Ad Evolution Places Premium on OTT Quality
As over-the-top (OTT) video continues its rapid ascent among streaming mediums, providers are beginning to cash in on the advertising opportunity. On top of their growing viewer bases, providers have a wealth of viewer data that allows them to deliver to more targeted audience segments. Marketers are seeing the value – they’re increasing OTT spend to 26% of their total video ad budgets in 2018 (up from 8% in 2017), per SpotX.
With demand skyrocketing, it was only a matter of time before OTT providers adopted a more programmatic approach to their ad sales. Roku kicked things off by launching their Audience Marketplace in June 2018. By leveraging its own viewer data, Roku was able to create a marketplace of highly targeted ad inventory that is easily accessible to publishers and marketers alike. This has created an open market of sorts that will help to drive ad revenue for years to come. See how OTT providers are improving ad delivery with crowdtesting.
Similarly, Hulu recently announced its own OTT advertising marketplace. However, rather than act as a conduit between publishers and marketers, they will privately sell their own ad inventory directly to marketers. This easily matches prospective buyers to their active inventory in a more programmatic fashion, ultimately creating a more streamlined experience.
What does this all mean? With sky-high demand and the expectation to deliver highly personalized advertising experiences, OTT providers must deliver when it comes to quality. However, doing so through traditional testing methods just won’t cut it. That’s why crowdtesting has become a valued asset for OTT providers everywhere.
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Striking Gold with OTT Advertising
OTT is rapidly becoming the preferred video viewing medium and a prime advertising opportunity. See how to ensure seamless ad delivery to maximize your revenue.
Variation of Advertisements
Marketers choose OTT with the comfort of knowing there will be no competitors during their selected ad block. So if a viewer were to be served a Coca-Cola commercial followed by a Pepsi commercial, it significantly diminishes the value they receive. Issues like these often go undiscovered in a lab setting, increasing the need for an in-the-wild testing solution.
Ensuring the level of quality necessary to thrive in the competitive OTT market is impossible to do with strictly in-house resources. Applause serves as a critical complement to these companies by enabling instant scalability of testers and devices, an in-market presence of vetted testers, and the ability to test around the clock.
These attributes, among others, give companies the confidence they need to deliver superior ad quality that meets the growing demand for ad inventory. With more than $2 billion at stake in the OTT ad market, there is no room for compromise. Quality must win out.
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