Three Things Mobile Marketers Need to Know to Leverage OTT Streaming

Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming services are becoming more and more popular in a socially distant world.

According to Adjust's recent Mobile Streaming Report 2021, consumers are streaming 4 times more content on their phones since the COVID-19 outbreak. This reflects as an opportunity to marketers, as more people embrace streaming on their mobile devices and connected TVs (CTV). The marketers can reach a fast-growing audience. Marketers need to be aware that OTT is more than a just twist on the TV model. As OTT gains momentum, mobile marketers need to look at how they can leverage OTT services and CTV platforms to achieve the desired business outcomes.

According to PWC Global Entertainment and media outlook 2020-2024 report, the OTT Market in India is projected to gain a 28.6 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) by 2024. The Indian market is also poised to overtake South Korea, Germany and Australia in terms of OTT video revenue. Subscription video-on-demand is the prime driver of revenue increasing at 30.7% CAGR across the forecast period.

Adjust’s most recent report reveals a radical global shift in OTT streaming consumption patterns across regions and generations. This dynamic requires a new mindset — and new data — to address the opportunity and measure the results. Knowing how and when consumers stream or which channels drive the most value and deliver the highest marketing impact, increases the potential to build a large user-base with high lifetime value (LTV).

Here are the three things mobile marketers need to know about consumer streaming:

Most users stream on their mobile at least once a day

Streaming content has become a daily habit for people across the globe. In India, mobile users spend a significant amount of time online. According to Data Reportal's Digital 2021, smartphone users in India spend an average of six hours everyday online, and 75 percent of internet users stream content via entertainment and video apps.

Users are willing to spend on streaming

Streaming services have proven that people are willing to pay for content. Korea and US lead the way in spending with an average of USD 42.68/month and USD 33.58/month, respectively. Millennials and Gen Zs were found to be big spenders when it comes to streaming content. However, users 55 years old and older are increasingly willing to pay.

In India, according to IBEF,  the OTT sector witnessed a 30 percent rise in the number of paid subscribers from 22.2 million to 29.0 million between March and July 2020.  Most Indian viewers prefer watching regional language content, especially Hindi on OTT platforms. The Hindi language content accounted for more than 50 percent of the overall streaming in April–July 2020.

Consumers' TV viewing habit is changing

Findings from the Adjust report shows that 76% of all respondents use their mobiles while watching TV. Around 78% say they commonly use social apps while watching TV. Also, more than half of the respondents use banking apps (51.37%) and games (51.07%). Others use food delivery apps (28.20%), utility apps (23.32%), e-commerce apps (20.88%) and travel apps (18.45%). This new TV viewing habit has a potentially huge impact for creative marketers. These marketers can use their data to create a whole new and interactive brand experience as users switch their attention between two devices.

Moreover, with most cinemas closed for a significant period due to the pandemic, traditional filmmakers and producers are taking new film releases to OTT platforms. While this gives more content options to users, this also helps draw in more subscribers to the platform.

Reimagining marketing for connected TVs

In many ways, Connected TVs present marketers with the best of two worlds. They have the opportunity to be associated with the high-quality content related to television and the accountability and measurable results of the web. This is an important development. It will allow cash-strapped marketing departments to better understand how their ads are performing and plan accordingly. It is, therefore, no surprise that advertisers are already shifting budget to CTV.  However, with the rise in ad spend and growing OTT user base, it is important for brands to fight bots and fraud, and protect marketing budget as well as safeguard the integrity of their marketing and consumers' data.

Conclusion

Now is the time for performance-driven marketers to experiment with ways to create new experiences. The possibilities are especially abundant for app marketers. For instance, advertisers can put a call-to-action in their TV ads, such as downloading an app via a QR code. This creates a seamless experience that not only results in high conversion rates, but also gives invaluable data about where users came from and helps identify potential users.

Marketers who can effectively capitalize on the shift to OTT and leverage the available technologies have two benefits. They can acquire new users and customers, and also build a wealth of data that will serve them well far into the future.