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Dynamic Ad Insertion: Enhancing Viewer Experience in OTT
August 6, 2025
OTT streaming platforms are popular, reasonably easy to set up, and offer benefits for viewers like the freedom to watch what they want, when they want to watch it. Adding advertising is a great way to allow your content to remain free or very low cost, and dynamic ads are some of the most useful for grabbing and keeping audience attention. But a lot depends on inserting them correctly: the goal is to enhance the viewer experience, not detract from it.
Ad Placements in OTT Advertising: How to Optimize
"Ad placement" refers to where and when ads appear during your content. Ads can play before a video starts (pre-roll), during breaks in the middle (mid-roll), or after the video ends (post-roll). They can also appear as banners or overlays on the screen. Optimizing these placements means choosing the type, timing, and frequency of the ads so that you don't diminish the viewer experience while still ensuring that advertisers reach their target audience. If you do this well, your viewers stay engaged and your advertisers pay more for effective ads.
Using Data
OTT platforms collect all kinds of information about what viewers watch, how long they stay, and their preferences. Using this data, your platform can show ads that are tailored to specific audiences. For example, a viewer who loves cooking shows might want to see ads for kitchen gadgets.
Data also helps determine the best times for ads. When are your viewers most engaged or likely to tolerate ads? A little A/B testing can quickly point this out. Strategic timing improves both viewer satisfaction and ad performance.
The Right Ad Formats
The format of an ad has a big effect on how viewers respond to it. Short, skippable ads are less annoying because viewers can skip them after a few seconds, and interactive ads, where viewers can click to learn more about a product, can be engaging if they're done creatively. There's also non-intrusive formats, like small banners that appear briefly at the bottom of the screen.
The key to all of this is matching the ads to the content, as well as your users' preferences. Be aware that ads can break the mood, so take this into consideration as you plan.
Balancing Ad Frequency
Too many ads will annoy viewers. If they're annoyed, they'll leave your platform, use ad-blockers, or even deliberately boycott your advertisers in retaliation (this is really a thing: a quick social media search will show how common it is!). At the same time, too few ads won't generate enough revenue to support your platform. As you start out, you'll likely need to experiment with ad frequency and limit them to just a few minutes per hour to keep viewers engaged.
Think about how you can vary ad frequency based on the type of content you're providing. Live sports streams often have more frequent ads due to the natural pauses that happen in a game. A movie, in contrast, might have fewer ads to preserve the immersive experience. Testing different approaches helps you find the sweet spot.
There's a lot more to it, and we can help. Reach out to Lightcast.com today for a demo and see how we can supercharge revenue on your platform.
