OTT vs. CTV Advertising: What's the Difference?

The realm of entertainment is gaining momentum and reaching new dimensions with the expansion of OTT (Over The Top) and CTV (Connected TV). Businesses find immense opportunities in this growth and are increasingly adopting OTT marketing strategies to enhance their reach. While advertising takes different forms across these platforms, contextual targeting plays a crucial role in ensuring ads reach the right audience at the right time. Video content remains the most relevant and widely used ad format, making ad placement a critical factor for maximizing engagement. Apptrove helps businesses refine their CTV and OTT marketing efforts through precise audience segmentation and advanced analytics, ensuring optimized ad performance across OTT and CTV platforms. Now, let’s dive deeper into each of these.: 

OTT Advertising

As the traditional TVs importance is declining day by day, OTT is the emerging player in the entertainment field. OTT (Over The Top) are content providers delivering content through the internet. Internet is the basic necessity for streaming OTT. OTT bypasses other traditional movies of viewing content like cable connections, broadband, and satellites. As the name suggests, it comes ‘over the top’ of these methods, directly to the audience. Some of the popular OTT services are Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+Hotstar, etc. OTT services can be accessed through any device with a proper internet connection, like smartphones, smart TVs, laptops desktops, etc. This gives OTT an edge over other TV service providers. Another advantage of OTT services is that the measurement of metrics of advertisement is comparatively easier when using OTT than using traditional TVs. 

There are mainly two types of OTT services. One is subscription-based called SVOD- subscription video on demand. In this model, the viewers pay a premium subscription for ad-free content in OTT. The second type is AVOD- Advertising-based video on demand. In this model, content will be available free of cost to the viewers but there will be non-skippable advertisements similar to traditional TV. 

CTV Advertising

A connected TV is a device that is connected to the internet. CTVs are not limited to a single device they can be smart TVs, Gaming consoles, or other streaming devices. Nowadays even the traditional TVs can be converted into smart TVs using devices. The growing popularity of OTT also benefits CTV and CTV Advertising. In CTV the ads are usually shown on the sides of the screen or in the traditional way. While playing OTT services also, they can place advertisements. Another major type is interactive ads which need interaction of the users through the remote control of the CTV. This makes the customers feel valued and increases customer loyalty. VCR - Video Completion Rate and CPCV - Cost Per Completed View are the two major metrics related to CTV advertising.

Video Advertising

Video ads are short video content that are used to market a product or service. This can span from 15 seconds to 1 minute. It can be played on almost every gadget like CTV, laptops, mobile phones, desktops, and tablets. Video content is the most used medium for advertising today. In today’s world, the attention span of youngsters and others is declining so it is advisable to make videos with around 15 to 30 seconds of length. These advertisements should be developed attractively so that potential customers can easily identify your brand. Lengthy videos are not preferred by most of the audience. In the video ad, make sure you project the highlighting features of your brand, the discounts and offers you provide, and other essential details of your business. 

By reading the details of the three marketing channels, you must have a clear understanding of the three. Now let us move into the benefits of these channels.

Benefits Of OTT, CTV, and Video Ads

OTT and CTV share almost similar kinds of benefits. Here are some of the benefits of OTT, CTV, and Video ads: 

More Reach - The ads will reach more audiences as they are more engaging. The ads in OTT platforms are sometimes not skippable, thus video completion rates will be high. The ads in OTT can be seen on multiple devices, this feature is not available for CTV. This can also contribute to the wider reach. CTV provides a better visual treat for the audience with its big screen and high-quality visuals. Video ads can be present in social media which allows sharing of ads.

Cost-Effective - These methods do not require a huge amount for their commencement. These are less expensive channels that create a huge impact on business. Adding texts in video ads should also be considered while creating them as they also help in the betterment of the brand.

These are the major benefits of OTT, CTV, and Video ads. We must also note that measurement of the metrics associated with these channels is also very important for the optimization of the marketing strategies. Apptrove will be a suitable companion for your business journey and help your business to earn a decent position in the market. Apptrove MMP can be a perfect aid for your brand and help in working out OTT, CTV, and Video ads.