Tag: Go90

Ford Sponsors A Car Chase-Themed Show On Verizon’s Go90

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Ford has struck a deal with Go90, Verizon’s ad-supported OTT streaming service, to sponsor its new show The Runner, set to debut on July 1 with three new episodes daily on both Go90 and AOL.com. Throughout the car chase-themed reality show which is executive produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, all contestants will be driving the 2017 Ford Escape, which will be integrated into the episodic challenges. As part of the deal, Ford will air pre-roll spots before episodes, and the show will also distribute Ford-branded content across its social platforms such as YouTube, Snapchat, and Facebook.

What Brands Need To Do
With this campaign, Ford is hoping to reach younger consumers on Go90 who are more likely to be cord-cutters or cord-nevers and therefore harder to capture with traditional TV campaigns. Its deep integration with the show also sets a good example for brands looking to reach viewers on OTT streaming services, showing that with the right sponsorship arrangement brands may just be able to get on the ad-free streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

To learn more about how brands may score new marketing opportunities on OTT streaming services with sponsorships and branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: AdAge

NBA Content Is Coming To Verizon’s Go90

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Verizon is adding NBA content to the lineup of its streaming service Go90, as the telecom giant inks a multi-year marketing and content deal with the basketball league. This pact will grant Go90 users access to some live games as well as highlights and original NBA programming. Moreover, viewers will be able to buy individual games via NBA’s “League Pass” programming with Go90’s a la carte option.

What Brands Need To Do
As we wrote when Verizon launched Go90 this summer, Verizon stands to offer brands strong targeting tools on Go90’s ad-supported platform by combining its vast amount of consumer data with the ad tech it acquired from AOL. By adding premium content such as live sports to its platform, Go90 should be able to draw an audience sizable enough to warrant ad buying. Therefore, brands need to be mindful of the great advertising potential it presents.

 

Source: AdAge

Comcast And Verizon Launch Ad-Supported Video Streaming Platforms

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
The OTT video space just got a bit more crowded, with Comcast and Verizon both launching their video streaming platforms this week. First announced in mid-August, Comcast’s Watchable officially launched on Tuesday with 30 content partners, including Buzzfeed, Disney’s Maker Studios, Vice, and Vox, and is available on set-top boxes for Comcast customers, as well as mobile apps and online for anyone in the U.S.

Similarly, after teasing it for two months since late July, Verizon will officially open its video streaming service Go90 to the public on Thursday. Unlike Watchable, Go90 will only be available on mobile apps. But it is also ad-supported, and free to use for all mobile users in the States, regardless of carrier. Content-wise, Go90 includes a mixture of traditional TV content provided by partners such as Discovery and Viacom, live sports such as college football games, as well as some original digital shorts commonly seen on YouTube.

What Brands Need To Do
Since both services are ad-supported, brands, especially those seeking millennials, can reach their target audience with video ads that are usually not buyable on subscription-based streaming services. In comparison, Watchable seems to have an edge over Go90 in content, which is supplied by a batch of digital publishers popular among millennials. But with the support of AOL’s ad tech, which Verizon acquired earlier this year, Go90 could offer brands better targeting and customization for their ads. It remains to be seen whether these two new services will be able to draw an audience sizable enough to warrant ad buying. Nevertheless, brands of all types would be smart to stay mindful of the ongoing changes in the digital video space and adjust their ad buying strategy accordingly.

 

Source: Variety and CNET