10 Reasons Why OTT Advertising Makes Sense in 2023

I’m a former CMO who is now focused on helping companies launch and scale TV advertising, specifically Streaming TV or OTT (Over The Top). Over the past five years, I’ve helped dozens of clients – like Clickup, Nerdwallet, Square, Thumbtack and Upstart – to test, optimize and scale OTT to become a top performance channel.

As we enter 2023, here are the Top 10 reasons why OTT advertising makes sense to test… 

1. OTT is a top performance channel - OTT has established itself as a top performance channel, in use across hundreds of top technology and consumer companies, as OTT has better ad rates, better tracking, and better results, when compared to top channels like Google and Facebook.
2. OTT is a better TV choice than Linear TV - For performance marketers, OTT is a clear choice over Linear TV, as OTT requires smaller test budgets, has a faster growing and more targeted audience, especially under age 65, plus OTT can be better tracked and attributed than thru Linear TV sampling or modeling approaches. 
3. OTT has so many new media options - With over 100 OTT networks now available, advertisers can choose between efficient programmatic media (Connatix, Telaria, Tremor, etc.) and more traditional networks (Hulu, Peacock, ESPN, etc.) with a mix of targeting and rates – all of which is best purchased using direct publisher connections.
4. OTT audience targeting is extensive - With OTT, advertisers can target beyond Linear TV networks and dayparts, to OTT content categories (News, Sports, etc.) and demographics (Women age 30-50) and segments (Suburban Dads) and behaviors (Car Buyers) and even by geos (including State, City, DMA or Zip) all at the same or similar OTT rates.
5. OTT can work better when not on actual TVs - Many advertisers discover that OTT ads work better on Desktop Computers and Mobile Phones, rather than on Connected TVs, because Desktop/Mobile rates are $5-10 CPMs and CTV rates are $10-25 CPMs, especially companies where consumers can convert via web or app store. 
6. OTT measurement is robust - OTT can be tightly tracked from ad impression to conversion, using reliable IP address graphs, then attributed with overlapping clickthru channels, to get a clear measure of the return on investment.
7. OTT incrementality is better - The incrementality of OTT can now be measured in real time, by comparing response from the exposed and unexposed OTT audiences, so OTT campaigns can be factored up/down based on the incremental impact of each network.
8. OTT can really scale - Before Covid, top performance advertisers could spend over $3-5M/mo on Linear TV and only $1M/mo max on OTT – but that has flipped since Covid – current budgets are $1M/mo max on Linear TV and over $3-5M/mo on OTT, with peak OTT spend of over $10M/mo even possible.
9. OTT creative is easier - Top performing creative spots on OTT are typically variations of digital video and social creative, often in cost-effective formats like animated explainers, customer testimonials and founder pitches, without the higher-cost production associated with live action creative that’s more typical on Linear TV.
10. OTT is great for brand awareness tests, too - OTT has been proven to drive Brand Awareness just as effectively as Linear TV, due to OTT’s low-cost audience targeting, plus the ability to test OTT brand lift in limited markets at low rates before scaling brand campaigns nationally, which isn’t as practical with Linear TV buys.

My advisory clients mostly come from Founder and VC referrals, but I’m happy to talk with any funded companies who are looking to test and scale OTT. You can reach me on LinkedIn or at petercharrison99@gmail.com