Ad-​Supported TV is What Consumers Want

BY Adam Ambro
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Here’s a situation. You wake up early to work out and afterwards rush to work early because you know you have a busy day ahead of you. Afterwards, you pick up your child from daycare, watch them until bedtime and then finally have a moment to yourself on the couch. What do you watch? According to a new study from Future Today, you’re most likely to choose an ad-​supported streaming service, as nearly 51% of other US consumers do.

Ad-​Supported subscription services

It’s apparent that the a la carte style of subscription services will be the future for how people consume TV. Long gone are the days of gathering the family for an 8:00 p.m. reservation for a show like Friends or Seinfeld. According to Future Today, on average, consumers spend 10.6 hours per week viewing streaming services compared to just 8.3 hours viewing cable or broadcast TV. Those figures increase for younger demographics:

⦁ Age 18–29 spends nearly 4x as much time watching OTT
⦁ Age 30–45 spends more than 2x as much time watching OTT
⦁ Age 46–60 spends just 16% more time watching OTT
⦁ Age 60+, on the other hand, spends nearly 40% more time watching cable or broadcast TV

Consumer viewing preferences continue to evolve. Streaming has become the de facto source for watching TV shows and movies, but not all services, platforms and models will thrive in this shifting media landscape,” said Vikrant Mathur, CEO and Co-​Founder of Future Today. “Despite some pundits’ expectations, we’re seeing AVOD [ad-​supported video-​on-​demand] adoption flourish, and expect this trend will continue to grow for years to come. Our research solidifies that with the right viewing experience, the ad-​supported streaming model is ideal for content owners, brands and, most importantly, audiences.”

This is just another reason why it’s critical that your advertisers understand OTT.

How to best integrate OTT advertising

According to Future Today, roughly half of participants felt streaming ads and traditional TV ads were “about the same,” and, on average, ads served while streaming were twice as likely to be more relevant to a viewer’s interests than those seen on cable or broadcast TV. 

While consumers love watching their favorite shows on-​demand, there were frustrations associated with this style of TV consumption that Future Today was able to ascertain. The top three frustrations when using AVOD services were:

  • 40.2% — Showing the same ad multiple times during an ad break
  • 39.3% — The amount of advertising per hour of programming
  • 33.3% — The interruption caused by advertising

So, for your advertisers, it’s important to stress variety in their advertising campaigns. Just getting their name out in front of consumers watching ad-​supported services is not enough anymore. Consumers are savvier now more than ever when it comes to advertising. Finding creative solutions to not bore their consumers with repetitive messaging will be vital to your advertiser’s overall marketing strategy.

A way to help your advertisers is to turn to AdMall’s AudienceSCAN profiles, powered by SalesFuel, which are centered around OTT viewership. One specific report is the OTT Streaming Service Advertising Responders customer profile. Because Future Today pointed out that people aged 18–29 and 40–45 make up a majority of those watching ad-​supported subscription programming, you can verify those numbers on AdMall before your next client meeting. In this case, AdMall’s numbers are in line with Future Today, showing that the top three age groups for those responding to OTT advertising are 18 to 24, 25 to 34 and 35 to 44.

You can explain that 46.4% of US adults have seen streaming TV advertising within the last 30 days that led them to take action and then showcase your company’s media solutions and how it can best reach the target audience. Giving simple, straightforward numbers to your advertiser is a great way to position yourself as a knowledge expert and show how advertising can be an effective influencer on any audience.

Photo by JESHOOTS​.com from Pexels


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