Written by Janine Pollack
November 3, 2021
MNI Blog / 3 minute read
Understand how your over-the-top advertising campaign is performing by knowing what key OTT metrics to focus on when analyzing ad results. Learn more.
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The Holistic Approach to Analyzing OTT Metrics
If you’re looking for a way to reach your ideal customers with superior targeting, over-the-top advertising can be just the ticket. OTT ad campaigns are intuitive, easy to track, and even enables marketers to measure and see the impact of their ads, a capability that linear TV advertising doesn't allow.
Advertising on linear TV used to mean limited demographics and guesswork regarding reach and impact. Today, an OTT advertising strategy allows businesses to utilize programmatic buying, real-time bidding, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track their results. In turn, tracking metrics from OTT drives real results by giving advertisers a solid, holistic view of their campaigns.
Let’s look at some key metrics you’ll want to focus on with your next OTT ad campaign.
Video Completion Rate (VCR)
Want to know if people are watching your ads? Then you’ll want to follow your VCR, which is the rate people view OTT ads through to completion. Finding out whether your ads are compelling or not gives you powerful insights into the efficacy of your OTT campaign. The good news is VCR is often higher with OTT ads because ads on smart TVs or streaming devices like Roku are often unskippable. Additionally, ads are frequently shown on a large screen which gives them more prominence with engaged audiences.
It’s important to note that viewers can still close an app or stop watching ads as they play. Subsequently, 100% VCR is unlikely, and advertisers should pay close attention to when viewers click away. With this information at your fingertips, you can improve ads for a better VCR. It’s also important to determine which demographic data segments lead to the highest or lowest completion rates.
Based on your results, you can then reevaluate OTT ads and adjust them to optimize performance. For instance, you could shift your OTT advertising strategy to optimize messaging, visuals, or the overall tone of your ad to keep viewers engaged. Over time, you’re likely to see more engagement as VCR improves.
Attribution Tracking
Attribution tracking entails mapping the buyer's journey and determining which touchpoints have the most value in your campaigns. You can pinpoint which marketing efforts drive results through attribution tracking, bringing customers into, and carrying them through the sales funnel. This KPI is highly significant because it shows a holistic buyer's journey and precisely how people interact with your brand.
At MNI, we’ve developed Motto, our innovative OTT reporting and attribution platform, to help our clients get the results they want with their OTT advertising strategy. Using Motto, you can gain total transparency in your OTT campaigns and determine how best to optimize them for peak performance.
By keeping an eye on attribution tracking, you can prove that OTT ads are leading to conversions. You’ll determine which ads lead to more website visits, lead to a specific CTA, or drive more sales. Ultimately, this can further help determine which ads are performing at their best and which need more optimization to boost conversions.
Know Your Audience Awareness
When advertising on OTT platforms generational targeting is crucial. You can reach certain generations with OTT that you might not reach via traditional commercials. In fact, 61% of 18 to 49-year-olds who viewed Amazon OTT video ads were exclusive to the platform, meaning this audience would have missed linear TV ads. Many older users are also transitioning to OTT streaming services, meaning you can also use these campaigns to maximize your reach among these audiences.
Brand awareness is part of a holistic marketing approach that ensures people both see and come to understand your brand. Through effective brand awareness efforts and advertising on OTT platforms, you can influence the perception and favorability of your brand. With the right OTT ads behind you, you can drastically boost brand awareness and get the best results from your campaigns.
Enhance Your OTT Campaigns With Those That Know Best
If you're new to OTT advertising, it can be overwhelming. To get the best possible results from your campaigns, you're better off not going it alone.
Working with a media agency that offers OTT advertising services can help significantly increase the efficacy of your OTT campaigns and optimize your ads. As a result, you can experience increased brand awareness and reach while creating more compelling and engaging ads.
About the Author
@Janine Pollack is the Integrated Marketing Director at MNI Targeted Media and self-appointed Storyteller in Chief. As content lead for MNI’s Insight Lab, she leads numerous webinars to bring to life the brand's commitment to knowing more so we can do more. Prior to MNI she worked with Fortune 500 companies and world-renowned institutions on thought-leadership events and content.
