How to make OLV advertising work for you

Online video advertising, often abbreviated to OLV advertising, is a key part of a customer’s journey. As marketers, we know that video content is already firmly on-trend. There are over 244.4 million digital video viewers in the US alone. So it’s no surprise that video marketers get 66% more qualified leads.

In this blog post, we’ll delve into the details of OLV marketing, how it works, discuss why it’s a high-impact channel, and outline best practices for creating an OLV advertising strategy of your own.

What is OLV and how does it work?

OLV stands for “online video,” and is usually a type of internet video advertising. Types of OLV advertising include 6-, 15-, 30- or 60-second horizontal ads that run before, during and after video content on websites and apps.

The way people consume content has evolved rapidly in the last decade, and there is now a heavy focus on online video (OLV). With TV changing, and mobile rising, it has created a perfect storm for short- and long-form video content to be watched from anywhere – creating the rise of OLV advertising. Marketers have had to adapt the way they advertise to suit the genre of content that viewers prefer. Enter online video advertising.

There are very few limits to OLV, meaning marketing teams can also embed video within online articles. 

But what is OLV advertising used for? OLV media is effective for broad brand awareness campaigns, but is becoming more commonplace as a performance solution. Consumer attention spans are becoming increasingly shorter due to digital fatigue, so well-placed video ads can be effective in capturing viewer attention across an array of channels and devices to drive actions. 

Why OLV is a high-impact channel

OLV marketing strategies are effective because they allow marketers to continue a brand’s awareness story while simultaneously pushing customers down the funnel toward conversion. However, more specifically than that, online video advertising campaigns help marketers by:

• Connecting large format video, like CTV, to display campaigns.

• Achieving reach and frequency goals across digital channels by targeting a large audience wherever they are watching video across the open internet.

• Measuring the full path to purchase and understanding each how many touches, and where, lead to a purchase.

Practical considerations aside, the primary reason OLV advertising has become such a powerhouse is its continued popularity with consumers and advertisers alike. Recent statistics show that both parties are heavily invested in video content. 

• Consumers spend an average of 2 hours and 36 minutes per day watching digital video, an increase of over 40% in just three years.

• The percentage of the population watching digital video will grow to 79% by 2026.

• Mobile video consumption is projected to grow to 68% by 2026. 

• In 2022, digital video will account for over half of all programmatic ad spending for the first time ever.

• Video ad spending is projected to grow 64%, reaching a value of $125 billion by 2026.

• Nearly 9 out of every 10 digital ad dollars will transact programmatically over the next few years. 

Clearly, OLV media isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and savvy marketers would do well to develop their own OLV strategy to avoid falling behind their competitors.

How OLV advertising works best

Online video advertising can be done in a variety of ways, but there is a five-step process to ensure you're maximizing the efficiency of your OLV investment:

1. Identify
   It's crucial to connect with real people, not impressions. Marketers should work with partners who have software focused on deterministic matches against transactions and conversions (like logins or form sign-ups) from vetted data partners. In an increasingly cookieless world, this is the only way to enable and guarantee people-based advertising.
   
   
2. Connect
   Ensure you're working with a partner that has an identity solution that not only connects a household to the people living in it, but also connects devices to the people using them. This enables cross-channel activation and puts reach and frequency controls in your hands.
   
   
3. Target
   With continuously refreshed audience segments rooted in your partner's proprietary data or your own first-party data, you'll be able to find the exact customer you want to reach.
   
   
4. Deliver
   Optimizing media delivery to in-stream (in-feed, in-article, and interstitial) and outstream inventory in real-time achieves campaign goals by reaching the right audience across the open internet when they are most receptive.
   
   
5. Measure
   Connected identity reveals cross-channel insights and measurements that guide the customer journey and helps advertisers understand the activities that drive repeat conversions. Supported KPIs include, but are not limited to, VCR, viewability, consideration rate, and reach and frequency metrics, like unique reach and exclusive reach and overlap.

Tips for Launching Your Own OLV Strategy

There are a few critical considerations to ensure you maximize the efficiency of each OLV campaign.

Optimize your OLV advertising campaigns with Epsilon

With Epsilon’s all-in-one marketing platform, the opportunities to reach your customer are endless. Our privacy-protected data gives you access to over 1,500 granular audiences that account for demographics, interests and life stages, and behaviors and transactions, in addition to vertical-specific information. The result? Accurate and reliable data that is invaluable to your brand.

Here’s how our approach differs from other solutions on the market:

Reach: Epsilon OLV solutions offer opportunities to reach customers on the open internet across varied web and in-app inventory – unlike walled gardens, which limit who can be reached and where.

Effective online video advertising starts with knowing your customers. Learn more about Epsilon's digital identity solutions and digital advertising services, and partner with Epsilon to drive your OLV advertising efforts forward today.