One reason that all eyes in the advertising industry are on the Olympic Games is because of the innovative technology that is driving much of the viewing experience. Streaming companies that have rights to the Games and other major sports events are engineering new ways for audiences to engage with content and for advertisers to reach those audiences effectively.
The Olympics is a watershed moment in two ways. Media companies are creating new viewing habits, with apps designed for personal content experiences and interactivity. It is also an opportunity for media companies to offer a viewer-centric approach with unparalleled targeting, engaged audiences, and data-driven insights.
Welcome to the new streaming experience
In May Warner Bros. Discovery announced Max, a new streaming experience rolled out across Europe. The announcement noted that Max is the only place where people within the largest European countries can reach every minute of the Olympic Games on streaming. It delivers more content than any other app available, which provides audiences with significantly more choice.
In the US, the counterpart is NBC Peacock, which is also designed as a content hub for the Olympic games, giving audiences a huge amount of choice across the more than 10,000 hours of Olympics Games content, not to mention any special features that are available through those platforms.
These streaming platforms also have the ability to build in interactive features such as clicking to learn more about specific athletes with interviews and behind the scenes content that could reinvent the way that viewers use streaming apps in the future.
The future of streaming ads
Apps like Max and Peacock are not just changing the game for audiences, but advertisers, too. The sheer volume of people watching so many different things gives streaming companies an incredible amount of data that can be used for new advertising capabilities. Streamers are becoming data powerhouses, with a vast amount of flexibility to enable brands to target ads based on trends in viewership, content, and more.
One of the most promising is targeting and ad personalisation. Using all of the data collected in real time, streamers can allow advertisers to adjust their media spend based on outcomes of certain games, for example, or to test different ads to different audiences.
Advertisers on linear broadcasts are able to target their advertising against a specific show, but they generally need to show the ad to the entire audience watching that show for a particular reason. Not so for streaming, where advertisers can target based on a number of different factors including the content itself. Advertisers could select to target audiences that watched a certain athlete and only show ads when that athlete is competing.
The ultimate ad experience for all
The Olympics has long been a time to rethink the status quo. With streaming, both advertisers and audiences get a completely new experience. What was once static is now flexible.
When it comes to watching content on the big screen (or on mobile), people have more choices than ever before. Someone can experience the Olympics in their own way, accessing games that used to never be televised and discovering new things. Audiences living in a different country can access content for their home country. And people can still watch all of the most popular parts of the Games but could time-shift their view to accommodate their schedule. The experience is more personal and offers more interactivity – two things that audiences are likely to want in future streaming experiences after the games are over.
For advertisers, streaming represents the ability to reach audiences more effectively, tapping into the data that streaming companies have available, perhaps changing the status quo of TV advertising forever. When the Olympic Games end, the opportunity to deliver unique and personalised ad experiences on streaming is just beginning.
