OLV’s “Table Stakes” Moment With Ross Walker and Carel van Rooyen of Acadia - Episode 405

DESCRIPTION

Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations.

Today, we’re tackling what might be the least glamourously named ad product out there: OLV, short for “Online Video.” But don’t let the name fool you. Behind that bland acronym lies a powerful tool that’s been driving some seriously impressive results.

To help us unpack the magic of OLV, we’re joined by two of the masterminds making it happen on the front lines: Ross Walker and Carel van Rooyen from our retail media team.

 

“It's getting more and more expensive to buy incremental traffic on Amazon itself. This is true especially for brands competing in premium beauty categories or even CPG grocery categories. It's tough to get an edge.”

Ross Walker

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Jordan, Carel, and Ross discuss:

• Clarification of OLV as Online Video, distinct from sponsored brand video and streaming TV.

• Where OLV ads run (off Amazon, across the open web and apps via Amazon’s publisher network).

• How OLV has helped overcome challenges like declining traffic or flat sales on Amazon.

• OLV’s impact on increasing glance views, revenue, and generating a "halo effect" across product catalogs.

• The importance of keeping creatives fresh to avoid stagnation.

• Best-performing audience types so far: in-market and lifestyle audiences drive awareness and new-to-brand purchases.

• Early success testing retargeting and AMC (Amazon Marketing Cloud) lookalike audiences for higher click-through and page view rates.

• Value of demographic layering, even though it narrows reach, it lowers cost per action and improves efficiency.

• Lower costs and less competition compared to streaming/connected TV ads.

• Easier creative requirements: Repurposing existing sponsored brand videos can minimize barriers to entry.

• OLV fills a vital role in the funnel, driving external traffic before consumers start their Amazon search, improving overall channel performance.

• How to fund OLV: Testing with incremental budgets where possible, or reallocating spend from less efficient campaign buckets.

• Examples of positive results even from modest testing budgets (as low as $2,000/month).

• Why focusing solely on ROAS is limiting; OLV’s bigger impact shows up in incremental lifts in overall traffic and sales.

• Utilizing AMC Path to Purchase reports to demonstrate OLV’s role in the customer journey.

• Rising success with vertical video formats and Amazon’s support for new creative options in OLV.