The Different Targeting Capabilities of OTT

OTT advertising offers ten distinct targeting methods, ranging from broad geographic and demographic reach to precise tactics like point-of-interest geo-fencing — giving agencies far more control than traditional TV ever allowed.

Over the Top Television has become a powerful tool in the hands of digital marketers and business owners alike . OTT has many different targeting capabilities that can be utilized to reach the optimal target audience for almost every campaign! The perfect extension of traditional tv ads, OTT in the right hands can help bring amazing results to any campaign. 

From targeting a specific geographic location to targeting users based on their recent purchase history OTT has a wide range of targeting capabilities. Below we will go into detail regarding the different targeting capabilities for OTT across various DSPs. 

With streaming now capturing 47.5% of all U.S. TV viewing — more than cable and broadcast combined — finding ways to take full advantage of OTT's targeting capabilities matters more than ever.

Key Takeaways

• OTT campaigns can be targeted across ten distinct methods, from broad geographic and demographic targeting to precise tactics like point-of-interest geo-fencing and purchase receipt retargeting.

• Streaming Service and TV Application whitelists ensure ads run in front of real, engaged viewers rather than background noise.

• Retargeting — whether based on site visits, email activity, or purchase receipts — remains one of the highest-value targeting layers available in OTT.

• Combining multiple targeting tactics (for example, geo-fencing plus demographic targeting) produces significantly more precise audience segments than any single method alone.

Geographic Targeting

Geographic targeting is one of the most advanced location-based advertising techniques for targeting users based on a specific and sought after geographic area. 

This offers you the ability to accurately geo-target potential customers across connected and streaming platforms. This enables you to capture your audience’s location within a country, media market, city, state, zip code, and/or radius requested.

Geographic targeting helps ensure you are not wasting resources by serving Ads to individuals who live hundreds of miles outside of your physical market. Instead, it allows you to get as granular with your targeting as a radius around a specified address. 

Streaming Service & TV Application Whitelists

Quality of engagement and traffic is of the utmost importance when running an OTT campaign. Client’s do not want their Ads served to the dog sitting on the couch watching TV while their owner is at work.

At Conduit Digital, our OTT team has spent countless hours vetting and creating the right Streaming Services and TV Applications whitelists to serve your client’s ads on. No serving on Apps that are only meant to be on as background noise or screensaver.

The team has identified over 1,000 domains to only serve where relevant audiences will see your clients’ ads while also driving great performance. These whitelists can be layered with other targeting tactics to combine for some really advanced targeting. 

Site Retargeting

Is there a more ideal user to target than someone who has previously shown interest in your client by visiting their website? Most users who visit a website will leave without converting on their first visit — which is exactly why site retargeting is one of the most valuable tools available in an OTT campaign.

This is where site retargeting can be one of your best friends while running an OTT campaign. There are many different approaches to using site retargeting, and choosing the right approach is dependent on your campaign goals. 

Site retargeting can be utilized to retarget users who have visited your site or a specific page on your site. If you only wanted to retarget users who have visited your “Contact Us” page after they left, site retargeting gives you that capability. Or if you wanted to target individuals who have left something in their shopping cart with Ads reminding them to complete their purchase you can do that! If your goal is to capture every user who visits your site and retarget them to help keep your brand top of mind, site retargeting allows you to do just that.

Email Retargeting

Email Retargeting is a powerful way to reach an audience that is interested in your client’s industry!

Email retargeting is a fairly new targeting capability for OTT. Allowing for the ability to create custom audience lists based on users current subscriptions and newsletter emails they receive. With email retargeting you are tapping into a whole new area not seen before in OTT campaigns. 

Purchase Receipt Retargeting

Just like Email Retargeting, Purchase Receipt targeting uses emails that users receive to build a custom audience.

The difference, however, is these users have received receipts after purchasing something online. For example, if someone just received an email receipt for a dog collar, they could be categorized within a ‘dog owners’ audience. 

Purchase receipt retargeting helps give you peace of mind that your Ads are being served to audiences that are within your specified demographic.

Search Behavioral

Search Behavioral targeting allows for custom audience creation based on a list of keywords that are relevant to your client’s campaign. Behavioral targeting enables advertisers to combine the effectiveness of search with the brand impact and reach of OTT targeting. 

Search is an amazing capability when used in an OTT campaign. You are able to create custom keyword lists that can be as granular or as broad as you want them to be. This helps ensure your Ads are being seen by the users in your target audience.  

Point of Interest (Geo-Fencing)

Point of Interest (POI) targeting, sometimes called Geo-Fencing, utilizes multiple data sources to pinpoint a user’s exact whereabouts, allowing clients to target competitors’ locations and other relevant physical locations where their target audience may frequently visit.

POI can also be utilized to target a specific event or events your client’s target demographic attend. Have a rare car dealership? With POI you would have the ability to gather user pools from events such as a Baret Jackson car auction and serve them Ads for the rare car dealership. 

POI targeting can also be coupled with foot traffic attribution, so your clients will know how many times someone visits their business after viewing an ad! 

At Conduit Digital, we found that users who were served one of our clients’ ads after visiting a brick and mortar location were about 3 times more likely to convert than those who visited the same targeted locations but were not served an ad!

Demographic & Interest/Affinity

OTT campaigns are able to reach users based on their demographic and psychographic affiliations utilizing first and third party data.

In terms of demographics, your clients’ ads can be targeted towards people based on things like their age, gender, income, education, and marital status.

This can be paired with the ability to target user’s interests, like coffee drinkers, fitness enthusiasts, and musical instrument buyers to really put the ads in front of the most relevant audiences!

In-Market or Intent

Intent targeting can be utilized to target users who have shown behaviors putting to them in-the-market to buy a specific product.

This is a great opportunity to target users who may be searching on competitors’ websites or doing research on which specific brand they should spend their money on. 

Dayparting 

While it is important to always try to reach the right audience, it is just as important to reach that audience at the right time. With dayparting, your OTT campaign will have the capability to serve your clients’ ads during the time of day users are at their most engaged. 

No serving Ads to sleepy eyes at 3am or the pet friendly channel that is made for users to put on when they leave their house to comfort their pal. We serve to engaged users and dayparting makes that possible.

OTT Targeting In a Nutshell 

Knowing your audience and knowing what tactics to use for your campaign are immense. To learn more about OTT and the benefits it wll bring to your client, check out our Ultimate OTT Guide. We hope we can help with pain points that come with setting up an optimal OTT campaign. Let us know in the comments below!

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Frequently Asked Questions About OTT Targeting

What targeting options are available for OTT advertising?

OTT campaigns can be targeted using geographic targeting, streaming service and app whitelists, site retargeting, email retargeting, purchase receipt retargeting, search behavioral targeting, point-of-interest (geo-fencing), demographic and interest targeting, in-market/intent targeting, and dayparting.

What is point-of-interest (POI) targeting in OTT?

POI targeting, also called geo-fencing, uses location data to reach users based on specific physical locations they've visited — including competitor locations or event venues relevant to a client's target audience.

How does email retargeting work in OTT campaigns?

Email retargeting builds custom audiences based on a user's current newsletter subscriptions or email activity, allowing advertisers to reach people already engaged with relevant content in a client's industry.

Why are streaming service whitelists important for OTT campaigns?

Whitelists ensure ads only serve on vetted, legitimate apps and streaming services, preventing wasted spend on low-quality inventory like background-noise apps or screensaver-style content.

What's the benefit of combining multiple OTT targeting tactics?

Layering targeting methods — for example, combining demographic data with geo-fencing or search behavioral data — produces significantly more precise audience segments than relying on any single targeting method alone.