VideoNuze Posts

Over 50% of the viewing on Comcast’s Flex streaming TV device is free, ad-supported, according to an update Comcast shared this morning. Comcast didn’t identify viewing shares by specific services, but said four services - Peacock, Xumo, Pluto and Tubi - were “routinely among the most viewed apps on the platform.”

Comcast offers the Flex box for no extra charge to its 31 million Xfinity broadband users and said it had over three million Flex boxes deployed as of March. Flex users also get free access to Peacock Premium, the $4.99 per month ad-supported tier that includes all Peacock content, including all seasons of “The Office” which is Peacock’s most valuable content and gets significant promotion in the app. Comcast also noted its “content forward design that puts free programming front and center.”

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Ad buyers plan to allocate 56% of their video advertising budgets to digital video (CTV, desktop, mobile), with 41% to linear TV (linear TV, addressable, data-driven linear) and 2% to other video, according to IAB’s new Video Ad Spend 2020 & Outlook for 2021 report, which is based on a survey of 350 video advertising decision makers conducted Mary 19th to April 5th. Within digital video, CTV is expected to get the largest share of spending, with 35%, followed by mobile with 33% and desktop with 32%.

CTV is expected to have the strongest growth in 2021, with 35% of respondents planning to increase budgets, followed by data-driven linear TV and broadcast/cable TV (21%) and addressable TV (15%). The primary reasons buyers behind the increase for CTV were “premium/high quality content,” “trusted, brand safe environment” and “targeting.”

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The U.S. SVOD market has undergone significant fragmentation over the past two years as new services have launched, according to the Q1 2021 Growth Report from Antenna, an SVOD insights provider. In Q1 ’19, Netflix and Hulu together accounted for over three-quarters (78%) of all SVOD subscriptions. But two years later, in Q1 ’21, their combined share fell to just over half (51%), with Disney taking 17%, HBO Max 11%, Paramount+ 7%, Starz 6%, Showtime 4% and discovery+, Peacock and Apple TV+ all at 2%.

Antenna didn’t report Amazon Prime Video numbers. Amazon said in its Q1 ’21 earnings report that 175 million Prime members have streamed TV shows and movies in the past year, though it didn’t provide any breakdown of U.S. share vs. rest of world.

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Welcome to Inside the Stream, our weekly podcast with Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia where we take listeners inside the world of streaming video.

Earlier this week Alphabet reported its Q1 ’21 earnings, including $6 billion in advertising revenue at YouTube, a record for the first quarter. In this week’s podcast, Colin and I dig into what drove YouTube’s advertising, which was nearly twice the level of just two years ago in Q1 ’19 and also up 49% from Q1 ’20.

YouTube appears to be benefiting from two strong forces: the shift of ad spending from linear TV to CTV to reach younger audiences, and the desire by advertisers for more measurable, performance-oriented advertising, which YouTube has capitalized on with its TrueView for Action format.

We also spend a little time looking at the over-the-air market and how E.W. Scripps is positioning itself to benefit from the millions of households who still access TV this way.

Many thanks to our inaugural Inside the Stream sponsor Verizon Media. When you have quality connections at scale, you’re truly connected.

Click here to listen to the podcast (26 minutes, 58 seconds)

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Yesterday, CNBC reported that HBO Max’s upcoming ad-supported tier will be priced at $9.99 per month, a $5 per month discount vs. $14.99 per month for its existing ad-free service. The $5 differential is mostly in line with the approach other subscription services with an ad-supported tier, such as Hulu, Peacock and Paramount+ have taken and is therefore unsurprising.

But there are still many interesting questions about the HBO Max ad-supported tier and how it will be positioned relative to the ad-free tier. One big one is which content will actually carry ads, and which won’t. At AT&T’s recent investor day, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said “We will not be having advertising inside the HBO original series.” Does “inside” mean that only mid-roll ads are off the table, but pre-rolls and post-rolls will be ok? Or does it mean no ads for HBO original series, period? If the latter, does it imply that Max originals are going to be the main content that will have ads?

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YouTube, the juggernaut of online video, continued its hot growth streak, with advertising revenue in Q1 ’21 of just over $6 billion, up 49% from just over $4 billion in Q1 ’20 and nearly double the $3 billion YouTube reported in Q1 ’19. YouTube’s ad revenue accounted for 13.4% of Google’s total ad revenue of $44.7 billion in Q1 ’21, up from 12% of Google’s total ad revenue of in Q1 ’20. YouTube represents almost 11% of parent company Alphabet’s $55.3 billion in Q1 revenue.

As in Q4 ’20, on yesterday’s earnings call, company executives repeatedly highlighted two themes in YouTube’s ad growth: Brands shifting their spending to YouTube to gain incremental reach beyond linear TV, primarily to younger audiences, and Direct Response performance advertising that drives specific performance metrics. YouTube didn’t offer a breakdown between the two.

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Registration is complimentary for VideoNuze’s next Connected TV Advertising Summit (virtual) which will be on the afternoons of June 9th and 10th. In addition, all attendees will be entered to win a Roku TV and Smart Soundbar generously provided by Roku.

CTV and streaming have moved to center stage for all buyers and sellers of premium video advertising. Next week’s NewFronts presentations will highlight how viewer behavior is shifting from linear TV consumption via traditional pay-TV to streaming via connected TVs. The consequence is that advertisers need to shift a portion of their spending to reach audiences (especially younger viewers) who can’t be accessed via linear TV any longer.

While the access rationale is compelling, the other piece of the equation is that CTV/streaming give advertisers targeting, measurement and attribution capabilities traditionally associated with digital. This means that CTV/streaming can be used for both branding and performance-oriented campaigns. As advertisers seek better return on ad spend, CTV/streaming’s ability to meet performance KPIs is highly appealing.

We’ll be digging deep into these main themes and related topics at the CTV Ad Summit (program coming soon). You’ll hear from senior executives at ad buyers, content providers, technology companies and other stakeholders. The goal is to help attendees understand how to succeed as the world moves to a CTV/streaming-first approach.  

Many thanks to our Gold partners Beachfront, Extreme Reach, Mediaocean, Roku and Xandr. To learn more about sponsorship opportunities please contact me.

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Welcome to Inside the Stream, our weekly podcast with Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia where we take listeners inside the world of streaming video.

Music video provider Vevo has seen connected TV ad revenue jump from 4% of total revenue in Q1 ’20 to 40% of total revenue in Q1 ’21, a 10x increase in just a year. Vevo’s VP of West Coast Sales Andrea Zapata joins us this week to discuss the strategic moves Vevo made to increase its distribution and reposition itself to ad buyers as a music television network in the living room, rather than being mobile-first.

Andrea also dives into how Vevo is curating its programming and analyzing viewers’ behaviors to create moods which advertisers can then use for contextual targeting.

Vevo will be participating in our next Connected TV Advertising Summit (virtual) on June 9th and 10th. Registration is free and you can win a Roku TV and smart soundbar.

Many thanks to our inaugural Inside the Stream sponsor Verizon Media. When you have quality connections at scale, you’re truly connected.

Listen to Inside the Stream (28 minutes, 22 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts  Google Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS


Note I’ll continue to publish Inside the Stream in the prior feed