Advanced Television

Study: CTV tops add impression metrics

November 4, 2021

Video ad impression mix by destination type remains consistent across the ecosystem, according to findings from creative logistics specialist Extreme Reach (ER).

The company’s latest Video Benchmarks Report, with data from Q3 2021, shows very little movement in impression share by device, indicating that video delivery by platform has stabilised with CTV continuing to garner the largest share.

The report compiles the aggregate performance metrics for impressions served from the company’s accredited video ad server. The data track campaigns for a diverse set of brands across multiple categories.

“Consumer viewing habits changed dramatically in 2020, as CTV became a much larger part of viewers’ lives at a much faster pace than anyone could have predicted,” advises Mary Vestewig, VP of Digital Account Management at Extreme Reach. “Three-quarters of the way through 2021, we’re seeing only minor shifts in the share of impressions across the major channels, signaling that viewer habits and advertiser strategies may be reaching a new baseline. Here at ER we’ve seen tremendous growth in the volume of impressions served — a year over year increase of 128 per cent in Q3 — yet the share of impressions by platform and media type remained steady, an indication that this may be the new normal.”

Key findings in the report include:

  • Connected TV accounted for 35 per cent of total ad impressions for the second straight quarter, and for the third time in the past four quarters. CTV commands the largest share of impressions of the delivery channels included in the quarterly report from Extreme Reach.
  • Mobile app, at 25 per cent, accounted for the second largest share of impressions served by ER in Q3. That was down just 2 per cent from the previous quarter, and down 1 per cent year over year.
  • Desktop accounted for 21 per cent of impressions in Q3, down 1 per cent from the previous quarter, remaining steady with where it was a year ago.
  • Mobile web owned 17 per cent share of impressions, up 1 per cent from Q2, and up 4 per cent year over year.
  • Aggregators and premium publishers are in a dance, alternating as the leader in share of impressions over the last few quarters. At 53 per cent in Q3, media aggregators led premium publishers for the second consecutive quarter, and the highest share aggregators have commanded since the start of 2016 when ER began publishing quarterly benchmark reports. This total share has been trending higher and is now a total inverse from Q3 2020 when media aggregators accounted for 47 per cent share of impressions.
  • Conversely, the share of impressions going to premium publishers has been trending down for the past three quarters. At 47 per cent in Q3, that’s a decline of 2 per cent from the previous quarter.
  • Video completion rates remained steady, and the overall average completion rate was up 1 per cent from the previous quarter, despite a greater percentage of media going to aggregators, which historically have seen lower completion rates. In Q3, aggregators saw a 66 per cent ad completion rate (up 2 per cent from the previous quarter) while premium publishers saw a 94 per cent completion rate — the same as the previous quarter and remaining at its highest level for the past year.

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