A Multi-Device, Multi-Platform Generation
Promoting your business in today’s digital world has become more diverse as a clear product of technological advancements in the media industry
with the addition of mobile, social media, and Connected TV. It has become a norm for consumers to own and use more than 1 device or platform for media consumption. For example, over 75% of the U.S owns a smartphone and over 28% of the U.S. owning smart-tv owners. Shouldn’t this make things easier for businesses to reach their target audience? The answer is Yes, but only if understand the consumer’s behavior.
What
does this multi-platform growth mean for your business? Naturally, businesses must become
innovative in order to create new methods to reach their customers by first identifying where their audience
spends most of their time, keeping in mind specific devices, platforms, and apps. It’s important for
businesses to continually reevaluate their marketing message and delivery strategies to create brand
awareness and visibility across all channels creating a seamless experience. Creating this seamless
experience across multiple digital channels is known as Omnichannel marketing.
Ensuring your message is conveyed clearly across these channels is even more effective when delivered on platforms where users are in a super-engaged state such as video or audio consumption. Navigating multiple digital marketing channels can be confusing, but if executed correctly it can create an opportunity to establish a competitive advantage and emphasize your unique differentiators.
Adding
Connected TV to the Mix
Most businesses are clearly aware of the advancements in mobile technology and social media networks and have molded their marketing efforts to include them in their omnichannel approach. Very few, however, are aware of the opportunity that lies in the Connected TV space and the Cord-cutting phenomenon. This form of media is fairly new in comparison to other media platforms, but it has aggressively taken over the masses increasing the number of cord-cutters (viewers who have canceled traditional tv in favor of online streaming TV) To elaborate, just recently in 2017, it was predicted by emarketer that 168.1 million people in the US will use an internet-connected TV, which was 10.1% over 2016
Diversity in Connected TV
Connected TV in of itself offers a rapidly expanding range of options such as streaming providers and connected devices. Some of the largest players like Roku, Sling TV, HBO-GO, Vudu, and Amazon Fire are already providing streaming services to millions of users and continuing to grow year-over-year. Omni-channel marketing strategies can greatly benefit from the large-scale adoption of OTT (Over-the-Top) video over Traditional broadcast television, by including CTV advertising into the product mix.
CTV viewer behaviors have also helped to segment audiences based on their streaming preferences. SVOD (Subscription Video-On-Demand) for example is a segment tailored to an audience that prefers to consume media base on subscription model services such as HBO-GO, and Showtime, with a large amount of their user base subscribed to ad-enabled base plans.
AVOD( Ad-Based VOD), another extension of CTV, though less popular as subscription-based platforms, still poses huge benefits for advertisers as their free-platform deliver pre-roll video creative to all viewers on all devices often in non-skip formats.
Benefits for Storefront Businesses:
Online conversion is not the only way for businesses to benefit from omnichannel marketing. Brick and mortar businesses utilizing similar strategies have seen increased store-traffic, sales, and brand exposure. Successful storefront advertisers are normally seen targeting users with Paid Search ads, retargeting click-through users with display ads, and applying audience data to reach users on CTV streaming platforms with 15-30 second pre-roll video ads. As reinforcement device IDs are captured from the CTV streaming platforms enabling device and location-specific retargeting to sustain a top-of-mind status with customers.
Conclusion:
The Multi-platform, Multi-Device generation is going to continue to become increasingly diverse in the way audiences consume media in their daily routine. Appealing to your customers every step of the way is important to stomp out competition and highlight your key differentiators. Omnichannel Marketing is beneficial for all types of business types and infrastructures. Innovating your ad delivery by utilizing Connected TV creates more engaging ad experience with your audience.