We are witnessing the most significant disruption to television since the advent of cable. A number of MVPDs (Multi-channel Video Program Distributors) have launched new OTT (Over the top) services such as Hulu, Youtube, Sling TV, Directv Now, etc. As these new services compete for Millennial cord cutters, they are providing a new way for advertisers to target this sought after demographic. Given the fact that these services are new, and viewership is still building, DRMetrix wanted to know if direct response advertisers were having success advertising in these new mediums. So, we headed over to Survey Monkey and emailed out a survey to a few thousand direct response professionals this week.

Special thanks to the 117 respondents who completed our survey!

Here are the results:

Question 1:

Have you run a direct response campaign on any OTT delivery service such as Sling, Directv Now, Hulu, etc?

Answer: 40 respondents (34.2%) answered YES

Question 2:

The promise of OTT is that we can reach our target market more cost effectively. We should be able to support a premium cost-per-thousand viewers while increasing response rates and driving down the delivered cost-per-order or lead. In comparison to national cable buys, how would you rank the performance of OTT buys today on a scale from 1 (terrible) to 100 (terrific)?

Answer: 38 respondents (32.5%) provided a below average performance score of “47” for OTT buys.

Question 3:

Have you tried an advanced cable advertising campaign targeting individual cable households?

Answer: 34 respondents (29%) answered YES

Question 4:

The promise of Advanced Cable Advertising is that we can reach our target market more cost effectively. We should be able to support a premium cost-per-thousand viewers while increasing response rates and driving down the delivered cost-per-order or lead. In comparison to national cable buys, how would you rank the performance of Advanced Cable Advertising buys today On a scale from 1 (terrible) to 100 (terrific)?

Answer: 33 respondents (28.2%) provided an above average performance score of “60” for advanced cable advertising buys.

Question 5:

Today, many U.S. households have connected video streaming devices such as smart televisions. It is possible to fingerprint a TV commercial and detect when unique consumer households are exposed to the advertisement. The household IP address can then be used to target members of that household via digital ad campaigns on their 2nd screen devices. The premise is that a distracted TV consumer using a 2nd screen device while watching TV may be more inclined to respond if they see the ad across all of their devices rather than limited to their television screen. Playing devils advocate, if one gets off the couch and takes a bio break, or goes to the kitchen during a commercial break, then advertisers would be paying a premium to reach such consumers with perhaps little upside.Have you executed any 2nd screen targeting campaigns synced to live TV ads?

Answer: 24 respondents (20.5%) answered YES

Question 6:

How have your TV to 2nd screen retargeting campaigns worked on a scale from 1 (terrible) to 100 (terrific)?

Answer: 24 respondents (20.5%) provided an above average performance score of “54” for 2nd Screen Targeting campaigns.

Summary Findings:

Advanced cable advertising indexed above average and significantly higher than OTT. The responses on 2nd screen targeting were less conclusive given the small number of respondents.   DRMetrix looks forward to conducting this survey into the future as adoption rates increase.

On a related topic, DRMetrix has been researching ways to monitor OTT streams to help educate the marketplace.  Unfortunately, given where the marketplace is at currently, there is no comprehensive way to do so.  New emerging ACR (automated content recognition) technology is now running on streaming devices such as smart televisions. Millions of smart television owners, have opted into an arrangement where their smart TV is able to listen and report the ads that are running on their television. This data is certainly helpful to advertisers. This capability could also provide a way to track OTT airings across a large number of consumer households if it weren’t for the fact that the vast majority of OTT providers will not allow it.  They are contractually requiring that smart TV manufacturers to turn off ACR detection while consumers are running their smart TV applications.  As a result, smart television data providers are extremely limited in their ability to monitor OTT streams.  One noteable exception is when smart TV customers hook up third party devices such as Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Amazon TV, etc.  The smart television ACR can detect ads that are running but now the problem is determining the source of the ACR detection should it be from an OTT provider.  We are not aware of any existing solutions to this particular problem.  Stay tuned as this situation may change into the future.  If so, DRMetrix will report when and if there is a breakthrough in this area!