Report: Premium video grows as it becomes more addressable & data-driven
July 23, 2019
FreeWheel, a Comcast company and advertising management solution, has announced the launch of its Q1 2019 Video Marketplace Report, which shows a rise in targeted and addressable advertising as publishers and marketers increasingly look to efficiently reach audiences.
In Europe, there is a focus on data-driven targeting and automation as a growing number of publishers adopt an audience-first approach. Total ad views grew 13 per cent, but live ad views increased by 78 per cent year-over-year. Audience targeted campaigns also grew above the market growth rate, rising 56 per cent as publishers increase the use of data to make premium video addressable.
Programmatic has experienced significant growth, increasing 31 per cent year-over-year – four times the rate of direct sales – as publishers strive to automate and drive efficiencies in the buying process. However, premium video still makes less use of programmatic channels than the wider digital video ecosystem, where 74.1 per cent of digital video is traded programmatically.
Thomas Bremond, General Manager, International, FreeWheel, commented: “Premium video displayed strong ad view growth, particularly in audience targeted campaigns. Data-driven advertising is changing the way advertisers and publishers approach premium video, as a growing number adopt an audience first-approach. With continued improvements and advancements to the tech stack across multiple endpoints the outlook for premium video looks very promising through the rest of the year and beyond.”
The enabling of premium video inventory across STB VoDand Connected TV once again demonstrated the power of the big screen, together accounting for the largest share of ad views at 45 per cent. There is also an ongoing drive towards shorter ad breaks. Total ad break durations were around 94 seconds and there was an average of four ads per midroll break, with 42 per cent of all midroll breaks containing two ads or less.
Other findings from the report included:
● The addition of more live inventory is furthering the scale of premium video with the share of live ad views now twice as large as that of Q1 2018.
● Desktop leads the devices used to view live premium video with over 40 per cent of live ad views.
● 25 per cent of campaigns are audience targeted