According to FreeWheel’s newest U.S. Video Marketplace Report, premium video ad views in the United States increased by 50% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2020, with connected TV (CTV) accounting for 60% of those views.
Set-top box video-on-demand came in second place, accounting for 15% of all ad views. When combined with CTV, this means that 75 percent of video ad views were on large screens (above).
Ad views on mobile and desktop were 13 percent and 12 percent, respectively.
With 43 percent and 26 percent of ad views, respectively, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices continued to dominate CTV, accounting for more than three-quarters of all views.
Smart TVs, which continue to invest in their native apps to compete with Roku and Amazon, are marginally ahead of Chromecast and gaming consoles, with an 8 percent share.
D2C streaming services took 45 percent of ad views in the first half of 2020, edging out TV Everywhere (TVE), which had the majority share in the first half of 2020.
Discovery+ and Paramount+, which launched in January and March 2021, respectively, and HBO Max’s introduction of an ad-supported tier in early June, all contributed to the streaming services’ growth.
Disney+ and the newer main competitors continue to eat into Netflix and Hulu’s market share. (The data does not include Amazon Prime Video.)
The popularity of programmatic ad purchases grew much more. In the first half of the year, programmatic transactions increased by 84 percent, accounting for 24 percent of premium video ad views.
With 92 percent of ad views, the entertainment vertical leads the premium TV video ecosystem, compared to only 5% for news and 3% for sports.
While some services, such as Paramount+ and Peacock, emphasize content diversification, delivering sports, comedies, dramas, and movies, WarnerMedia plans to keep HBO Max dedicated to entertainment and launch a dedicated CNN streamer next year, according to the source.
Live programming accounted for more than half (51%) of all ad views on digital platforms in the first half of this year. The increasingly popular FAST (free, ad-supported streaming TV) model relies on live 24/7 content sources.
In the expanding number of addressable ad campaigns, behavioral segments accounted for 60% of targeting segments, while demographic criteria accounted for 40%.
