stood third at 116%. India stands at number 3 in the list with an increase of 60% traffic from online users in India searching for films and web series. These figures are from before an official lockdown was announced in India. Recognizing this huge opportunity, brands should make adequate efforts to optimize their ad spends on OTTs.
Today, we are no longer required to sit constantly in front of our TV to catch a brand new series. We no longer need to wait for our favourite movie to play on TV, but can watch it whenever and wherever we want. A few decades ago, this would have sounded impossible. But, the wand of technology has made this a reality. Today, everything available at our fingertips. And, in today’s fast-paced life, it has become more of a necessity, and this is facilitated by over-the-top (OTT) platforms. They bring you the best of entertainment, on-the-go!
The Rise of OTTs
The past few years have seen tremendous popularity of OTT services. You certainly may have heard of major international players like Netflix, & Amazon Prime Video, and domestic players Hotstar, Voot, Shemaroo, ALT Balaji and SonyLIV. The faster data speeds, increasing internet penetration, and a broader shift toward on-the-go entertainment have played a major role in this transition. Regional language content is also an important factor. Thanks to the OTT platforms providing content in almost every regional language like Telugu, Marathi, Punjabi, OTTs are the go-to platforms for users from any part of the world, speaking any language. Through the “Freemium” content model, OTTs can offer free content consumption in a trade-off for ads. This is a golden opportunity for advertisers to leverage OTTs for reaching a multilingual and regionally diverse audience from across the world, just under one roof.
The Audiences Here Have Their Priorities
As there’s something for everyone, OTT platforms are gaining popularity among netizens. According to eMarketer, last year about 765 million people across the globe used OTT video subscription at least once per month. That’s a huge audience! And, they are spending a considerable amount of time there. As per recent data, 96% of the videos on Hotstar are watched for an average of 20 mins! Naturally, advertisers cannot miss this opportunity to reach their customers! Thus, OTTs have gradually become a favourite avenue for advertisers. However, advertisers need to be cautious. The audiences here have their priorities quite sorted. They are here for entertainment and do not appreciate being intruded by irrelevant ads in between their favourite shows. Intruding their space can harm both – the advertisers & OTT platforms.
Myriad Of Targeting Options
Targeting is one of the unique and unprecedented advantages of digital advertising over traditional marketing. With a myriad of targeting options, OTTs allow advertisers to a more specific audience more effectively, saving money while increasing your ad efficiency. Targeting options include:
Age and gender demographics – With content relevant for audience across a wide range of demographic, advertisers can have great demographic targeting
Geographic targeting – advertisers can target based on geographic location like countries, states and cities
Content Type – reach audiences with an interest in a specific content type like comedy, sports, thriller, and so on
What’s more? OTT platforms provide low CPMs /CPCV. The rates on some of the platforms for CPCV start with as low as 0.30 paisa. Coupled with a video completion rate of 90%, and a CTR around 1% for some of the platforms, OTTs are an attractive option. This naturally helps to make the budgets to be spent more efficiently and effectively. Also, multiple players have come up in the OTT space which has made multiple options available for advertisers to diversify their ad spends and achieve their advertising goals.
Sounds interesting? If you have not explored the advertising potential of OTT platforms, it is about time you started! Our team of experts can help you with this. Just drop us a mail at mktg[at]vertoz.com with your requirements and we will send you a curated media plan.