In a clear indication of the lay of land in today’s TV industry, research from advertising technology platform provider FreeWheel has found that after a decade of change, and as people’s consumption of media has fragmented across devices over the past ten years, many have returned to the living room to watch connected TV (CTV).
In the tenth anniversary edition of its US Video Marketplace Report, the Comcast subsidiary drew a timeline of events that have shaped TV’s last decade of growth, drawing on data and observations from past issues to highlight the transformative moments of the last 10 years and contrasting the history with data from the second half of 2020.
The report reveals just how much consumers have embraced their connected devices to view premium content and how the device of choice has evolved over time as distribution has changed. It showed that in the fourth quarter of 2012, 12% of video views were on devices other than laptops but in comparison, in the second half of 2020, non-desktop devices made up 84% of ad views. This represents a 7x increase in share.
FreeWheel noted that CTV has played prominently into this shift, as consumers have moved back to the living room to consume TV. CTV now makes up 62% of all measured ad views, with Roku and Fire TV contributing 72% of ad views, 43% and 29% respectively.
Looking back ten years to the growth in adoption of TV everywhere in 2011, the report showed how content – and, therefore ad views – have spread across devices. In the second half of 2020, TV everywhere (TVE) made up 40% of ad views, while streaming was not far behind at 38% of ad views measured. Meanwhile, ad views continue to soar: the report found that in H2 2020, overall ad views increased by 57% when compared to H2 2019.
The report looked at the journey of programmatic advertising, as marketers have sought to streamline their tech stacks and find greater efficiencies in media buying. In 2015, programmatic was just starting to gain traction in the video space. Programmatic transactions have since exploded, currently accounting for 24% of premium video ad views in H2 2020. The use of audience targeting has also accelerated, comprising 91% of ad views, split evenly between demo and behavioural segments.
“We’ve observed enormous changes in the TV industry over the past decade, making it critical that marketers stay on top of trends in distribution, monetisation, audience behaviour and ad experience,” said FreeWheel general manager Dave Clark commenting on the US Video Marketplace Report. “For the past 10 years, the Video Marketplace Report has become a trusted source for data, context and commentary into these changes. In observing this time frame, the big story has been fragmentation, but ironically, fragmentation of video viewing has brought viewers back to their living rooms as connected TV continues to lead the pack.”
Source: RapidTVnews.com
