OTT Advertising for Political Campaigns

 

By Buck Cram – Effectv, A Comcast Company

(Sponsored)

 

Over-the-top (OTT) streaming TV service is a popular and growing media type with a wide reach. More than three-fourths of U.S. broadband households subscribe to at least one OTT service, representing a still-growing subscriber base. This makes OTT a powerful advertising platform, capable of delivering messaging to millions of homes. 

 

For political advertisers, it can be an important part of a complete outreach campaign, and it can be an especially effective full-funnel solution when combined with traditional TV advertising. 

 

OTT Defined 

The concept of OTT is new enough that its definition in the industry is still hazy. We define OTT as any video streamed over the internet, regardless of device. This includes content viewed via connected TV (CTV), as well as video content streamed on mobile devices, tablets, computers, and other screens. OTT also includes video-on-demand (VOD) content, which can be broken down further into subscription VOD (SVOD) such as Netflix and advertising-based or ad-supported VOD (AVOD) such as Pluto TV. 

 

Effectv delivers messaging across a range of OTT content, including: 

 

• On numerous network apps and websites when users watch TV content. 
• Through AVOD on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 platform, which includes Pluto TV, Tubi, and many more. 
• Across OTT outlets offered by other providers including AT&T, Cox, and Verizon. 

 

OTT Viewing Trends 

OTT content has wide reach, and U.S. households consume a lot of it. More than 70 million U.S. homes are OTT-capable,¹ and OTT accounts for 19% of all video viewing time.² This adds up to an average of more than 1 hour daily among U.S. adults, with 57% of that time spent with ad-supported OTT.² 

 

And while viewers still favor the TV screen, they’re watching OTT content across every device. Effectv’s Premium Digital TV offering – which runs ads during TV content viewed on any device – delivers just half its impressions via connected TV. Premium Digital TV impressions are also delivered across set-top-box VOD, computers, and tablets and mobile devices.³ 

 

OTT vs. TV 

Still, viewers use OTT as a supplement to traditional TV rather than a replacement. Seven in 10 households with OTT services also subscribe to cable. This makes them just as likely to have a cable subscription as any other household.⁴   

 

Additionally, time spent with TV still outpaces time spent with OTT. U.S. adults spend an average of 5 hours and 22 minutes watching video content daily, with more than three-fourths of that time spent with live and time-shifted TV. And unlike OTT, this time is almost entirely ad-supported.²  

 

Likewise, OTT viewers still spend most of their video time with set-top boxes rather than other devices. In households with SVOD services, people aged 35 and older spend seven times more time viewing with a set-top box than with a connected device.² 

 

 

Using TV and OTT for Political Advertising 

Even as OTT viewership rises, TV’s continued popularity and ad-supported nature suggest that advertisers can maximize the impact of political advertising by using both. By diversifying media outlets, advertisers can achieve incremental reach and deliver their message to more of the right viewers. 

 

Candidates can root their ad strategies in TV, which typically makes a strong foundation for any ad campaign because of its broad reach and the amount of time viewers spend with the medium. And for political campaigns in particular, advertising on TV strongly correlates to higher win rates.  

 

Then, candidates can expand their outreach to OTT, which shares many of TV’s strengths. TV and OTT alike are engaging, video-based mediums that excel in forming emotional connections, an important aspect of a winning political campaign strategy. 

 

Likewise, both have addressable capabilities and can help candidates reach the right audiences at the right times. Rather than buying by network and daypart, these types of advertising are now powered by data insights, making them precise and accountable.  

With both TV and OTT, candidates can target their political ads by: 

 

• Geography: Focus on battleground states and districts. 
• Demographics: Choose an audience based on age and gender. 

• Audience Segment: Target segments based on traits like interests, lifestyle, and household income. 
• Voter attributes: Deliver messaging to households based on party affiliation, voting propensity, and opinions on hot-button issues. 

 

By combining their naturally broad reach with addressable capabilities, TV and OTT can be used for full-funnel outreach. TV’s reach makes it a powerful medium to raise general awareness of candidates and issues. And while OTT advertising can also be an upper-funnel tactic, its strength lies in its targeting and addressable capabilities, ideal for lower-funnel outreach.  

 

Use TV and OTT to reach potential voters at every stage of the decision-making process: 

 

• Upper Funnel: Reach broad audiences to raise awareness. 

• Middle Funnel: Target specific audience segments in order to sway opinions. 
• Lower Funnel: Deliver your message to your most likely supporters to turn out the vote. 

 

Launching a political ad campaign that incorporates both TV and OTT is simple with the right media partner. At Effectv, we help candidates launch efficient and effective cross-screen campaigns that deliver meaningful results. Our TV and OTT ad solutions are as accountable as digital, so you can see performance metrics like audience reach and frequency, what networks and devices your ad ran on, and more. 

 

The influence that TV and OTT have on elections is hard to deny. With their popularity and addressable capabilities, political candidates can leverage the power of TV and OTT to achieve a broad and targeted reach. In a single media buy, candidates can deliver the right messages to the audiences that matter most to them. 

 

Interested in learning more? Click here to download our 2020 Political eBook

 

 

Sources: 

1. National Center for Education Statistics, “ Number and percentage of households with computer and internet access, by state: 2016,” https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_702.60.asp. Advanced Television, “Data: 76% US homes subscribe to OTT,” 2020, https://advanced-television.com/2020/04/29/data-76-us-homes-ott-subscribers/. 

2. Source: Nielsen Total Audience Report, February 2020.  

3. Comcast internal data, February 2020. 

4. Nielsen NPower May 2020 UE Report.