Most of us millennials love watching video content over the top. Many of us agree that set-top boxes are about as with the times as parachute pants are today. In fact, when millennials are given a choice where to watch video, we prefer online platforms 105% more than watching on TV. Why? Because, we can watch on our own terms – when we want, as much as we want and wherever we happen to be. Plus, if we’re paying our own bills it means saving a ton of cash when compared to a Pay-TV subscription. This makes OTT a no-brainer for us, and is why we currently make up the largest demographic of cord cutters. For those looking to reach us online with your video content, here are three things to consider when catering your OTT service to millennials:
Targeted Ads
We get FAST channels. We know we can’t skip all the ads. Being forced to watch ads is bad enough, but being forced to watch an ads about dentures? That makes us want to stop watching and play a video game.
The good news for content producers and advertisers is that millennials are actually more open to watching ads than older generations – as long as they’re relevant and targeted to our needs and interests. Ad insertion technology is so good these days that no one has to sit through an entire pod that provides little to no value. Ad targeting uses a combination of means – postal codes, IP addresses, device recognition, and user data and can group audiences in places and times that are relevant to buying experience. Miller, for example, may target 10,000 viewers in any Florida zip code on especially hot weekend days between 1-5pm and offer them a customized message or promotions.
Syndicated Content
Whether it’s watching funny videos that friends post, sports highlights from last night’s game or our local news clips, millennials are spending more of our time watching video on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. In fact, millennials spend an estimated 30 hours a month on social apps, nearly twice as much time than older generations. This means that content producers looking to get their content in front of millennial eyes should be syndicating in as close to real-time as possible to not only to premium destinations like Netflix, iTunes, Comcast, but social destinations as well.
Fast Video Start
Buffering creates a state of “fury and violent anger induced by the delayed or interrupted enjoyment of streaming video content from over-the-top (OTT) services”.
Those spinning wheels that never seem to end are something many of us have seen at some point and is something millennials can be especially sensitive to. Overloaded networks and channels are no excuses for having videos fail to load or stream slowly. And while networks continue to expand to handle more concurrent streams, providing fast players players to stream content in the meantime is a must.
We can all agree that the millennials are a critical demographic not to be ignored. From relevant ads to social syndication to fast players, providing these to your millennial audience is sure to help keep their eyes where you want them to be.