Commentary

OTT May Be At 5%, But Don't Expect Any Immediate Solutions

Over-the-top platforms are a hot topic on Madison Avenue -- mainly because they are a hot way for consumers to access TV and other forms of video content -- and while agencies and brands are investing more heavily in such outlets, don’t expect any kind of “5% solution,” at least not anytime soon.

The 5% solution was a concept coined by defunct but once influential ad agency Ted Bates (since merged into Publicis and Zenith Media) to create a media planning and buying structure for dealing with then fast-growing consumer video platform cable TV in the early 1980s.

The idea was that cable had reached a critical mass, requiring mainstream TV brands to earmark a percentage of their TV budgets into the new medium. The percentage Bates recommended was 5%.

Asked whether OTT was at a similar tipping point and whether agencies and brands should earmark a similar percentage for it, Oleg Korenfeld, executive vice president-ad tech & platforms at MediaVest (also now part of Bates’ successor Zenith), said not quite yet.

“I don’t know,” Korenfeld told MediaPost TV Insider Summit attendees this morning. He added that the share of budget going to OTT currently depends on each marketer’s goals.

“I’d rather not put OTT into its own fragmented bucket,” he said.

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