What Is OTT Marketing (OTT Advertising)?
OTT marketing — also called OTT advertising — means running video ads on streaming platforms delivered “over the top” of traditional cable, like Hulu, Roku, YouTube TV, or streaming apps on smart TVs. It lets businesses reach audiences who’ve moved away from cable with the same targeting precision as digital ads, instead of the broad, unmeasurable reach of traditional TV.
The short version
“OTT” stands for “over-the-top” — content delivered directly over the internet, bypassing traditional cable or satellite providers. OTT marketing is advertising placed within that streaming content: the commercial breaks you see on Hulu, the pre-roll on a streaming app, or ads served through a connected TV (CTV) device. For businesses, it’s a way to get TV-quality video ads in front of a specific, targetable audience — something traditional broadcast TV was never able to offer.
How it’s different from traditional TV advertising
Traditional TV buys are broad and hard to measure — you’re paying for a time slot and a general audience estimate, with little insight into who actually saw your ad or what they did afterward. OTT flips that. Because it runs through internet-connected platforms, OTT advertising can be targeted by location, demographics, interests, and even household-level data, and performance can be tracked with far more precision — impressions, completion rates, and in many cases, downstream actions like site visits or calls.
Why it matters for local businesses
OTT used to be the domain of national brands with national ad budgets. That’s changed. Streaming platforms now support geo-targeted campaigns down to the city or zip code level, which means a San Diego business can run polished, TV-style video ads specifically to a San Diego audience — something that was effectively impossible with traditional cable buys, which don’t split cleanly along those lines.
What it takes to run an OTT campaign
A basic OTT campaign requires a video asset (existing commercial or a new one produced for the campaign), defined targeting parameters (location, audience, platform selection), and a media buying strategy to place it efficiently across the right streaming inventory. Costs vary by platform and targeting precision, but OTT generally sits between social video ads and traditional broadcast in terms of price, while offering measurement traditional TV can’t match.
Is OTT right for your business?
OTT tends to work best for businesses with a visual product or service, a defined local or regional audience, and either an existing video asset or the budget to produce one. It’s less suited to businesses without any video content and no plan to create one, since the format depends on video creative to work.
San Diego Marketing & SEO plans and buys OTT and streaming campaigns for San Diego businesses ready to move beyond social and search. Talk to us about whether OTT fits your marketing mix. We’ll walk through your current channel mix, show you real OTT inventory options and pricing, and help you decide whether streaming video ads make sense before you commit any budget.
What is OTT marketing?
OTT marketing, or OTT advertising, means running video ads on streaming platforms delivered over the internet rather than traditional cable, such as Hulu, Roku, or connected TV apps, with the targeting precision of digital ads.
How is OTT advertising different from traditional TV advertising?
Traditional TV ads are bought broadly with limited measurement, while OTT ads can be targeted by location, demographics, and interests, with precise tracking of impressions, completion rates, and downstream actions.
Is OTT advertising right for a small or local business?
OTT works best for businesses with a visual product or service, a defined local audience, and either existing video creative or the budget to produce it, since streaming platforms now support geo-targeting down to the city or zip code level.
