4 ways to expand your brand’s reach in the OTT space

This post is sponsored by Viu.

The rise of over-the-top (OTT) or video streaming platforms has significantly altered the traditional TV landscape, bringing interactivity, data insights and audience targeting, favourably associated with the digital space, to the media ecosystem.

In an age where it is becoming more challenging to engage with audiences on traditional mass media channels, the popularity of video streaming services presents brands with new opportunities to reach out to their target consumers.

Viu, a leading pan-regional OTT video streaming service operated by Viu International, revealed that video consumption on its platform has grown by 42% in Q2 2020, according to the Q2 report from Media Partners Asia’s AMPD Research.

Based on the same report, Viu is ranked second among all global and local OTT platforms in SEA⁺ in total video minutes streamed in the same quarter.

With the growth in content drawing more people to stream movies and shows online, it is an opportune time to look to OTT platforms for your next brand collaboration.

Read on to find out the ways in which your brand can partner with OTT platforms to effectively connect with your target consumers and reach out to new audience segments.

1. Enhancing and enriching your brand experience through innovative collaborations

As the fastest growing OTT platform in the region, Viu is constantly exploring and embarking on new and innovative types of collaborations to create new opportunities that enrich and give value to brands and viewers.

Viu’s partnership with AIS PLAY, Thailand’s largest telecom provider, recently expanded from providing data bundles and entertainment packages to developing original content, with the romantic comedy My Bubble Tea and the recent Voice in the Rain.

Another successful content collaboration is The Bridge S1 and S2, a Viu original series, produced by Viu, in association with HBO Asia. Originally a Swedish drama series, it was adapted to the local context in terms of storyline, cast and cultural nuances. The Asian remake gained notable traction among audiences across the region.

Viu’s assets in creative content development and production, coupled with its sizeable digital base which provides valuable audience insights for both acquired content and original productions, ensure that businesses working with Viu are able to develop content that resonates with audiences, in turn, enriching the viewer experience.

Beyond content collaborations, partnerships with OTT platforms can also help brands to enhance the viewer experience in other ways. Viu offers video solutions as a value-added service leveraging its creative and video production capabilities. Brands can access these solutions through cross-digital partnerships.  

2. Connecting with audiences through relevant and creative ads

In a saturated media space, advertisements need to be targeted to capture the attention of viewers. Brands today are not only looking for new advertising opportunities, they are also seeking new ways to engage with their consumers in a highly competitive and cluttered environment.

Understanding the importance of message relevance and conversion, Viu offers its advertisers more than just ad placement options.

Viu’s strategy taps into a multitude of advance ad tiering and ad options generally not available from many of the other OTT players. For example, Viu offers targeting options catering to specific audiences; these options are personalised with machine learning video intelligence to create highly relevant advertising opportunities that ensure a strong match between the ad content and audience profile.

By applying automated machine learning video intelligence, Viu can do scene targeting to create highly relevant infoline advertising opportunities for brands.

For example, promotions for ZA’s Bye Bye Shine Essence appeared next to kissing scenes in dramas, and Senka’s Perfect White Facial Cleansing Foam was tagged to crying scenes, enabling brands to seamlessly weave in their key messages in a non-invasive manner.

3. Tapping into OTT platforms’ digital engagement to elevate your brand to a whole new level

Through partnering with OTT platforms, brands can connect with consumers in the digital and entertainment space. Viu is able to provide its partners a boost through leveraging its strong, engaged and continually growing digital audience base across 16 markets, which has increased by 21% year-on-year, and reached 36.1 million monthly active users (as of H1 2020).

Viu partners with local broadcasters and media companies across the region, such as Mediacorp; GMM Grammy and Workpoint Entertainment (Viu Original 4Freaks 4Fam) in Thailand; HBO Asia (Viu Original The Bridge S1 and S2); and Discovery Networks Asia Pacific (Viu Original No Sleep No FOMO).

The combined strength of Viu and the broadcasters’ networks not only makes it possible for the content to reach a wider digital audience base, but also enables brands to tap into different target segments across Asia.

The OTT space also provides opportunities for brands to engage with audiences in an impactful manner, without detracting from the entertainment.

In Singapore, Viu recently partnered with various brands and organisations such as Calvin Klein, Asics, Nespresso and National Council of Social Service (NCSS) on sponsored playlists. In addition to branded videos, these playlists also feature – from Viu’s extensive library – content that may be relevant to the brands’ audiences, allowing brands to provide a personalised and curated experience for viewers.

For example, NCSS’ curated playlist comprises not only promotional clips about the organisation, but also videos from medical shows and melodramas such as Find Me in Your Memory and Good Doctor. These playlists, which are featured prominently on Viu’s home page, enable brands to reach out to Viu’s highly engaged digital audience, create awareness of their products and services, as well as build their brand affinity among Viu’s users.

4. Keeping your audience deeply engaged by extending the brand experience from online to offline

Although we are in the digital age, brands also need to explore online-to-offline engagement to reach customers at all touch-points. Interesting and engaging on-ground experiences can be built around shows and movies – many of which have sizeable followings – that are offered by OTT platforms such as Viu.

For the launch of Samsung Galaxy Note 9, the South Korean tech brand partnered with Viu to hold fan meets with popular Korean celebrities such as Park Min Young, Kim Jong Kook and BTOB’s Yook Sung Jae, who also stars in various dramas and variety shows available on the platform. Samsung was provided with a dedicated playlist on Viu with Samsung Galaxy videos, and some Note 9 customers also received complimentary Viu Premium subscriptions for 12 months.

Not only did the partnership bring benefits to both Viu and Samsung in the digital space, the associated offline events also saw high turnout and engagement rates on social media. The Facebook live session of one of the events reached more than 140,000 viewers within an hour.

Unique and memorable on-ground experiences help establish a meaningful relationship between a brand and the target audience, and also further drive digital engagement.

 ⁺The total video minutes streamed is the sum of video minutes streamed. Ranking of Viu in Southeast Asia covers Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
The ranking excludes YouTube. 

From online to offline engagement, and interesting content collaborations to innovative ad solutions, the OTT space presents many exciting opportunities for brands to connect with their audiences.
Interested to find out more? Visit Viu.com or contact us directly at advertising.sg@viu.com.