We’re often asked, “should I advertise my furniture store on OTT (streaming TV) or YouTube?” and the answer is, “it depends.”
The difference between OTT and YouTube is that with YouTube, you don’t pay anything if the viewer clicks Skip Ad anytime before the 30-second mark. With OTT you pay for Impressions only, and the viewer doesn’t have the option to Skip the ad. There are pros and cons to each.
Since viewers are forced to watch the OTT ads, your complete message gets distributed to more people. Maybe it takes more than five seconds for the viewer to understand your store’s value, so OTT provides an advantage. And OTT ads are most often viewed on a TV screen, which can seem more impressive to the viewer.
YouTube ads might ultimately be seen by more immediately interested people because those who aren’t interested can Skip. But by prospects skipping the ad, you might not be building as much long-term brand awareness in the viewer’s mind.
Ideally, a furniture store would do both because some people watch OTT frequently, and rarely use YouTube, while others view YouTube often, and rarely watch OTT.
If using both platforms at the same time will stretch a budget too thin, you could alternate between the two platforms from month to month. Either way, you can’t go wrong using online video to spread awareness about your store.