What does over-the-top mean?

How has over-the-top changed people's entertainment viewing habits?

1. Broader content selection

Gone are the days of a few top shows commanding huge primetime ratings. Nowadays, just about any show or film can be watched on demand. Also, with nearly unlimited distribution pathways, the market is now open to more new shows. So, not only do TV shows have to compete with numerous other new shows, they have to compete with an archived catalog of every popular piece of entertainment content ever made. For instance, The Office has remained incredibly popular to stream a decade after the show ended.

2. Viewing times

3. Binge watching

We've already discussed older content competing with new shows and movies. Binge watching is one of the most obvious results of large show catalogs. A person can spend days, weeks, or months watching an old show to the exclusion of all others. But the binge watching phenomenon has also changed how some new shows made for over-the-top audiences are published, with platforms like Netflix famously releasing whole seasons of a series at once. 

How to Use OTT for Small Business Marketing

Geographic Targeting

One big benefit of local TV ads for small businesses was access to a more local geographic area. While a given station broadcast to perhaps a fifty-mile radius, local companies could be reasonably certain that most of the viewing audience were potential customers. However, now that local TV viewership is shrinking, small businesses must find alternatives to fill that advertising gap. Fortunately, OTT ads allow for even more specific geographic targeting, so you can only serve your ads to audiences where they're most likely to want your products or services. You could choose particular counties, cities, or even neighborhoods.

Target Specific Audiences

Digital marketing applications such as OTT ads allow for much more clearly defined audiences, so you can determine what types of viewers you will serve advertisements. Different types of content sort audiences into useful segments, which your business can benefit from when narrowly tailoring ads for particular audiences.