Connected TV and streaming are taking over traditional TV in a significant way. There is no doubt that streaming is where it’s at for consumers of movies, shows, news and pretty much every other bit of content out there. The opportunities for business owners, marketers and advertisers are massive! Connected TV advertising is growing in leaps and bounds, and any marketing campaign not harnessing its power is seriously missing out.
However, the one area that seems to pose a challenge to marketers is reaching the SVOD, or subscription video on demand, audience. Since platforms like Amazon Prime and Netflix, amongst others, don’t offer advertising space the way that YouTube and others offering free and tiered subscriptions do, placing ads during shows and movies is out. While this audience may seem difficult to reach, it is not impossible, and we’ll be discussing everything advertisers need to know about SVOD in this article. Let’s begin!
Rethinking The Marketing Experience
To understand how to target the SVOD subscribers and viewers, you need to analyze the streamer’s journey. For most, this begins on a home screen or menu folder with all of the streaming subscriptions available. Sometimes, viewers will go straight to the platform they want, but they’ll often be undecided and search for a particular movie or genre.
In this part of the journey, advertisers have the opportunity to reach the SVOD audience. Certain brands of digital media players and Smart TVs can assist advertisers by including their creative content as an option for viewers. Using microsite banners, advertisers can offer curated content on these menus, which viewers will willingly select if they are interested in it.
This content can be in the form of a sponsored show or movie and should also include the brand’s creative message and value proposal. It’s all about how advertisers come up with innovative ideas to immerse audiences into their brand world and make the advertising experience a seamless and entertaining one that is irresistible to an audience.
The key is to make it relatable and connected to audiences’ search phrases and keywords. In other words, while you may not be able to advertise directly during a Netflix viewer’s favorite show, you can immerse them in your creative brand experience before they watch their show or movie.
Targeting The Right Audience
Building your immersive and appealing brand experience is the first step, though. It is also essential to find your audience. Marketers have to use avatars and targeted marketing campaigns to remain relevant in today’s market. After all, consumers have never had this much information available at their fingertips, and if it doesn’t resonate, it won’t work.
Thankfully for marketers, streaming TV advertising platforms are becoming incredibly good at doing this on behalf of the business or marketer. Access to user demographics and metrics is critical here, and advertisers should connect with solutions that have this information on hand.
Understanding the types of content audiences prefer and other metrics will help advertisers get their brand message or specific campaign message to the perfect audience. And this is vital to ensure those streaming audiences, and more specifically, SVOD audiences, choose your creative brand experience content and hopefully become customers either immediately or in the long run.
One Cohesive Marketing Message
The key for advertisers and marketers is to consider the journey of their target audience. But, of course, it doesn’t stop at only providing creative content at the beginning of a streamer’s journey.
Marketers must also incorporate their brand message into the traditional streaming and display ads that will be used for streaming platforms that allow ads before, during and after content, like YouTube.
For this reason, it’s essential to make use of an advertising solution that considers the bigger picture and helps your brand reach its full advertising potential across devices, channels, and platforms.
Creative And Non-Traditional Advertising
The ad-free model of SVOD should be seen as the most incredible opportunity for advertisers to reach new heights of brand awareness with creative and out-of-the-box thinking.
Brands need to offer creative and immersive experiences and include marketing and advertising with sponsored content that provides value to viewers.
Many brands are also looking to strike deals with popular shows and include their products and services within shows. While this is a giant leap, it is possible, and there are many good examples of brands doing this in a subtle yet effective way.
The future of streaming advertising solutions also focuses mainly on connected TV devices like Apple TV and Roku, which offer innovative solutions for advertisers to get their message across to viewers of ad-free SVOD content.
It’s undeniable that streaming content and SVOD is a potential goldmine for advertisers and businesses. The key to harnessing this, however, lies in creative, value-driven and targeted content and the increasingly beneficial services of connected TV advertising solutions providers.