Connected TV accounts for 49% of video ad impressions
Details
Louise Duffy
| 27 June 2019

Connected TV advertising is driving transformation in the advertising industry and now accounts for nearly half of impressions served, according to the latest Video Benchmark Report from Extreme Reach.

Based on Q1 2019 performance metrics from the company’s platform, AdBridge, and specifically its proprietary video ad server, the report highlights the impact of CTV on multiple aspects of digital advertising.

The CTV-driven transformation is accelerating in parallel with consumers shifting media consumption preferences. According to data issued by Nielsen in March 2019, 68% of US households had a connected TV device — such as Roku, Apple TV — by Q3 2018. At the same time, use of ad-supported streaming services like Hulu and the number of emerging entrants in the field is surging. And where the audience goes, revenue soon follows. While OTT advertising currently occupies just 3% of TV ad budgets, Magna Global predicts a 30%+ growth rate for 2019 and 2020.

The Extreme Reach report goes on to note that while the advertising conversation in Q1 2018 revolved around mobile and there was optimism about the adoption of 6-second video ads, Q1 2019 reflects a near-opposite paradigm. Mobile video ads, at just 25% of all impressions, are at their lowest since Q1 2017 and 6-second ad impressions are negligible. CTV impressions, on the other hand, are now 49% of the total, or nearly double those of mobile. Because these ads are generally unskippable, they have an unprecedented 97% completion rate.

The growth of CTV and its unskippable ad inventory is driving a shift to longer ad lengths. In Q4 2018, 30-second ads first displaced 15-second spots as the most common ad length, and the growth trend has continued. 30-second ads accounted for 69% of all ads in Q1 2019, a 20% increase over the prior quarter. While 30-second spots have a clear majority and 15-second spots are in second place, Extreme Reach projects that ads of 60 seconds and longer will become more prevalent in the coming quarters.

The report also notes that the rise of CTV has reached critical mass for the sell side of the media-buying equation, which can now capitalise on multi-channel content consumption and optimise the value of their highly-targeted, measurable audiences. CTV inventory is almost exclusively sold by premium publishers directly to agencies and advertisers and this has driven up the percentage of overall impressions served to premium publishers, along with video completion rates and an increase in longer ads as noted above. In Q1, 82% of video impressions served by Extreme Reach ran on premium publisher sites and the video completion rates for those publishers hit a record high of 93%, a year on year increase of 8% from Q1 2018.

Mary Vestewig, senior director, video account management at Extreme Reach, said: “The digital advertising ecosystem is undergoing a total disruption, which is driven by the growth of non-linear TV formats. The upside is significant for nearly everyone. Publishers are able to maximise the value of their inventory, which will bring the revenue needed to create more high-quality programming. Meanwhile, audiences have an unprecedented selection of entertainment options and with new capabilities for targeting they should get more personalised and relevant advertising.”