Over the past five years, the number of TV shows has skyrocketed by 71% – making 2016 a record-breaking year with 455 scripted shows. With even more new video programming hitting theaters, TVs, and tablets each season, it’s becoming harder for entertainment advertisers to break through the noise.
The key to being heard in a competitive environment like entertainment is utilizing a full-funnel marketing approach to reach viewers across multiple channels. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Twitter are all a big part of nearly everyone's daily online activities, yet each one serves a unique purpose. To execute a successful multi-platform campaign, marketers need to know how to customize strategy and creative for each platform. Here are tips on how to use the features and formats of each platform to reach viewers and drive tune-in.
Facebook
Whether you’re driving awareness to a movie or a series, Facebook allows entertainment advertisers to tap into key audiences that align with the thematic pillars of a feature. The Facebook Audience Insights tool can find users interested in specific topics, like actors or genres, and create audiences to target. Identify interests on Facebook that index high with actors in your upcoming movie or show and build audiences based on those interests.
To make the biggest impact on Facebook, start with a number of Reach and Frequency campaigns introducing the trailer and key characters to drive awareness at least two months prior to a premiere. As the premiere date approaches, tease fans with exclusive sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes content, then remind them to tune-in with Facebook Messenger Ads.
Instagram
Time spent watching video on Instagram is up more than 80% year-over-year, and the number of videos on the platform has quadrupled. The emergence of innovative mobile video formats like Instagram Stories and Instagram Live has created a huge opportunity for entertainment advertisers to connect with their audiences, whether on-the-go or in-the-moment.
The first step in achieving success on Instagram is starting with creative made specifically for the platform. One of the year’s biggest movies, La La Land, identified Instagram video ads as the perfect medium to drive awareness. They produced a series of thumb-stopping videos specifically for Instagram, made to capture the attention of younger users. Customizing creative for the platform resulted in significant lifts in both ad recall and movie-viewing intent.
When executing video campaigns on Instagram, cut clips from your feature with the Instagram user experience in mind, optimizing for vertical video and using text overlays to capture sound-off attention too.
Pinterest
While CPG, retail, and travel advertisers have leveraged Pinterest since it entered the ad space in 2013, entertainment brands are just now beginning see how they can use the platform to drive awareness. Promoted Video with Autoplay is a great way for TV and film advertisers to capitalize on interested Pinners during the pre-premiere awareness phase. 61% of users enjoy watching videos from brands on Pinterest, which means that an eye-catching trailer clip optimized for the Pinterest feed will be well-received by users.
Branded content on Pinterest is credible and actionable, so Pinners are expecting to hear from businesses. Take advantage of the visual platform by drawing users in with behind-the-scenes footage, movie trivia, or cast interviews. Vibrant video clips formatted for Pinterest will stand out amongst the user-generated content on the platform.
Snapchat
Snap Ads offer entertainment advertisers a unique way to reach new and returning viewers at various stages of the funnel. Snap Ads with Long-Form Video and Web View attachments allow marketers to provide additional video content like teasers and trailers, encouraging users to engage further with calls-to-action like Watch, Watch Episode, Buy Tickets, and Get Showtimes.
Use Snap Ads with Attachments to engage users with full-screen vertical content. Whether it’s introducing a season through a Long-Form Video attachment or testing a user’s knowledge on their favorite character with a Web View attachment, fun and interactive content is a must on Snapchat. It’s also important to capture attention immediately by opening with a fan-favorite star or including a logo in the first two seconds.
Twitter
Twitter is a great platform to reach TV viewers before, during, and after an episode. Because Twitter is seen as a real-time platform, users often log on to discuss events as they occur or to seek out related content. Twitter’s TV targeting helps networks and entertainment brands promote Tweets to people already engaged with specific TV shows.
Make use of TV targeting to find viewers interested in your program or shows similar to yours. Get creative with content you know will resonate with audiences that look like your target audience by tapping into trending topics and pop culture references. You can also use Conversational Ads with video clips and images to prompt users to engage with your series or movie. By providing call-to-action buttons with customizable hashtags for users to share, you’ll see expanded reach as users tweet Conversational Ads out to their own networks too.
Brand Lift With a Multi-Platform Social Strategy For Programmers
An entertainment client recently came to Adaptly to drive awareness for an upcoming season premiere. To maximize reach and impact, we recommended a multi-platform approach that optimized creative across channels. By targeting both new and existing fans on multiple social platforms, the brand saw a 29-point lift in ad recall, a 23-point awareness lift, and a 12-point increase in intent to watch.
Creating a tailored strategy and unique creative for each channel allowed Adaptly to drive awareness, reaching users in different mindsets across social platforms.
Adaptly is a marketing technology and services company that enables the world’s biggest advertisers to scale campaigns across walled gardens, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Pinterest. Since joining the Adaptly team in January, Fortnum has helped entertainment clients build and execute successful cross-channel campaigns.
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