New study: Optimize display ads with OTT and Sponsored Brands video

December 01, 2020

By: Crystal Astrachan, Sr. Analytics and media manager
and Jackie Zhou, Product marketing manager

Advertisers often ask how OTT (over-the-top) advertising, Sponsored Brands video, and display advertising work together to improve customer engagement across the purchase funnel on Amazon. To help answer that question, we studied brands’ advertising strategies and audience ad exposure. We compared brands that used all three products to brands that only used display advertising to understand the impact of advertising strategy on campaign performance. Then we also studied the impact of OTT ads, also known as Streaming TV ads, on customer engagement by comparing audiences exposed to both OTT ads and display ads to those that were exposed to display ads only.

Key takeaways

Using OTT advertising, Sponsored Brands video, and display advertising can help advertisers improve ad-attributed customer engagement across the funnel as measured by branded search rate, detail page view rate, and purchase rate.

  • First, audiences were 47% more likely to research a brand on Amazon when they saw both OTT ads and display ads compared to audiences that did not see both ads.
  • Second, customer engagement metrics were up to 90% higher among brands that used display, Sponsored Brands video, and OTT together compared to brands that used display only.
  • Third, audiences exposed to both display and OTT for the same product were 28% more likely to view a detail page and 25% more likely to purchase.

The study

Brand comparison by advertising strategy

We started by evaluating brands that used display advertising from July 2019 – June 2020. The display campaigns used by the brands were segmented based on the other advertising that was running for the products featured during the same time period. The segments were:

  1. Display only
  2. Display + Sponsored Brands video
  3. Display + OTT
  4. Display + OTT + Sponsored Brands video

Figure 1 below illustrates the four brand-level segments that were compared in this study

We compared three display ad-attributed customer engagement metrics across the four groups, including:

  • Branded search rate: The number of branded searches relative to the number of ad impressions. (Branded search rate = Branded searches / Impressions)
  • Detail page view rate: The number of detail page views relative to the number of ad impressions. (Detail page view rate = Detail page views / Impressions)
  • Purchase rate: The number of purchases relative to the number of impressions. (Purchase rate = Purchases / Impressions)

2. Audience comparison by ad exposure: display + OTT

Next, among a sample of brands that ran display and OTT together (the third segment above), we compared two audience segments: 1) audiences exposed to display campaigns only, and 2) audiences exposed to display and OTT campaigns.

Figure 2 illustrates the two audience segments that were compared in this study

We compared the display ad-attributed customer engagement metrics across the two groups, including:

  • Detail page view rate: The number of detail page views relative to the size of the audience exposed (Detail page view rate = Detail page views / Size of audience exposed)
  • Purchase rate: The number of purchases relative to the size of the audience exposed. (Purchase rate = Purchases / Size of audience exposed)

Key insight #1: Brands that invested in OTT and display saw an increase in ad-attributed branded searches

When brands ran OTT ads and display ads, their display ad-attributed branded search rates were 47% higher than for brands that ran display campaigns only. When brands ran display, Sponsored Brands video, and OTT, their display ad-attributed branded search rates were 68% higher than brands that run Sponsored Brands video and display campaigns only.

In other words, customers were more likely to shop for a brand on Amazon when they saw both OTT ads and display ads.

Median display ad-attributed branded search rates by ad products used among brands

Key insight #2: Brands that invested in OTT, Sponsored Brands video, and display had the highest detail page views and purchase rates

Brands that invested in display, Sponsored Brands video, and OTT campaigns at the same time had the highest display ad-attributed detail page views and purchase rates, which were were up to 90% higher than brands that ran display campaigns only. Using all three ad products together helped engage audiences throughout their purchase journey.

Key insight #3: Audiences exposed to both OTT ads and display ads were more engaged

Next we evaluated audience ad exposure for the brands that used both OTT and display. While key insights #1 and #2 compared the differences between brands, key insight #3 compares audience ad exposure.

We found that audiences exposed to both OTT and display had median purchase and detail page view rates that were up to 28% higher than audiences exposed to display ads only.

Summary

This study shows that OTT and Sponsored Brands video make display campaigns more effective. We found that OTT was most effective in driving ad-attributed branded searches when used together with display. Both Sponsored Brands video and OTT worked best together with display ads to improve display ad-attributed detail page view and purchase rates.

Next steps

Reach audiences beyond the shopping aisle with Amazon Streaming TV ads and Sponsored Brand video ads and connect them to your brand and products on Amazon with display campaigns. To learn more, please contact your Amazon sales representative. If you're new to Amazon Ads, contact us to get started.