The majority of premium digital video in the US was viewed on the “big screen” during the first half of 2021, per a report from FreeWheel.
Given the option to view video via mobile, desktop or on a TV set, it appears people are still opting for the bigger screen, with three-quarters of ad views in H1 being on either connected TV (CTV; 60%) or on set-top box video-on-demand (15%). Only 13% of ads were viewed via mobile, with the remaining 12% viewed on desktop.
Although data from Leichtman Research Group reveals that growth of CTV ownership, as well as daily use, has plateaued this year, it remains the preferred device for viewing. Indeed, its share of ad views has grown considerably over the same time last year.
A closer look shows that, in H1, Roku (43%) and Fire TV (25%) accounted for the largest share of ad views on CTV, while Smart TVs (8%), Chromecast (7%) and gaming consoles (6%) accounted for a much smaller share.
Viewers still show a preference for live video, with 51% of ad views coming from this format. More than one-third (37%) of ad views came from full episodes, while only 12% were from clips.
Streaming services made up the largest share of ad views by distribution platform — accounting for 45% of ad views in H1. This is a change from the second half of 2020 when TV Everywhere accounted for the largest share of total ad views. In H1, TV Everywhere accounted for 36% of ad views.
FreeWheel’s data also shows that programmatic makes up about one-quarter (24%) of total ad views, with an increase in programmatic ad views of 84% year-over-year. The report also found that, when it comes to segmentation of targeted campaigns, 60% were targeted by behavioral segmentation, while 40% were targeted by demographic.
The full report can be found here.
About the Data: Findings are based on aggregated and anonymized advertising data concerning professional rights-managed video content collected through the FreeWheel platform.
