Broadcast television – the home of traditional TV ad breaks – seems to be on its way out. According to Ofcom’s latest Media Nations report, the service saw its biggest ever annual decline last year as viewers increasingly turn to more flexible options.
More than two thirds of UK households now use TV streaming services, offering a fresh opportunity for advertisers to reach new and engaged audiences as they simultaneously flex their creativity with innovative ad formats.
But is it really as simple as that? Amazon Ads UK MD Phil Christer asks how advertisers should approach this sector and how can they ensure their campaigns deliver impactful results, in terms of sales as well as reach?
Measuring the impact of linear TV ad campaigns, beyond reach, is something that advertisers have often found difficult, with an increasingly disjointed consumer journey making it hard to see how views translate into conversion.
This, combined with economic pressures tightening marketing budgets, means that CMOs are increasingly being challenged to prove how their ad campaigns are really delivering.
So how can advertisers justify their investments?
Do streaming ads really make a difference?
Car manufacturer Škoda recently used a streaming TV ad campaign to connect with new audiences, as it wanted to reach consumers who were considering purchasing an electric vehicle. It created an interactive digital car configurator which bought the car shopping experience into consumers living rooms via Amazon’s Fire TV, helping them discover the features of Škoda’s first ever all-electric luxury SUV from the comfort of their sofa.
Supporting the new interactive experience with media placements across Fire TV and Fire Tablets, the campaign provided a seamless link between audience interest and consumer response, enabling increased discoverability for the launch.
Upon completion, the campaign had received 46 million impressions, with 53,000 viewers visiting the TV car configurator and fully connecting with the brand.
Further; a recent Nielsen study found that Amazon’s streaming TV ad campaigns helped advertisers reach a 10.9% incremental audience on average over their linear TV campaigns in 2022. Meanwhile, 72% of that audience were not reached by linear TV ads at all, clearly showing the potential streaming TV ads have in helping brands reach new audiences.
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Bridging the gap between content and commerce
Streaming TV ads give brands an opportunity to place their products and services at the heart of premium content that customers love.
In the UK, Prime Video continues to grow its entertainment offering, with UEFA Champions League coming to Prime Video UK from 2024, and Freevee – Amazon’s ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) service – bringing the iconic TV series Neighbours back to screens.
With attention spans shortening – research from Kings College London shows half the public (49%) say they feel like their attention span is shorter than it used to be, while only quarter (23%) think their attention span has increased – customers want to be engaged in an authentic way and move from watching content to making a purchase as simply and easily as possible.
Both Freevee and Prime Video offer advertisers the opportunity to help customers move seamlessly from the content they love to browsing and buying products via a range of full-screen non-skippable video ads, as well as in-stream and out-stream video on websites across desktop and mobile.
Brand-funded entertainment is another way option for brands looking to connect streaming content to commerce.
Birra Moretti’s Live Italian series is one such example of this. Funded and produced by Birra Moretti and available on Prime Video, the three-part series blends long-form content with subtle nods to the Birra Moretti brand, entertaining and engaging consumers in an authentic, credible way.
This was supported with Birra Moretti ad placements on Fire TV, as well as video and displays placements on and off Amazon. As well as engaging new audiences, brand-funded content is proven to increase purchase intent, with a recent study by MAGNA and Amazon Ads revealing that brand-funded entertainment provides a 9% lift in purchase intent and a 21% lift in search intent among potential new customers.
Real time measurement and implementation
In a challenging economic climate, demonstrating ROI is always going to be a top priority for advertisers. Brands need to show how advertising spend translates into business outcomes, and having the right measurement strategy and solution in place is crucial if advertisers are going to do this effectively.
Accurate measurement tools allow advertisers to connect the streaming media with their brand and business outcomes.
These tools – such as Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) – allow advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their investments into streaming TV ad campaigns with real-time analysis of each campaign reach and frequency, as well as the total impact across the marketing funnel.
On top of this, AMC also offers advertisers valuable insights into the composition and behaviours of their audiences, such as the purchase rate of those reached by sponsored products ads compared to those reached by display ads, helping guide decision making on where to focus media spend.
The level of insight offered by these tools means brands can directly link ad reach to sales performance and fully assess their onmichannel campaigns, adapting advertising strategies almost immediately, to ensure maximum effectiveness. Measurable impact has never been so exciting.
