Early signs of measurable OTT (over-the-top) ad campaign capabilities are starting to emerge for smaller advertisers. As viewership continues to shift away from standard cable TV packages and more towards OTT platforms (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, Hulu, etc.), many of these new "networks" are expected to roll out enhanced ad targeting and media buy capabilities in the months and years to come. Announced earlier this week, as reported by Search Engine Land, YouTube has launched YouTube Select, a new ad campaign buying capability that will allow advertisers to increase ad reach and target audiences via YouTube and YouTube TV. The launch enables digital marketing agencies to purchase media buys via Google Ads (Display and Video), Google 360, and via reservation with their Google rep. In their announcement, YouTube claims the launch with allow digital marketing agencies to "easily reach (their) audience with a single, scalable offering on the big screen across the best content, including popular creators, YouTube Originals, live sports, feature length movies, timely news and more." The online video juggernaut claims that over 100 million people watch YouTube and YouTube TV on their TV screen each month and that TV use for YouTube continues to grow. Alongside an increase in viewership in other OTT platforms during the lock down, these platforms are very aware of the ad reach and targeting capabilities their cord cutting services can provide for digital marketers.
As more people are spending time at home and getting rid of cable TV, many OTT streaming companies will likely begin to evolve their advertising and media buy capabilities in the future. Hulu is expected to announce a similar type of capability later this year. While this is a brand new offering and is limited to certain markets and advertisers at the moment, this is an early sign of what is likely to become an
increasing trend moving forward in the world of OTT and online targeting capabilities. The shift to OTT is welcome in the digital ad space in that it will create additional diversity for online and brand awareness strategy capabilities. In addition, it will call for an increase in professional video content for multifamily marketing strategies to advertise to prospects. While this still has a very long way to go before it enters into multifamily digital marketing strategies in scalable fashion, we expect to see these capabilities emerge in the months and years to come.