Digiday+ Research: What top ad-supported TV platforms offer advertisers

With streaming services fast approaching linear TV as the preferred viewing platforms for many consumers, advertisers that traditionally spent the bulk of their budgets on network and cable TV are shifting more and more to streaming instead.

Linear TV has been declining in popularity since the mid-2010s and, according to Pew Research Center, the share of Americans who said they watched TV via cable or satellite dropped from 76% in 2015 to 56% in 2021. Yet while traditional TV has suffered, streaming platforms have taken off. In just the last week of December 2021, audiences streamed 183 billion minutes, eclipsing the amount of time they spent streaming weekly at the height of pandemic-driven lockdowns in early 2020 (166 billion minutes). In total, Americans streamed almost 15 million years’ worth of content in 2021, according to Nielsen.

Many of those Americans were choosing ad-supported streaming platforms. Advertising-based platforms’ audiences grew 16% in 2021 versus 2020, twice the growth of subscription-based streaming platforms’ 8% increase, according to MRI-Simmons’ 2021 Cord Evolution Study. And more than 50% of U.S. internet users are expected to be ad-supported platform viewers by 2024.

Escalating viewership for ad-supported streaming services means not only will more eyes be on screens, but revenue is expected to increase as well. U.S. revenue for ad-supported streaming platforms will triple between 2020 and 2026 to $31 billion, according to a report by Research and Markets, with the U.S. growing its global total share from 37% in 2020 to 47% by 2026.

To gain an edge in the streaming wars and stand out to advertisers, ad-supported platforms are offering brands options to curry favor among consumers, increase purchase intent and reach large audiences and niche segments. In this report, Digiday presents an industry-level look at special ad offerings and a user-centric analysis of ad experiences provided by the top ad-supported streaming platforms, a group that includes:

HBO Max (Ads)
Hulu
IMDb TV (rebranded to Amazon Freevee effective April 27)
Paramount+
Peacock
Pluto TV
Samsung TV Plus
The Roku Channel
Tubi
YouTube

Some of the topics we look at include:

How ad placement options stack up across the platforms
Frequency capping ads to prevent brand fatigue among users
Ad targeting via automatic content recognition technology, demand-side platforms and first-party data collection to reach specific audiences
Innovative ad formats, including video action campaigns (VACs) and choice-based ads
Ranking the best and worst user ad experiences across ad-supported streaming platforms
How platforms use “older” QR code technology as a new CTA technique
How Hulu’s choice-based ad format is improving user experience

The report aims to balance advertiser options with user experience in assessing key opportunities and challenges in this new frontier for the future of TV. But first, some background.

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Source:: Digiday