The good news for TV watchers is that there are many different ways to watch Over-The-Top (OTT) television, the kind that comes to your TV, Roku box, Apple TV or computer over the internet.
The bad news for advertisers is that there are many different ways, meaning there are different requirements for ads.
To solve this dilemma, video platform Innovid is out on Thursday with its OTT Composer. The company said this is the first self-service tool for creating an interactive video ad that can run on any of the platforms, including Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, Amazon Fire, PlayStation, Xbox, LG TV, Hulu and Fox’s true[X].
How it works. CTO and co-founder Tal Chalozin said that the OTT market is highly fragmented, but Composer allows a user to create an interactive video ad with the ease of using PowerPoint. Once created, it can then be published to Roku or wherever, and Composer will render the ad for that format before it is deployed. Chalozin said that an interactive ad can be created in as little as two hours.
Compared to the web, interactivity on OTT TV is still often limited by the capability of the remote control, although that might change at some point. The kinds of interactive engagement offered by Carousel include overlays, a product carousel, skipping the ad and extending the video. This video presents an idea of the interactivity available:
