Personalizing OTT Ads for Maximum Viewer Engagement

OTT platforms deliver streaming media directly over the internet, and as the number of OTT subscribers continues to surge, advertisers have some great opportunities to better engage with viewers. One of the most effective strategies to maximize viewer engagement is through personalization of your OTT advertising.

Personalization in OTT Advertising

When you "personalize" your ads, you're matching your ad content to the individual viewers based on their preferences, behaviors, and demographics. This is more important than ever when you're talking about OTT because these viewer streams tend to be highly fragmented. Unlike with traditional broadcasting, where the ads are disseminated to a broad audience and thus have to be fairly general, with OTT you can know a lot better precisely who is watching. Once you know that, you can change your ad to really target them. To do that, you have to take advantage of the data and technology available to you.

Harnessing Data

Data: there's a ton of it, and you need it. Specifically, you need to collect and use user data. OTT platforms have access to a wealth of information like viewing history, search queries, what devices the user is accessing content with, and even the time of day when users are most active. Using all this, you can create detailed user profiles and segments.

Technologies

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms have the capacity to analyze vast datasets, so you can make sense of what you've got and even predict user preferences and behaviors. With these technologies, you can even engage in real-time bidding, where ad spaces are bought and sold instantaneously, so you can serve up the most relevant ads to the right viewers at the perfect time.

Effective Strategies for Ad Personalization

Segmentation and Targeting

Divide your audience into segments based on their demographics, behavior, and anything else you've got so you can do really tailored messaging. For example, a sports enthusiast might receive ads for athletic gear, while a viewer who frequently watches cooking shows might see ads for kitchen appliances.

Contextual Advertising

Placing ads that are contextually relevant to the content the viewer is watching tends to increase engagement. So, for example, if you've got a viewer watching a travel documentary, ads for vacation packages are the way to go. If they're watching a survival show, ads for hiking packs or multitools will fit right in.

A/B Testing and Optimization

You need to be continuously testing different ad variations and strategies to figure out what works with your audience (and fix what doesn't). A/B testing simply refers to a situation where you run two identical ads with just one thing different between them. Maybe it's the length, the voiceover, or the group you're showing it to. One of those ads is "a" and the other is "b." The key is to only change one thing at a time. That way, if one outperforms the other, you'll know exactly why.

If you're ready to make the most of OTT, connect with us at Lightcast for a free consultation and demo.