The multiple communication network composed of media terminals such as TV, PC, and Mobile with a “screen” shall always coexist with advertising. Meanwhile, with the increasing popularity of smart TV, a new form of the living room economy has emerged with great potential. Compared with traditional screens, what are the features of the new advertising form of OTT? And how is it connected with programmatic buying?

At the forum of Digital 360 China on 11th April, Xuan Su, Chief Technology Officer of Bluefocus, Colin Han, Chief Product Officer of hdtMEDIA, and Vivian Zhu, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer of Publicis Media China shared their own views with enlightening sparks.

Colin Han believed that in this multi-screen era, OTT is connected with a larger screen, which is TV in the living room with a stronger impact force both in contents and form–the most direct advantage of OTT on the level of marketing. Compared with traditional screens such as PC and Mobile, OTT has families for its subject, who are vastly different in age, gender and interest and thus OTT data is also different. Vivian Zhu also mentioned that documentaries enjoy a great popularity on smart TV, reflecting the attribute of high-end audiences as well as a tendency of choosing programmes based on interest in the age of Internet.

So in what ways is OTT advertising creative as a new medium? Vivian Zhu shared the innovation of Publicis Media China in this aspect and considered data an opportunity in OTT development. Publicis Media China and Huan.TV cooperated with China Mobile to achieve data connection with DMP as the basis of its operation. Targeted advertising, performance-based advertising, and even customized ads that are based on settings and contents can be delivered through programmatic buying methods such as PDB and PMP.

In terms of the programmatic buying methods of OTT, Colin Han stated that interaction with OTT users has not been achieved yet and OTT is more applicable for the promotion of brand advertisements. On the other hand, monitoring on TV contents follows the strictest rules, so there are only 7 licensed Internet TV corporations. However, the transaction methods of programmatic buying and privatization including PDB, PD, and PMP will be more appropriate for OTT brand advertising than RTB transaction methods with much long tail traffic in the open market.

With upgrading hardware, the development of OTT ecosystem holds a promising future. According to Xuan Su, the most important keyword is scene. As the living room is a relatively closed and relaxing space, advertising display there will create a stronger and better impact on the audience. With current AI technology, we can even imagine talking with the TV and getting outfit advice based on our own shape. It is so exciting to have more entertaining features in the future living room.

At the end of the panel, guests agreed that the most powerful driving force for the development of OTT ecosystem lies in the hands of advertisers and is also inseparable from optimum contents, clients and partners!

Digital 360 China was held by Campaign Asia Pacific. hdtMEDIA also set mini booths which attracted a large number of participating guests.