The Highest Reaching Campaigns All Have Similar Attributes. Revealing Findings From Effectv’s TV Viewership Report

Effectv has just released their latest edition of the bi-annual TV Viewership Report. This wave examines data from the first-half of 2023 data in the multiscreen TV landscape, offering advertisers and marketers revealing takeaways about consumer viewing habits in the Comcast footprint.

Essentially, the report noted that found that successful video ad campaigns, that is, those that provided the greatest reach, shared similar attributes and media mixes. “Brands that optimize reach and results are deploying a common approach with traditional TV as the foundation and streaming as a supplement to reach those hard-to-reach viewers,” the report stated. The importance of traditional TV as a pivotal element for a successful campaign is a fairly stunning revelation considering how linear TV is sometimes dismissed in some campaigns.

The study also revealed that high reach campaigns have a combination of consistent advertising over a broad range of dayparts, endpoints, networks, FAST, VOD and live programming from news and sports. The combination of all of these elements provides a roadmap for advertisers to maximize their reach across platforms.

This current wave analyzed 40,000 multiscreen campaigns. “There are qualifications required for campaigns to be included in a TV Viewership Report analysis,” noted Annie Hagerty, Research and Insights Manager, “We verify that campaigns have enough impressions and investment to be reflective of sufficient delivery, we focus on local advertising campaigns, and all campaigns include traditional TV and Streaming.”

While there are many new ways for consumers to access content and many more varieties of content available, traditional TV leads all other forms in driving reach in a multiscreen advertising campaign (77%).  Streaming and free ad-supported streaming TV plays important roles in attracting to reach light and no-TV viewing households so a careful combination of all viewing forms is vital to reaching as many viewers as possible.

Interestingly while optimizations can vary by ad category, audience, and geography, the essential foundations of a multiscreen campaign remain true across these different factors. “Regardless of ad category, audience, or region, we see that traditional TV provides a scale of reach that advertisers should maximize on, while streaming provides incremental reach and reaches households that are hard to reach through traditional TV due to little or no viewing,” she stated.

The report noted that that 20-30% of investment be applied to streaming regardless of these different factors. “When we’ve researched how to maximize reach among different audiences, we’ve consistently supported this recommendation. We do see audiences, like retirees, maximizing reach closer to a 20% of investment to streaming, while young adults closer to the higher end of the range. Advertisers should keep the behaviors of their audience in mind when deciding on strategies, but a foundation in traditional TV is important to achieve the scale of reach,” she added.

With this latest version of the report, “there’s a great opportunity to see what the common strategies are among our highest reaching multiscreen campaigns to be sure those are being included in advertising strategies,” Hagarty explained. “These high-reaching campaigns shared several strategies including consistent advertising across endpoints and time of day – emphasizing the importance of advertisers following the audience where and when they are watching to maximize reach.”

For those advertisers trying to best structure their most effective campaigns, “It can be difficult to verify the full impact of campaigns when TV and streaming are not being optimized within one strategy. Creating a holistic multiscreen campaign leads to greater opportunity in campaign optimization for the intended audience,” she offered.

Understanding the full media landscape is crucial to campaign success. “If an advertiser has been waiting to adopt a multiscreen strategy, the time is now as our data shows that it is becoming increasingly important to combine traditional TV and Streaming. If an advertiser has a multiscreen campaign, I recommend verifying that your campaign is using traditional TV as a foundation and is inclusive of strategies that reach audiences consistently across many endpoints,” she concluded.

 

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Artwork by Charlene Weisler

The Intersection of Viewing, Buying and Selling With Comcast’s Advertising Report

The media landscape is not unlike a big jigsaw puzzle where disparate data needs to be interlocked and then interpreted in order to see the full picture of behaviors and results. Comcast has in its arsenal two long standing but separate studies on viewership and on advertising and has merged the results from these studies into the Comcast Advertising Report, now in its second year. This report enables a better understanding of the dynamics of viewership in tandem with advertising results. “We have access to a lot of data, whether it's viewership data or ad exposure data and we want to be able to share so everybody wins,” noted Travis Flood, Senior Director of Research for Comcast Advertising.

According to Flood, the merged data focuses on three industry tent poles – viewers, buyers and sellers. “We go through our data and see what have has repeatedly shown up that we think is interesting,” he explained. One big takeaway is that, “TV is still the foundation still drives the majority of reach. Streaming is an audience extension that we expect to grow over time. But the two of them are going to be very separate for a while. We're here to help leverage the advantages of both for our advertisers and for the marketplace.” However to the viewer, TV and streaming are both viewed on the same screen and are therefore considered somewhat the same.

One big takeaway was the viewers’ continued preference for the big screen. “We think that has benefit because that allows you to maximize the connection. Eighty-two percent of our streaming impressions are happening on the big screen. Last year it was 77%,” noted Flood.

Further, the study found that traditional TV continues to drive reach, with a caveat. “We still drive the majority of our reach with traditional television but maximizing incremental reach is a challenge in today's marketplace. How are you driving it? How much TV should I have? How much streaming? Should I buy addressable? Should addressable be the focus of my campaign or should it be a tactic on top of that? Then, because we work in a premium video environment, we look at types of customers and type of content. We want to maximize that connection,” he stated.

One of the big misconceptions among advertisers is that traditional TV is diminishing in impact. This is a mistake according to Flood because, “They're giving up on where they can maximize their reach. What we've seen is when people invest more in streaming, they get more to begin with, but after a point, as they invest even more in streaming, they start talking to the same people over and over again. There's a diminishing return at some point as you sacrifice linear reach for streaming frequency in a lot of cases.”

Finally, the growth of FAST services has accelerated. “Last year in this report, FAST was really an introduction. This year nearly half of all OTT impressions were served through FAST. That's a really important stat because it has significant volume to it,” he stated and added, “FAST services have been a way for viewers to engage in content in different ways.”

In last year’s study, “Share of reach for traditional TV was 82%. Nine percent came from streaming-only and 9% were reached by both,” he noted, “This year those same numbers, instead of 82, 9 and 9, are 78, 10 and 12. So you'd say, wow, it's still relatively strong for television but the streaming is up a third from what it was last year. We're seeing movement, but it's not drastic.”

When it comes to programmatic, “The space is growing every year but we see hesitance for a couple of reasons,” Flood said. ”Sellers may be wary about selling programmatically. They think it will degrade their content and downgrade the potential to maximize revenue. Buyers may not be set up to be programmatic in the same way that they find television today. How can you buy streaming or connected TV and programmatic? That's a different world. So we tend to talk about programmatic just being a way to buy in an automated way.”

Looking ahead, Flood sees a convergence between traditional TV and streaming but it will happen slowly over time. “You'll continue to see convergence of the two,” he posited. ”TV will become more like digital or streaming in the way it's bought with more targeting capabilities through things like addressable. Hopefully, you'll have a unified approach to measurement across both television and streaming especially as there is more first party data.” He added that, “Hopefully, industry collaboration will continue because in a world where you want TV to be more like digital, it requires a lot of groups to collaborate with one another. But it won’t happen on its own. The industry has to be behind it and help guide it through the process.”

Ultimately for advertisers who want to maximize their impact, “There is not a magic bullet or a one size fits all approach. You can't just do streaming or linear television. I wouldn't tell someone to just buy data driven linear - broad appeal versus very addressable. It's combination of all of those,” he noted.  “It's important to be talking to your customers who buy from you today as well as those who will buy from you tomorrow. For your current customers, have a message that's more addressable. For those in the future, concentrate on broader reach.” But since advertisers need to reach both current and future customers, “You essentially need both strategies together and once you implement those two strategies, you have that data driven techniques and you can split it up between TV and streaming,” he concluded.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Artwork by Charlene Weisler

What is Fast Becoming the Viewing Option of Choice for Many Viewers? It’s F.A.S.T.

It's no secret that connected TV (CTV) has been on a roll. U.S. CTV ad spend is expected to reach $14.12 billion in 2023, which is more than double the amount it garnered in 2016, according to eMarketer.

But a lot more information, some of which is surprising, recently emerged in Comcast Advertising's recent report, "Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV: Why More Advertisers (and Consumers) are Going F.A.S.T." It specifically focuses on CTV services that fall into the FAST category (free ad-supported television). FAST programming services -- which include XUMO, Tubi and Pluto -- offer both on-demand and linear viewing options, and they capture cord-cutting consumers. "This report was interesting in that it provided a full view of just how quickly FAST is growing," said Travis Flood, Director, Customer Insights, Effectv, a business unit within Comcast Advertising. "According to the report, FAST penetration among households has more than doubled year-over-year. And today, six out of 10 households who have connected TVs are using FAST services, either exclusively or in addition to other services." The report also shows that FAST services garner higher Net Promoter Scores (NPS), a metric that suggests viewers of the platform are satisfied and loyal. FAST distinguishes itself from other types of video services, such as subscription video on demand (SVOD) and advertising-based video on demand (AVOD), because it doesn't require a paid subscription or password -- and it offers both linear and on-demand content. With FAST, linear streaming channels are created using a specific technology that stitches VOD together to create linear viewability. "For advertisers, FAST provides a unique opportunity to reach cord-cutters while they are scrolling, channel surfing and discovering new content -- a prospect not possible through ad-free services like Netflix, or even from ad-supported on-demand services like Crackle," the report notes. "When creating our FAST report, we worked with XUMO to better understand how consumers are using FAST services today," Flood explained. (The XUMO service is also owned by Comcast.) The report shows that there is considerable viewer overlap with other streaming services, many of which are not ad-supported. Of XUMO viewers, 77% subscribe to Netflix, 80% subscribe to Hulu and 65% subscribe to Prime Video. While FAST content is available on all kinds of video devices, the screen of choice is usually the largest in the house, offering a lean-back viewing experience not unlike linear TV. Because of that, big-screen FAST viewers are prone to channel surfing. In fact, the report reveals that it's not unusual for viewers to land on FAST services without realizing it and then spend time engrossed in the content. This is especially true of cord-cutters, who don't have a cable program guide. The report also analyzes viewer preferences by genre on the XUMO service: "Crime TV, game shows and daytime TV are [among] the most popular genres on the service, behind news and movies," Flood said. "There is such a diverse mix of programming available on FAST services today, so it is very useful to understand the type of content users are gravitating towards." Fern Feistel, Vice President, Marketing & Content Operations at XUMO, noted that "the report shows an increasing appetite among viewers for series-based channels on FAST, services that [viewers] can tune to, lean back and binge. "These series-based, or theme-based, channels such as Baywatch or Fear Factor are resonating with audiences and represent one of the main differences between FAST and traditional TV offerings," she added. While measurement of FAST services is in the development stage, the report indicates that, generally speaking, FAST audiences spend considerable time on these services (about 104 minutes within a platform once they have entered). They also tend to be Millennials (a generation that values affordability, accessibility and nostalgic experiences through technology). These viewers are also open to advertising and don't mind ads if the content is free and if the breaks are short (75% of respondents). What's more, 69% of survey respondents said that they would consider replacing paid streaming services with ad-supported streaming services. That may be an indication of how FAST could change the video dynamics moving forward. What are some others? "It's hard to predict six months out, let alone three years from now," Feistel said. "But we anticipate continued growth in viewership because of the low barrier to entry and 'lean-back' viewing experience." She expects that FAST will continue to gain momentum with advertisers, "especially if FAST services continue to invest in ad technology to make their service more scalable and targetable for advertisers." Click here to download your copy of "Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV: Why More Advertisers (and Consumers) are Going F.A.S.T."

New FreeWheel VMR Examines Viewer Evolution and How the Premium Video Marketplace Has Responded

Last week, FreeWheel published its latest Video Marketplace Report (VMR), an industry benchmark publication that examines viewership trends. This latest report, accessible here, takes a closer look at "The Viewer Evolution and How the Premium Video Marketplace Has Responded" in the first half of 2021.

One of the report's most interesting findings was the marked increase in video ad views year over year, driven by a shift in how people watch video with the growth of CTV viewership and the launch of new streaming platforms offering more quality TV programming. In fact, during the first six months of 2021, ad views continued to increase 50% year over year, driven by the increase in streaming. As noted in this latest VMR installment, streaming services comprised 45% of recorded ad views.

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FreeWheel's Director of Advisory Services, Julia Zangwill, told MediaVillage that this growth in streaming services is in part fueled by the number of direct-to-consumer services that entered the market in the past 18 months, including discovery+, Paramount+, Peacock and HBO Max.

"These new services, along with free, ad-supported streaming TV services (FASTs) such as Pluto, Xumo and Tubi, enable consumers to have more content, with a palatable ad load," she told MediaVillage.

Another key finding was the increase in programmatic advertising transactions as buyers entered this year's Upfronts seeking more data, flexibility and automation. In fact, programmatic transactions now comprise 24% of premium video ad views. Per a recent study, more than half of CTV buyers planned to allocate more money to programmatic in 2021 than they did in 2020. This trend was seen in the first half of 2021, with programmatic transactions comprising 24% of premium video ad views, resulting in an 84% year-over-year growth.

Key Takeaways
Other noteworthy findings from this latest VMR installment include:

• For non-linear content, connected TV remained a top choice for viewers, with 60% of total ad views. People opting to view on bigger screens and spending more time streaming content are fueling this growth.
• Entertainment programming continues to lead the premium TV video ecosystem, with 92% of ad views. As streaming services continue to double down on content, two main approaches emerged: those who diversify and those who specialize. Paramount+ and Peacock, for instance, offer consumers diverse content ranging from sports to comedies, dramas and movies, while others focus on specific verticals. (Examples include WarnerMedia's HBO Max and CNN's upcoming, subscription based, live news streaming service CNN+.)
• Behavioral targeting increased share due to advances in audience targeting capabilities with 60% representing behavioral segments and 40% demo.

Looking Ahead
FreeWheel believes that smart TVs will become a more significant part of the advertising ecosystem as they reach fuller penetration and publishers will continue to focus their efforts on direct-to-consumer services. Content will remain king and live streaming will continue to grow as it expands into gaming, social media and audio. Finally, there will be increased sophistication in the programmatic space as it becomes more curated with greater security and privacy.

LEARN MOREAsked whether many of the consumer behaviors captured in this report are a temporary change or permanent pivot, Zangwill said that they reflect viewership evolution and how the industry has responded amid a pandemic.

"We are closely tracking these new consumer behaviors and how the industry responds to, embraces and adapts to them," she noted. "As these viewership trends become more habitual, we're anticipating many of them to continue driving the trajectory and speed of new industry solutions, innovations and technologies, as well as how we reach and engage with people."

Click here to download FreeWheel's 1H 2021 Video Marketplace Report.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

 

How Can a Small Sales Org Make a BIG Splash? New York Interconnect Has the Answer

Can one place Amazon, Google and New York Interconnect in the same group? The answer is yes, according to Ed Renicker, CEO, NYI. New York Interconnect (NYI) was named the #3 Overall Sales Organization alongside these nationwide heavy hitters.

“This is the story of the little New York TV Media Buying Corporation that could - and did - not only land on a list that included national and global household names, but also managed to keep their clients happy and profitable in the middle of a tumultuous year in a market that was initially the epicenter of the pandemic,” explained Renicker. “This was all happening while placing #1 in categories like Proactive Impact, Innovation, and Communicate Value.”

MediaVillage sat down with Renicker, to find out exactly what NYI does to pull ahead of the pack and its future plans to insure they stay there.

New York Interconnect’s Audience One

“New York Interconnect (NYI) has been an industry leader for over three decades,” he began. In fact, the company is a joint venture between three impressive media firms - Altice USA, Charter Communications and Comcast. For Renicker, “NYI continues to pave the way for the future of TV media buying across all screens in the nation’s largest, most diverse, and most affluent market.”

It is a time of great transformation in the media space with more platforms and quality content than ever before. “In this revolutionary ecosystem, NYI continues to navigate the ever-evolving TV landscape through its ground-breaking Audience One platform,” Renicker explained and added, “Audience One is a multiscreen approach that integrates TV content into one holistic marketing platform that incorporates TV, digital, video on demand, live streaming, OTT, and exclusive network sponsorships, for an end-to-end media plan that connects advertisers to the right consumers.”

NYI Sales Organization Kudos

NYI was recently named #3 Overall Sales Organization in the Myers Report alongside corporations that include Google and Amazon. For Renicker, that success is no surprise. “NYI has that rare advantage of being a corporation that operates like a small business, as far as our ability to maintain close personal relationships with all our clients and first-hand knowledge of the brands they represent, yet NYI has the power, influence and reach of a large, powerful organization,” he shared.

“We’ve been at this for thirty years and NYI is always on the cutting edge of the next technology and at the forefront of the TV media evolution. So that combination has allowed us to be in the unique position of ranking up there with household names like Google and Amazon,” he added.

NYI also was the recognized leader in such attributes as Proactive Impact, Innovation, and Communicate Value. “Being proactive and innovative has always been part of the fabric with NYI,” he explained, “Whether finding the next great opportunity for our clients or recognizing an industry trend that we think our clients need to be aware of, the sales team at NYI never stops looking for the next great move for our clients.”

NYI makes it a point to communicate value across a range of messaging from trade publications and industry events. “We also pride ourselves for always moving the conversation forward when it comes to our industry. We’re always eager to share our latest research and findings with not only clients, but with colleagues because we believe that anything that advances our industry is good for everyone,” he noted.

Marketing During the Pandemic

The Myers Study client satisfaction study was fielded during the pandemic in 2020. In such an unusual and difficult year, the question is, how did NYI manage to steer their clients’ strategies to success, especially when New York, in particular, was initially the epicenter of the pandemic in the US?

Renicker and his team met the challenge. “When the pandemic hit New York, our teams were forced to chart a new course for each of our existing clients (as well as some new ones), all without ever even being able to step foot back in the office. Our sales and support teams all quickly recalibrated, reallocated, and rebounded from this setback in a way that not only left the company reaching its 2020 sales goals, but also helped to ensure the continued success of its clients, their brands, and their verticals.”

NYI’s Multi-Pronged Approach During the Pandemic

Renicker was quick to take the necessary actions during the pandemic to insure success for both his clients and his team. The areas of concentration were:

Messaging: The NYI sales team saw that the environment had changed and advised their clients of the new tonality. In fact, he noted, “Many business verticals had to pull their current creative to revise messaging to be more mindful of the current climate. In addition to pulling creative to protect their clients’ brands with acceptable tonality and re-allocating dollars because of pulled and revised programming, the team reconfigured schedules for the betterment of their clients and to accommodate the changes in programming.”

Following the Data: Data became especially important to guide the decision making process. “Our teams followed the data to find the desired audience of their clients now that so many cancellations were coming into play, especially when it came to live sports,” he said and added, “Audiences were migrating to news and entertainment programming; our data allowed brands to actually follow and continue to connect to their target consumers wherever and whenever they were watching.”

Business Verticals: During the pandemic there was a notable and not unexpected shift in advertiser categories. And NYI was ready. “For every vertical that pulled back on their TV media schedules in 2020, there were more that came to the forefront,” Renicker explained, “All matters of healthcare and hospitals found themselves wanting to get important information out. New verticals like online gaming and food delivery services found themselves in great demand. The sales team of NYI fought to keep their struggling verticals visible so they would be strongly positioned when the market rebounded. They also sought the right opportunities for the verticals that were now in high demand by creating effective media plans to maximize their exposure and profitability.”

News, Sponsorships and Political: Programming and advertising categories shifted in importance. He explained that, “All eyes were on the news in 2020. Daytime viewership skyrocketed and prime-time was now around-the-clock. Local cable news networks including News 12 and Spectrum NY1 found loyal viewers tuning in for hours at a time daily as their coverage spanned everything from updates on the pandemic, new healthcare protocols and news on protests taking place around their local neighborhoods. We placed important healthcare ads during peak viewership hours and created sponsorship opportunities that would align with the new programming being implemented by the cable networks.” He added that, “Political was also huge in 2020. A holistic advertising approach was the key to getting the word out in 2020 which is just want our teams did. The campaigns benefited from a more-targeted, audience-based approach in addition to their standard linear buys.”

Digital & Multiscreen: Through all of this, a multi-platform approach was pivotal to establish one-on-one connections with customers. “Brands need to reach them across devices at-home and beyond,” he shared, “Digital targeted advertising acts as a primary touchpoint for smaller brands and a bolster to video advertising across platforms for larger ones. The digital arm of a holistic marketing strategy is particularly crucial to attribution. Brands can see the conversion rate of households exposed to its commercial on multiple platforms, as well as metrics like website visitation, location data, or tune-in conversion after being exposed to an ad.”

The Beauty of the New York Market and NYI for Advertisers

When you are representing the biggest, most diverse global market as New York, you can’t help but see the great importance the market has for advertiser brand’s TV media strategy. It is a must-buy. “It all happens in New York!” Renicker exclaimed. “We are the #1 market in the country. We have the most affluent, diversified consumers and now, thanks to data and reporting, we have the ability to target like never before and prove a brand’s ROI.”

NYI should be the centerpiece of any marketing effort. In addition to the accolades NYI has received with the Myers Report rankings, their Marketing Team was recognized as Marketing Team of the year by the Faxies- and NYI was a runner up for Best Sales Organization. “NYI has always strived to maintain a great blend of talent that includes Sales personnel, Operational personnel, Marketing personnel, Business/Financial Planning personnel, HR personnel, and overall sales support personnel,” he explained, “We truly work as a team with the objective of servicing our clients at the very highest level. We do this by having homegrown talent combined with bringing in talented subject-matter experts when required.”

When asked to summarize what the secret sauce is to NYI’s success, Renicker didn’t hesitate in his answer.  “1. Client service, 2. Client service and 3. Client service. Our technology is always the most current, but our philosophy is always the most tried and true. Our clients come first in everything we do and keeping the best interest of our clients as our driving force has never steered us wrong.” The proof is in the Myers’ ranking.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

 

 

Julia Zangwill Shares the Results From the 10th Annual FreeWheel’s Video Marketplace Report

This year marks the 10^th anniversary of FreeWheel’s Video Marketplace Report, a seminal study on the state and future of premium video. The study is a valuable track of the emergence and growing popularity of premium video in the marketplace.

Methodology

“The report started in 2010,” explained Julia Zangwill, Director of Advisory Services at FreeWheel, “and we saw the need to highlight the trends in the premium ecosystem.” Over time it went from three pages to thirty pages and from just the U.S. market to the U.S. and the EU. The basis of the analysis is derived from the rich data set culled from the FreeWheel platform on premium video. “It’s all aggregated and anonymized and it is ad views data as well as video views data,” she explained.

Premium video is a term that can be loosely defined nowadays. For Zangwill, “It is a bit of a hot potato. The way we define it is around professionally produced, mostly long-form video, that has monetization rights. Those are MVPDs, Distributors as well as Programmers. It is the traditional television players that we focus on.”

Keeping it Fresh

In order to keep the study up-to-date, accurate and relevant in a highly changing and evolving ecosystem, changes were made in the analytical structure of the study. “We re-architected the way we analyze the world’s largest dataset of premium video ad impressions to reflect the changes we’ve seen in the market over the last ten years,” she noted and added, “This year, we see a long pattern of fragmentation across systems, content, and operations move towards integration, with notable examples of content aggregation, system simplification, and operational consolidation.” To that end, FreeWheel readjusted the way the database and queries were structured. “We took last year’s study, broke it apart and put it back together so we have a lot more flexibility going forward.”

Study Takeaways

Zangwill reflected that, “Overall, the past ten years we saw incredible growth. Technology was always one step ahead of consumers. When TV Everywhere services were first introduced in 2011 there was a lot of confusion on ‘how do I log in?’ and ‘on what devices does it work?’ and ‘what content is available inside or outside the home?’ But fast forward to the past year, we reached an inflection point where the technology and the content and the operations are starting to simplify.” In 2020, TVE made up 40% of ad views, but ad supported streaming services were 38% of ad views and continue to accelerate. With all of the device fragmentation, “Connected TV has emerged as #1, with close to 75% of device consumption” she stated.

What has facilitated CTV adoption, according to Zangwill, was the rich choice of high quality content especially in 2013. She referred to it as “the Golden Age of TV comprised of high caliber, scripted shows including AMC’s Breaking Bad and FX’s The Shield,” that consumers wanted to view on the larger screen. This timing, aligned with advanced technology like Roku boxes and Firesticks, accelerated CTV adoption. “Back then it was 2% of ad views and it more than doubled the next year. Seven years later, CTV makes up 62% of ad views proving CTV is here to stay,” she concluded.

The study also confirmed the Power of Live Sports. “Five years ago, the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil led consumers to watch more live sports on digital platforms than ever before.  In 2020 live content made up 55% of content consumption, and we expect the 2021 Tokyo Olympics will set new records later this year,” she noted.

Another takeaway is the rise of Programmatic. “It is another new data cut that we can now track moving forward. It was in its infancy in the past decade, specifically around video. But it has been in a mature state now for a long time. In 2015, header bidding made the transition from display to video. Today 24% of impressions are executed programmatically,” she explained, “We expect to see that accelerate and continue in the next few years.”

The pandemic, according to Zangwill, created decision fatigue which led viewers to passively stream content throughout the day to fill the time. This trend could continue with live sports coming back.

Next Steps

Looking to the future, “There is a lot of competition out there when it comes to ad supported services and there are going to be organizations to opt-in for a low cost value proposition. There will also be other players who are going to be more premium and have a higher price point that offers a different ad experience or different content. The value proposition will become very important,” she predicted.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com