For decades, the world of television advertising has been dominated by a few big players. But that looks set to change, as streaming giants Netflix and Disney enter the fray.
Here’s what you need to know about how these two companies are shaking up the world of TV advertising.
Netflix has always been a disruptor in the world of entertainment. The company upended the traditional television model by allowing users to binge-watch their favorite shows without having to wait a week for the next episode.
Now, they’re looking to do the same with television advertising.
Skipping ads
In 2018, Netflix announced that they would be launching a new ‘skip ads’ feature for some of their original programming. This feature allows viewers to bypass any commercials that play before or during a show. For advertisers, this is a major problem. After all, why pay to have your ad played if there’s a chance that viewers will just skip it?
In response to this, some big names in the world of TV advertising have started pulling their ads from Netflix. But others are seeing this as an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new way of advertising. One company that’s taking this approach is Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola is testing out a new type of ad on Netflix that can’t be skipped by viewers.
The ad plays during breaks in between episodes, and only starts playing once all viewers have pressed ‘play’ again after the previous episode has ended. This means that there’s no way for viewers to miss the ad. And it seems to be working; Nielsen data shows that these ads have an 80% completion rate.
Disney enters
Disney is also looking to make a splash in the world of TV advertising. The company recently announced plans to launch its own streaming service, Disney+, later this year. And unlike Netflix, Disney+ will feature traditional commercials – but only during certain types of content.
For example, commercials will only play before or after movies that are part of the Disney Vault – meaning classic films like Snow White and The Lion King that are only released every few years. This means that viewers won’t have to sit through commercials every time they want to watch one of these movies; they’ll only see them occasionally, making them more likely to pay attention when they do play.
Disney is also testing out a new type of interactive ad format on its online video platform, YouTube – one that allows viewers to choose what product they want to learn more about, and then see an ad for that product tailored specifically to them. This personalization could be a game-changer for TV advertising, and it’s something that other companies are sure to follow suit on in the coming years.
What’s certain is that traditional television isn’t going anywhere anytime soon; despite the rise of streaming services, TV still reaches more than three times as many people as online video platforms like YouTube and Facebook combined.
