Jun 7, 2021 | CTT / OTT Advertising, Digital Marketing
The 2020 Pandemic drove a dramatic surge in overall media consumption by U.S. viewers. Most of those gains will stick around in 2021, with the exception of traditional TV viewership which is expected to lose all of its 2020 gains, falling below even 2019 levels.
How did the pandemic affect U.S. media consumption in 2020?
A recent report from eMarketer disclosed that U.S. adults increased their time spent consuming media – digital, radio, television, print, and packaged media – by a whopping 58 minutes per day in 2020, setting a new high average of 13 hours, 21 minutes.
While digital media usage, in particular, experienced massive growth, even some traditional media formats – including linear TV and print newspapers – reported growth for the first time in years.
Which media channels will experience continued growth in 2021?
The report found that the increase in overall media consumption will remain relatively steady in 2021. Specifically, U.S. adults are predicted to decrease their time on various media outlets by just 9 minutes per day. The staying power of this level of increased engagement is impressive, especially considering how significant the growth in media consumption was over the pandemic.
Thanks to the rising popularity of OTT video streaming services, time spent on digital media, including connected TV (CTV) devices and internet-connected gaming consoles, will continue to increase in 2021, albeit that growth will progress at a more moderate pace than what was seen in 2020. In fact, U.S. adults will add an average of 9 minutes to their daily digital media viewership, on top of the additional hour they consumed in 2020. Smartphones will dominate the most-watched digital device list, but podcasts and subscription OTT services will also add to their 2020 growth.
Which media outlets will experience a declining viewership in 2021?
On the flip side, usage of traditional media outlets in the U.S. will decrease in 2021 by 5.7% or 18 minutes per day, largely due to the predicted 16-minute drop in linear TV viewership. U.S. adults will also spend less time with radio and print media which will account for the remaining 2-minute drop estimated for 2021.
“Ultimately, 2020 was an anomalous year for TV,” wrote Audrey Shomer, author of the report. “The medium picked up minutes for the first time since 2012, as people spent more time watching TV news about the pandemic, U.S. elections, and social unrest. This year, however, TV will reverse its 2020 growth and fall below 2019 levels.”
In addition, the report predicts that linear TV consumption will continue to contract at a steady rate over the next years with the average U.S. adult watching 15 minutes less in 2022 and another 11 minutes less the year after that. These declines are due to a couple of factors. To begin with, the number of on-demand streaming options continues to rise. Also a factor is the fact that more Americans are cord-cutting, opting out of traditional cable TV services in favor of connected TV devices.
How should companies shift their advertising budgets in light of the coming decline in TV viewership?
Not sure how to pivot to include new OTT and CTV strategies into your current marketing strategy? DX Media is happy to help.
We are experts in this space, offering support for radio and TV advertising, streaming services, as well as social media. We are big enough to offer discounted media, yet still small enough to give you the one-on-one attention you deserve. Although we will help you optimize your CTV and OTT strategy, the customer journey is not linear. That is why we offer support every step of the way, allowing you to maximize results and improve your bottom line. Check out our full range of services. When you partner with us, we’ll help you develop the best plan of action for your business across all media channels.
Ready to get started? Contact us for a free digital consultation today!
Additional Resources:
> Turning Connected TV Viewers Into Customers
> Reach the Streaming Generation With Ads on Connected TV
May 25, 2021 | CTT / OTT Advertising, Digital Marketing, Direct Response Advertising
If you’re considering using video content in your social media advertising, one of the most important questions is how long does video content last? Will it drive views and sales forever, or is there an expiration date? Here are some of the things you should consider.
Why Video Content?
Simply put, video content is where customers are. Video content will soon make up over 82% of all consumer internet traffic. You can see this by just going around to different social media platforms or news websites. People aren’t posting written content. They’re posting videos. If you want your ad to be seen, you need to be posting videos as well.
How Long is Video Content Effective?
As social media advertising makes more use of video, video is starting to blend in with other forms of advertising as well as all of the other content out there. That means that in many cases you only have a limited amount of time to grab attention with your ad. QuickFrame has released a number of statistics on how video ads perform.
Five Days
Video content is most effective within the first five days of release by all measures. That includes views, conversions, and how many people watched the video to completion. Once you get past the fifth day, the drop in performance is about five percent per day.
Eight Days
The eighth day is when video ads typically start to seriously underperform. Only about two-thirds of users will watch at least 25% of the video. Just 1.5% will watch the entire video.
Fourteen Days
By the second week, most videos have lost effectiveness. Viewership continues to drop by at least 3% per day. Conversions also start to drop. The average conversion rate in the initial days is just 0.32%. By the second week, conversions are nearly zero. That increases the cost of acquisition by 18%.
Three Days
If you’re trying to market an app download, you have even less time. Video audiences are typically willing to download an app within the first three days of an ad. After that, install rates start to drop and are 33% lower by the end of the month. This, in turn, increases your cost per impression.
Do Consumers Become Blind to Video Ads?
One reason that the performance of video content drops off is consumers start to become blind to ads. This comes from both seeing the ad in multiple places as well as from the sheer number of online ads in general.
The average user has eight different social media accounts. Videos may also appear on traditional broadcast TV or in online streaming services. That means that many of your ad impressions could be going to someone who has already seen your ad multiple times. Viewers start to tune out that ad or have already decided not to buy. This also gets them in the habit of tuning out ads in general.
That general ad blindness is also a cause for concern. When video ads were rarer in social media advertising, they were a way to catch attention on their own. Today, you need to find a way to get users to break that habit of automatically clicking past videos.
Are There Privacy Concerns in Video Ads?
One way to combat ad fatigue is by making sure consumers don’t keep seeing the same ad over and over again. Unfortunately for marketers, this type of cross-platform tracking has come under fire from multiple directions. Consumers don’t like the idea of being tracked and install blocking software to keep marketers from identifying them as they move from one platform to the other.
Various levels of government have also passed consumer privacy laws that make tracking impossible without affirmative consent. With consumers not wanting to participate, the costs of compliance can outweigh the potential benefits of leaving tracking in place.
In addition, even seemingly effective tracking campaigns can have hidden challenges. For example, say you are buying a new car. As you visit car review websites and dealership websites, automated marketing campaigns start to show you more ads related to buying a new car no matter what website or social media platform you’re on. If you see a new video about a car you’re considering, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll watch it.
The first problem for marketers is controlling these ads from repeating too many times. If tracking isn’t effective, one solution might be to put out a wider variety of videos to decrease the repetition. The second problem is that online campaigns can’t identify when you’ve gone to a physical dealership to buy or have decided not to buy. The answer to this second challenge is primarily limiting the length of your campaign.
What Exactly Are You Advertising?
How long a video ad will remain effective will depend on exactly what you’re advertising and the goal for your campaign. While many ads expire quickly, it is also possible to develop evergreen videos in certain situations.
For example, say you’re advertising a haunted house on Halloween night. You’ll probably want to start up your ad campaign sometime in October. Exactly when is a balancing act. Start too early and you risk people seeing the ad too many times. Start too late and they may have other plans already. And if you do start early, you have no idea if low conversions are because people aren’t interested or if it’s still too early for them to make plans. No matter what happens, on November 1st, your ad has served its purpose.
Now let’s say you’re advertising for a hardware store. You might have special events, sales, or new product launches that are more timely by nature. These videos will have short expiration dates. Recurring seasonal videos, such as getting ready for summer, might last from year to year. However, you might want to refresh them each year to create more buzz. A type of evergreen content that will be more likely to stick in search engines and continue to drive customers to your store is a how-to series on basic home improvements and repairs.
Conclusion
When you launch video content in your social media advertising, you’re racing against the clock before it loses effectiveness. Exactly how long your video will last depends on your audience, what you’re selling, and the goal for each video.
To learn more about video marketing or to get ideas for a video campaign, talk to DX MediaDirect.
May 4, 2021 | CTT / OTT Advertising, Direct Response Advertising
The shift toward streaming has been profound, with 90% of Americans aged 13-54 now streaming their favorite shows. In recent years, Connected TV and streaming were growing. However, the pandemic pushed this trend into overdrive. In the past year, there has been a multi-generational movement. This movement is reinventing how, what, where, and when we watch. Content is now on-demand and limitless to the streaming generation, creating an immense opportunity for businesses — especially those who want to optimize their advertising and marketing strategies.
The Streaming Generation and Connected TV
Connected TV has left analog television in the dark ages, as it allows viewers to watch what they want, whenever they want. Connected TV (CTV) is television that connects to the internet, allowing viewers to stream digital content at their convenience, through apps on Apple TV or a smart TV, as well as through gaming consoles and devices such as Roku.
CTV was gaining popularity for years. However, the recent pandemic caused unprecedented growth. The number of CTV households achieved its 5-year growth projection in just three weeks during the “shelter-in-place” order. Online content streaming increased by 70%, with 60% of viewers adding a streaming service since the beginning of 2020. Also, 91% of the streaming generation would rather give up their social media, music streaming service, favorite food, and favorite brand before they gave up their video streaming service.
Connected TV Has Revolutionized Advertising
Connected TV advertising has been building over the past few years. However, there was a clear tipping point in 2020 — and this trend is unlikely to reverse. Research shows that 15% of consumers canceled their cable subscriptions. During this time, advertisers could reach over 84 million households via connected TV. In 2021, an additional 27% of consumers plan to ditch cable services in favor of connected TV services.
Business owners, advertisers, and marketing teams have recognized these trends, shifting their budgets. Those who are not risk being left behind. After all, 43% of marketers identified CTV as the number one channel for brand storytelling and overall brand awareness, followed by social media (29%) and traditional, linear TV (26%).
Those who see the potential and have already experienced a significant ROI are adapting, becoming more and more creative. Since the viewing experience on CTV differs from traditional TV, ads are now shorter and more flexible. This is creating a trickle-down effect, as companies bring on new talent and training programs to become more fluent in CTV.
These are the facts:
- Consumers are moving away from cable services because 50% think it’s too expensive, with 48% not getting enough value for their money. Nearly 38% say they are attracted to streaming services because they offer a better viewing experience.
- Currently, less than half (49%) of TV viewers still subscribe to cable services— and 27% of these viewers plan to cancel their cable subscription this year.
- It is not just millennials who are canceling cable services The data shows that 20% of those 55 and older plan to cancel their cable services in 2021, up from 8% at the end of 2020.
- Perhaps one of the most significant findings is that 79% of people who have now stopped paying for cable are unlikely to subscribe again. This is incredibly telling, as this shift means that marketers will need to rethink how they engage with both their current and prospective customers.
Advertising on Connected TV and OTT
CTV/OTT advertising uses targeting capabilities that allow advertisers, like yourself, to show different ads to viewers who are watching the same show. This helps you save money and maximize your budget because your ads are shown to an intended audience. This is just one reason why CTV offers a potentially superior investment compared to traditional TV ads.
Some benefits of incorporating Connected TV/OTT advertising into your business plan include:
- More effective targeting— Combining the experience of TV with digital advertising technology, you can build custom audiences based on demographics and behavioral attributes. This allows you to customize your message, created targeted ad campaigns that increase conversion rates.
- Greater flexibility — See what works and what doesn’t, without committing to a “block of time” like you would with traditional TV advertising.
- More accurate analytics— With CTV, you can measure ad performance, tracking a wide range of metrics, including website visits.
- No need to worry about third-party cookies— The death of third-party cookies has many marketers concerned, but luckily, CTV is a channel that will remain unaffected.
Recommended reading: How to Develop Creative Advertising That Motivates Customers to Try and Buy
Top Criteria for TV Ad Buyers in 2021
Considering 95% of marketers reported CTV achieved their desired key performance indicators, it’s time to consider the value of Connected TV advertising.
If you’re wondering where others stand on this movement, here are the areas that matter most to TV ad buyers in 2021:
- 30% want the flexibility to cancel without penalty
- 30% want the ability to connect their investments to measurable business outcomes
- 22% want to change campaigns quickly in-flight
- 18% want the ability to stop/start quickly
Dive deeper into the type of CTV advertising support that converts!
How DX Media Direct Can Help
Not sure how to implement new OTT and CTV strategies into your current marketing strategy, but want to act fast?
Looking for cost-effective ways to put your brand on sites like Hulu, Apple TV, Discovery +, and YouTube TV?
DX Media Direct is a full-service direct response advertising agency that can help you achieve a measurable return on your advertising investment. We have over 25 years of experience helping brands of all sizes succeed.
Four key components will help drive the success of your CTV campaign:
- Technology
- Data science
- An experienced CTV/OTT media buying team
- Volume discounts
At DX Media, we can help with all the above. We are experts in this space, offering support for radio and TV advertising, streaming services, as well as social media. We are big enough to offer discounted media, yet still small enough to give you the one-on-one attention you deserve. That is why we hold several awards, including Ad World Masters Agency of the Year and Clutch’s Top Advertising and Marketing Agencies in Texas award. We have buying power, allowing us to get lower platform fees, which we then pass onto you! Our experience will also ensure that you pinpoint the most valuable audience, resulting in the lowest cost per lead!
Although we will help you optimize your CTV and OTT strategy, the customer journey is not linear. That is why we offer support every step of the way, allowing you to maximize results and improve your bottom line. Check out our full range of services. When you partner with us, we’ll help you develop the best plan of action for your business.
Ready to get started? Contact us for a free digital consultation today!
Apr 4, 2021 | CTT / OTT Advertising, Digital Marketing, Direct Response TV
Connected TV and streaming services have been on the public’s radar for quite some time. However, it wasn’t until 2020 that this trend exploded. Many Americans canceled their cable subscription services, most saying they won’t go back. In response to the recent pandemic, data shows that OTT video streaming increased by 400% — and average revenue per subscriber is still growing.
Favoring connected TV and streaming services, this movement has led to significant business opportunities, especially in terms of marketing and customer acquisition. Research shows that 59% of ad buyers planned to increase spending on connected TV and OTT in the second half of 2020. Brands planned to increase CTV/OTT budgets by 32%, and agencies were looking to increase spending by 46%. This means that if you’re not considering the power of CTV/OTT ads this year, you risk being left behind.
There are many reasons to take the leap, including greater customer acquisition.
If your goal is to get more customers this year, here’s what you need to know.
Research Supporting the Benefits of Connected TV for Advertising Is Overwhelming
Since 2020, research shows that the “streaming generation” has shifted toward a connected TV culture. COVID compressed years of marketing innovation and disruption into a few short months, and things are unlikely to go back to the way they once were.
Here are some findings from the white paper, The Future of TV Report: The CTV Tipping Point:
- 15% of consumers canceled their cable subscription during the pandemic. However, advertisers could reach over 84 million households via connected TV and streaming services.
- 79% of people who stopped paying for cable said that they are unlikely to subscribe again.
- Ad revenues dropped 14% year-over-year across all types of media, yet ad revenue from CTV/OTT saw an increase of 17%.
- 89% of marketers reported connected TV is more effective, or is equally effective, as tools offered through linear TV.
- CTV is leading to ad creativity, with 59% of TV media buyers making shorter ads a priority.
- 37% of ad buyers plan to hire new talent fluent in CTV, and 55% said they plan to take steps to ensure that their team can navigate both channels (linear and CTV).
- 95% of marketers said that CTV achieved desired key performance indicators.
This has created opportunities for business owners and marketers based on the benefits of CTV advertising. This report found that:
- Advertising may be a different experience on CTV platforms compared to traditional TV. Approximately 57% of viewers say that they would be “open” to lowering their subscription cost on paid platforms if they were to see ads every other episode while watching a show.
- Another 40% said they would prefer ads that were tailored to their interests.
- Only 14% said they would pay a premium for an ad-free experience, while 71% preferred a free or lower-cost ad-supported model.
The Benefits of Connected TV Advertising
A report by Emerging Alliances found that direct-to-consumer shoppers spend the majority of their weekly TV time watching streaming services — equating to 13 hours. This is 20% higher than cable and 70% higher than social. Incredibly, 82% of these shoppers take action after they see a CTV/OTT ad, showcasing the effectiveness of this strategy.
Although you may have largely relied on marketing through social media platforms until this point, CTV/OTT is now offering the perfect blend of digital marketing capabilities with the viewing experience of television. If your goal is to make your connected TV audience into new customers, it’s important to understand the value of targeted advertising.
The key here is to embrace data-driven advertising. Unlike traditional TV advertising, connected TV and OTT allow you to target an audience with much greater certainty. This audience-first strategy offers the benefit of more precise and measurable outcomes.
With CTV, you know exactly who is viewing your ads. This helps you stay on-trend with consumer behavior.
Other benefits include:
- Budget-friendly — Thanks to precise targeting, connected CTV advertising is cost-effective! Since you can reach your target demographic, this will allow you to stretch your budget.
- Improved viewability — Not only are CTV viewers often more engaged because of the on-demand experience, but this approach allows you to track how many target users actually saw your ad. This will allow you to optimize, focusing on brand awareness and customer acquisition.
- Ad format experimentation — Want to see what call-to-actions work best for your current goals? Split test with CTV advertising.
- Data-driven targeting — Use first- and third-party data to reach your most valuable audience in terms of conversion rates.
How to Make Connected TV and OTT Generate New Customers for Your Brand
When creating your CTV campaign, the planning process will be like any other advertising strategy.
You need to set marketing objectives and define your goals. In this case, your core goal will be to generate new customers. Based on that goal, you need to create an action plan, which includes the following steps.
Step one: Define your target audience
When planning your CTV ads, you need to know who your target audience is. When identifying who your audience is, consider the following categories.
- Demographics, including age, income, and location.
- Interests, including their personal goals, family life, and recreational activities.
- Purchasing behavior, focusing on the information your audience likes to have before they make a purchase. This will help you improve your message when aiming to generate new customers.
Step two: Decide where you want to display your ads
You want to go where your audience is. Consumers seek brands they’re familiar with when it comes time to buy, which is why you want to advertise where prospective customers will find you. Based on your target audience, would you benefit from advertising on CNN or Discovery+? What about Apple TV or Roku?
Baskin Robbins is an example of when traditional TV ads and CTV ads complement one another. This beloved company displayed an ad on linear TV and Roku (CTV). Data shows that 86% of the viewers on Roku who saw the ad did not see it on linear TV, leading to a 10.6% incremental reach.
Step three: Stay mindful of key metrics
As you record and analyze your data, continue to optimize your approach. Depending on your ongoing goals, launch multiple campaigns, targeting different types of consumers. Set performance benchmarks and then split test your top two creatives.
Adjust and tweak your campaigns according to the data you collect.
Recommended reading: How to Develop Creative Advertising That Motivates Customers to Try and Buy
Step four: Work with an advertising agency that will ensure the greatest ROI
Partnering with a credible advertising agency can help you save money by maximizing the value of your advertising budget. This step is especially important if you have no experience in CTV advertising. Now is the time to take advantage of this opportunity, so work with a team that will help you get the most out of your advertising campaigns.
DX Media Direct Can Help You Achieve Your Goals
If you’re new to CTV advertising or simply require expert support, DX Media has over 25 years of experience helping brands achieve growth.
We specialize in the four key components of any successful CTV campaign, including:
- Data science
- Technology
- An experienced CTV/OTT media buying team
- Volume discounts
Ready to take your upcoming CTV campaign to the next level? We can help you develop a winning strategy to generate more customers!
We offer a free, no-obligation consultation, so contact us today!
