Study: YouTube viewing shifts to Connected TVs
May 6, 2021
Integral Ad Science (IAS) a global player in digital ad verification, has released research revealing that consumers prefer YouTube to all other ad-supported streaming services on Connected TV (CTV), while brand safety and suitability are also top of mind.
Surveying over 1,000 US consumers, the report from IAS demonstrates that YouTube ranks as consumers’ top choice on CTV devices, while indicating new opportunities for digital advertisers to activate brand safety and suitability tools in 2021.
Key findings include:
- Consumers choose YouTube on CTV devices: 88 per cent of consumers watch streaming video content on CTV. What’s more, consumers are not only streaming ad-supported content on CTV, but 61 per cent also prefer YouTube above all other options – surpassing Hulu at 43 per cent.
- High velocity of content creation drives need for brand safety: 58 per cent of consumers have encountered questionable content on YouTube CTV. This matters for advertisers, since 83 per cent of consumers are likely to skip an ad that plays on questionable YouTube content.
- Consumers prefer contextually relevant ads near premium content: 44 per cent of consumers are more receptive to YouTube CTV ads near brand suitable, premium content. Meanwhile, consumers are less likely to skip relevant ads; 40 per cent say they are most likely to finish an ad on YouTube if it is relevant to the content of the video they are watching.
“After a period of rapid growth, CTV is now officially consumers’ preferred streaming device and YouTube tops the list of ad-supported streaming services that people watch on CTV,” said Tony Marlow, CMO, IAS. “This new research makes it clear that YouTube is the place to be for marketers looking to follow consumers’ attention, and they can do so confidently because IAS now offers brand safety and suitability solutions for YouTube CTV.”