Amazon OTT Advertising: All You Need to Know 

If you've ever streamed live sports, you've most likely come across an OTT video ad or content. 

OTT ( Over-the-Top) video ads or content, also called streaming TV, refers to content or advertisement that is displayed to viewers through a streaming video service.

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Amazon OTT advertising allows brands to target a wide audience, and improve brand performance. It is also one of the ways to increase revenue in business. 

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In this article, we will look at what Amazon OTT advertising is and how you can use it to build your brand.

What is Amazon OTT advertising?

As we mentioned earlier, OTT advertising stands for over-the-top advertising. This type of advertising solution is used to reach audiences who stream content over the internet. 

This form of advertising has become popular over the years as many consumers now consume content over the internet as opposed to cable TV. 

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According to statistics around 8.2 billion hours of content were watched in the third quarter of 2021. Also, Twitch, which is one of the largest live-streaming platforms, has an average of 30 million daily users. 

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Amazon OTT was established in 2019 under Amazon advertising. Some of its OTT streaming services include Prime Video, FireTV, Amazon Music, Amazon Studios, Twitch, IMDb TV, and Audible.

With Amazon OTT, advertisers can reach a wide range of audiences in the Amazon marketplace. 

You can find Amazon OTT ads in video streaming apps, and streaming platforms like Twitch, gaming consoles, streaming devices, smart TVs, and so on. 

How does Amazon OTT work? 

You can create Amazon OTT ads using the Amazon DSP (Demand-Side-Platform). This platform is available to advertisers selling on Amazon or not. 

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Amazon Fire TV is a leading OTT platform with millions of viewers worldwide. You can buy video placements on various apps on Fire TV. 

These ads can potentially reach millions of Live Stream users on Amazon’s streaming platforms. 

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OTT ads are not skippable and will be shown on a full screen at the beginning of the live stream or in between streaming live content. They are non-clickable ads and so cannot be measured by click-through rates. Amazon OTT ads are paid for per thousand impressions. 

Also, Amazon explains that managed service advertising options like OTT ads will require a monthly spend of $15,000 monthly. For budgets under $15,000, Amazon refers you to try other Amazon Advertising solutions like Amazon PPC ads, Sponsored Brands ads, Sponsored Display ads, etc. 

Benefits of using Amazon OTT advertising 

Now we know what Amazon OTT is all about. Let's look at a few benefits of using Amazon OTT advertising: 

Specific targeting 

With Amazon OTT ads, you can target specific audiences interested in your products. 

The Amazon Demand Side Platform will give you unique insights to help you target potential customers that can translate to product sales. These insights are based on factors like product interests, shopping patterns, and behaviors and demographics like gender, age, income, and more. 

Unique to Amazon OTT ads, you can also target customers who have viewed your competitor's products, and gain them as customers. 

Target difficult-to-reach audiences 

OTT ads are non-skippable and can help you reach audiences that are difficult to reach. For example, you can access customers who do not have an active TV subscription. 

Build your brand on and off Amazon

With OTT advertising, you can reach audiences both on Amazon platforms and third-party apps that are accessible to Amazon. This gives you the opportunity to increase brand awareness and lead potential customers to buy your products. 

Cheaper than TV ads 

Over the years, viewers of traditional media like TV have declined. Running ads via television now costs more now more than ever. Running OTT ads is a more cost-effective way to create visual advertisements. Plus, you can easily track these ads and obtain relevant data to track your results after the ad campaign is over. 

Getting started with Amazon OTT

With more people consuming video and live stream content, OTT ads are one way to reach more customers. Thankfully, anyone can take advantage of this marketing and advertising solution. Here's a quick guide to help you get started with Amazon OTT

Start with your goals 

As with any advertising campaign, you need to start with your goals. What do you intend to achieve with OTT ads? Who are you targeting? How do you want to measure the success of your advertising campaign? It is important to set clear and concise goals and KPIs to help you measure your success after the campaign. What's more, it will help you determine your target audience, video placements, and other factors. 

Identify and create audience segments

As we mentioned earlier, your goals will help you determine the type of audience you are targeting. For a successful campaign, it is important to identify and segment your target audience. This will help you create ads that are more specific to a customer's demographics and interests. 

There are three segments for behavioral targeting on Amazon: 

• In-market targeting: In-market targeting looks at customers that have searched for products within your product category on Amazon. 
• Lifestyle targeting: This reaches customers based on their interests. This includes their hobbies, preferences, habits, and so on.
• Retargeting: This type of audience segmentation looks at customers who looked at your products on Amazon but did not make a purchase. 

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Create and submit the ad

After identifying your target audience, you can create and submit your ad. To submit your ad, simply create an Amazon DSP account on the Amazon Video ads page. Visit the Amazon Video ads page and click on Get Started. Next, register your account and start creating campaigns.

Launch campaign and optimize 

Now it's time to launch your campaign. Once launched, continue to optimize your campaign to get maximum results. You can tweak your strategy, create more segments, test your bids, and so on. 

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Best practices for creating Amazon OTT advertising 

If you want your OTT ads to translate to product sales, you need to create high-quality ads that customers are interested in. Here are a few best practices for creating high-quality OTT ads: 

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1. Focus on an objective: As we mentioned earlier, it is important to define your goals clearly. Focus on an objective. It could be to build brand awareness or to create a deeper connection with your audience. Fully understand your target audience to ensure you create relevant ads that resonate with them deeply. 
2. Tell a captivating story: Stories leave memories that could last a lifetime. With OTT ads, you only have a few minutes to grab the attention of your customers. You can tell a story about the benefits of using your product or what your brand stands for. 
3. Include your brand's logo: Ensure your brand’s logo is included in your video ad to increase your brand awareness
4. Limit on-screen text: Amazon recommends using the least on-screen text as this can reduce the quality of a  viewer's experience. Instead, use short easy-to-read sentences that quickly pass the message across. 
5. Voice-overs/ music: While this is not compulsory, you can invest in voice-overs and add music that matches your ad. 
6. Add a Call-to-action(CTA): After a captivating ad, you want to include a call-to-action to encourage viewers to visit your website or even make a purchase. This can be helpful as viewers may have a nearby device while streaming. 

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How to measure success with Amazon OTT advertising 

Like with any other advertising campaign, you want to ensure you are getting positive returns on investments. Here are some metrics that can help you measure your ad performance: 

• Reach Metrics: The Reach Metrics will help you quantify how many people your ad was able to reach and its impact on your business. 
• Branded Search Metrics: The Brand Search Metrics will tell you just how many people are in search of your brand after the ad campaign. With this metric, you can quantify how compelling your ad was in getting people to take action. 
• New to Brand: With the New to Brand metrics, you will be able to quantify the percentage of people who were exposed to your ad and took the step to make a purchase. With this metric, you can determine if your ad was effective at driving sales. 
• Brand Lift: The Brand Lift metric helps you measure the changes in brand perception, purchase intent, consideration, etc. It also reveals your audience demographics.

Start creating Amazon OTT ads

We have seen over the years with the decline of television that video streaming is the future.

With Amazon OTT, you can explore various advertising opportunities and move many steps ahead of the competition.