Advanced Television

Report: CTV & mobile boosting premium video ad views

January 30, 2020

FreeWheel, a Comcast company and advertising management solution, has launched its first Video Marketplace Report specifically for Europe, focusing on video advertising in Q3 2019. The paper shows a continued upward trend in premium video with ad views increasing 10 per cent year-on-year. This rise is driving investment in “growth platforms” such as connected TV (CTV) and mobile.

The report also reveals interest in addressability is growing across all verticals with the share of audience-targeted ad views increasing 54 per cent year-on-year. Agencies use data-driven, audience-based TV ads to deliver hard to reach audiences, reduce wasted impressions, and improve cost efficiencies, but targeted ads are also more engaging with completion rates 74 per cent higher than non-targeted ads. Audience targeting is predicted to escalate in 2020, enabled by regulatory change.

Market collaboration illustrates publishers, operators and tech vendors are working together to drive audience targeting and to establish compliance and comparability standards. ITV’s partnership with Amobee, Liberty Global joining forces with Cadent, AT&T’s purchase of AppNexus, and Xandr’s acquisition of Clypd are all examples of collaboration, along with the Project OAR initiative to create open standards for addressable TV.

Thomas Bremond, General Manager, International, FreeWheel, commented: As Nielsen’s GM, Kelly Abcarian recently said, measurement is a team sport, so it’s fantastic to see collaboration between commercial competitors driving the progress of addressable TV and the continued expansion of premium video. Adoption of ATSC 3.0 and HbbTV 2.0 is still relatively low, but ultimately these new standards will enable advertisers to execute addressable advertising at device or household level more effectively than ever before.”

Premium video audiences continue to favour the immersive big-screen experience, with combined CTV and STB viewing accounting for 43 per cent of ad views. STB is seeing strong growth with ad view share increasing by 28 per cent year-on-year. The convenience of mobile ensures it remains a popular alternative, accounting for 34 per cent of ad views. The share of premium video ads viewed on desktop decreased 15 per cent year-on-year to just 23 per cent.

Other findings from the report included:

The vast majority of ads are executed through direct deals with direct’s share of ad views increasing 32 per cent year-on-year to 85 per cent

The majority of premium video ads are viewed with full episode content. Ads are most likely to be served with live content on STB and with video clips on desktop.

The volume of video ads viewed on distributor, rather than publisher, platforms increased 18% year-on-year, with distributor share of ad views reaching 84 per cent.

 

Categories: Ads, Advertising, Articles, Connected TV, Markets, Mobile, OTT, Research, Targetted