Table of Contents
Marketers have plenty of platforms online to advertise their brand or products and services. And not just the popular ones and social media, there are OTT platforms too, which means Over The Top. With OTT platforms, marketers and advertisers can find many golden opportunities to carry on their work when there is not much to look forward to. This is especially useful during times like Pandemic and lockdowns.
Social media is a powerful tool in marketing and more brands are resorting to it. Similarly, OTT platforms are being made use of due to popular shows and IPL. Social media marketing services have also skyrocketed in the last 2 years.
During that troubling time in 2020, Indian’s love for IPL grew larger and the craze raved. There were no tournament matches but they were being screened online on OTT platforms like Hotstar. Marketers saw this as an opportunity to push their work and grab the mass attention to advertise their brands.
But first, what is OTT?
What are OTT platforms?
Over The Top platforms are streaming media platforms offered over the internet directly to the viewers. The term is synonymous with subscription based video services. The popularity of OTT platforms in India during the months in 2020 grew rapidly and it is estimated that by 2023, the Indian OTT marketing is expected to reach 100 million viewers online.
A popular OTT platform in India is Hotstar. It’s the most subscribed app in the country. In 2020, the app saw 300 million active subscribers. The high number is because IPL matches were being streamed to paid subscribers.
That said, it provided marketers a great opportunity to create brand awareness.
Afterall, video advertising is one of the most effective forms of marketing. And since video streaming in India is a big deal, video advertising on OTT platforms has become quite important in the Indian market.
Why should you advertise on IPL?
Like we said before, IPL got over 300 million views. Along with the streaming video, your ads could gain significant attention which can give your brand a major boost. Here are the reasons you should advertise on IPL –
Expansive viewership
Lockdowns in 2020 have skyrocketed with a whopping record-breaking viewership of 462 million out of which 300 million are from Hotstar alone. Moreover, OTT platforms have a large audience base of 250 million viewers. With IPL screening, the viewership rate is going to be getting higher in the coming months.
With such expansive viewership, you have a greater chance of reaching out to your target audience and create brand awareness on a much larger scale compared to any other channels for advertising.
Low Advertising rates
Given the growing viewership of IPL on Hotstar and other OTT platforms, the advertising rates have significantly reduced, giving small business owners more opportunities to advertise on IPL. Earlier the rates were quite high and only big businesses could afford to advertise. From 2020, IPL offers a starting package of 1 lakh rupees to advertise your brand.
With the lesser rates, it could provide you with a good ROI as you’d be able to reach a large audience and get more sales or reach whatever your business goals are.
Diverse audience
According to the audience demographic report, the audience interest is quite diverse with 66% being annual travelers, 60% monthly online shoppers, 40% degree/diploma holders, 70% investors of stocks and MFs, and 90% have paid subscriptions.
The diverse interests of the audience gives marketers many options to pick their audience and selectively market their products/services to a specific group of people.
Time
On the IPL streams, each match has more than 2000 seconds of ad inventory. With around 56 matches, each match has around 2,300 seconds of ad inventory. This gives plenty of time for many brands to show their ads.
High Engagement
IPL is a huge hit among the Indians. It gets a high engagement rate, even with ads being shown. That means, along with the engagement on IPL, your ads could get their share of the engagement in the pre and post shows. Even in highlights you can get a lot of engagement from the viewers.
Customisation
Chances are, your target audience are young people or people who spend a lot of time on digital platforms. There are many options to customise your ads with different formats to suit your audience’s interests and your marketing goals.
Also IPL offers filters to fine-tune your target audience based on age, gender, interests, location, and other metrics. Brands that are looking to boost their sales and want to introduce their new products are at an advantage because of the options available to customise their ads and the benefits the platform provides.
IPL advertising can be done during those 30 or something unskippable ads that are played during the match or between programs or you can also advertise on online billboards.
Conclusion
During tough times, we all have to adapt to the new normal. During these times, new opportunities arise and they could prove to be more useful than previously existing ones, which is why marketers must seize such opportunities.
IPL advertising is one of them. They are now budget-friendly too so making it easier for small brands to use them for advertising. With it, you can easily pick your niche audience and reach out to them. Hotstar is the most subscribed app, making it a remarkable OTT platform for advertising.
It’s definitely the time to invest in new platforms and grow your business in new ways. Contact this social media agency in Bangalore if you want your brand or your products to be advertised.
WEBI7 DIGITAL MEDIA is a leading social media marketing company Bangalore providing innovative digital services for startups and small business owners.
