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Systemic shifts are reshaping Indian advertising. The growth of e-commerce advertising (a.k.a. sales channel spends, now estimated at over Rs 15,000 crore annually), the growing SME advertiser base (over a million SME advertisers) and a definitive shift towards performance and RoAS have changed the advertiser mindset over the last few years.
Apart from the obvious use case of sharper targeting than broadcast options, OTT platforms provide/can provide advertisers with several valuable solutions to meet the above systemic shifts, some of which are mentioned below.
The ability to create 'niche communities'
In sports streaming, niche communities are created in several ways, such as language feeds, expert commentary feeds, message boards and gamification, as well as for sports that are too niche to find broadcast partners.
In entertainment, audience niches and communities are created not only by language, but by creating distinct fan bases for different reality shows, for different characters like Jassi or Anupama, and through interactive offerings.
Communities provide their sponsors/partners with the ability to engage deeper, more frequently, and enable trial/sales/information exchange in a conducive environment.
Interactive engagement options
OTT’s biggest advantage is the ability to provide interactive elements as part of the content or ads.
The KBC play-along game, Jeeto Dhan Dhana Dhan and many other interactive properties have scaled to millions of unique audiences. Such properties provide consumer data, engagement, branding opportunities, and even app download and trial.