The digital streaming industry continues to shift, making it crucial for marketers to leverage emerging trends and technologies to meet customer expectations. Experts predict the global video streaming market size to be worth over $1721.4 billion by 2030. These developments mean advertisers must master innovative technologies and utilize creative strategies to increase audience engagement, revenue, and brand awareness while staying competitive. Here are the top 6 video streaming trends marketers should know.
- Emergence of FAST
One major video streaming trend that is making waves is the rising popularity of Free Ad-Supported Streaming (FAST) channels. FAST channels are seen as an upgrade on linear TV. These deliver scheduled and high-quality tailored content with well-optimized targeted ads, providing viewers with a unique experience similar to conventional TV. Although FAST and VOD channels both support paid commercials, they are quite different in their ad format display. AVOD (ad-based videos on demand) services support video monetization via banners, sponsored ads, and interactive commercials. On the other hand, FAST channels render advertising similar to cable television; you can pre-record and show ads randomly during the live stream.
AVOD and FAST display various ads to end-users, but people can access them on the same device. The advantages of FAST channels include high-quality content and affordability. They show updated videos in a familiar format, improving user experiences for viewers who are used to watching linear TV. This feature allows FAST channels like Pluto TV to scale their reach substantially. Many consumers subscribe to FAST because it helps them avoid paying monthly fees for cable TV. However, the downside to FAST is its technical demands; providers that want to use this service may have to plan programming since the videos on such platforms are often unavailable on demand.
- Omnichannel marketing
Marketers should leverage different platforms to be successful in the video marketing industry. An omnichannel strategy needs creativity and technological input from advertisers; thankfully, many tools support that nowadays, including websites, applications, social networks, and email marketing. Marketers can promote brands on video-sharing platforms like YouTube, broadcast live events, and work with content creators to improve audience outreach and engagement. Also, employing interactive features, augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) help create extraordinary user experiences and boost marketing strategies.
Additionally, you can use third-party paid channels to share content besides traditional media channels. Consider requesting services from FAST OTT aggregators, cooperating to share revenue, and featuring your videos in OTT channel libraries. Another effective way to increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your channels is to use influencer marketing and buy ad spaces to distribute your most popular video content on social media to expand your audience.
- AD stitching (CSAI and SSAI)
Ad stitching is how ads are placed in videos on demand or live content. It’s an important concept for both client-side ad insertion (CSAI) and server-side ad insertion (SSAI). Video marketers should know the differences between CSAI vs SSAI to help optimise their campaigns for the best experience and visibility. The key difference between these two monetization methods lies in where the ad stitching occurs in the video workflow. With CSAI, a user’s device handles the ad stitching. When a video player requests the stream, it also triggers the ad server to display advertising materials at the right location in the video (this includes pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads).
One advantage of CSAI insertion is that it gathers more user data, making it easier to serve personalized ads to viewers. Once a video player acknowledges the ad content, it incorporates that into the main video feed, ensuring a natural transition. Understanding the pros and cons of CSAI vs. SSAI can help marketers implement the right technique into their video workflow streams.
Unlike CSAI, SSAI’s ad stitching occurs at the server level before reaching a consumer’s device. For this process to run smoothly, the server picks up a video and its ad content from their respective server, encoding and combining them into one stream. While this method allows a consistent viewing experience, SSAI has limits; it cannot display real-time tailored ads like CSAI.
Tailoring ads according to a user’s preference and demographics can improve engagement. CSAI provides better ad tracking features than SSAI, so it allows platforms to provide advertisers the ability to monitor an ad campaign’s effectiveness through analytics. That said, ad blockers can negatively impact CSAI ads; since the stitching happens on the user’s device, they can use ad-blocking software to avoid viewing ads, which can affect ad revenue – an important element for monetization workflow. Ad blockers are less effective on SSAI ads since the insertion happens on the server side rather than the client’s device.
- OTT soars
OTT (over-the-top) services continue to grow, with the United States witnessing over 182 million subscribers as of 2020. The increasing popularity of these platforms is partly because users can benefit from limitless and instant access to premium content. Leading OTT providers include brands like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime. In the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, Netflix’s revenue peaked at nearly $25 billion in 2020 thanks to the widespread home confinement. OTT providers keep finding ways to deliver original and valuable content to viewers. This investment seems to pay off as many young consumers migrate to online video streaming channels. Companies can monetize content using alternative models such as ad-based and subscription services for videos on demand.
- Live streaming on social media
It’s worth noting that social media live streaming started as a non-interactive trend, but platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram have developed two-way channels to improve streaming experiences. The inclusion of messaging apps empowers audiences to interact with streaming broadcasters in real-time. This interactive experience has helped popularize live streaming for businesses and consumers. Brands can also use media streaming gadgets to transform the broadcasting process.
Video streaming dominates social media platforms, with YouTube now rivaling Facebook and Instagram. In 2020, 55% of consumers ranked the Google network as their favorite video streaming platform.
Live streaming is a robust digital marketing channel for businesses around the world. This trend is attributable to live streams being distributed directly to audiences interested in the broadcast. The mass increase in mobile users is another factor that has helped fuel live streaming. Ecommerce brands can seize live streaming opportunities to showcase their products and improve consumers’ experiences. To transform your marketing strategies with social media, embrace leading platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
- NFT and Metaverse integration on CTV
Smart televisions are not only useful for video content viewing; they can also offer interactive experiences. If you own a smart TV, you can explore the Metaverse and leverage non-fungible tokens (NFTs). CTV marketers can find applications in these systems as well. NFTs are based on blockchain technology, so they have the potential to impact transformation in the streaming landscape and drive content monetization. For example, YouTube Music and Spotify may charge creators up to 30% of their revenue, while NFT-based platforms offer rewards for streaming.
Samsung has introduced a smart TV NFT platform featuring major marketplaces like Nifty Gateway. This can allow consumers to sell and buy tokens and show them on their smart Samsung TVs. NFT-backed channels will also be available on CTV, allowing people to monetize videos on several platforms. The Metaverse gained momentum in 2022, with industry experts believing it will shape the digital marketing world through immersive experiences enabled via VR and 3D.
Knowing these trends will help you make informed decisions as a marketer and enjoy each trend’s benefits.
