Nielsen Finds Little Demand For Ads In Video-On-Demand, Apathy Growing

Global advertising-supported video-on-demand services, Internet-based and otherwise, continue to grow -- but the advertising content isn’t satisfying TV consumers.

Some 66% of global respondents say most ads in VOD content are for products they don’t want, according to Nielsen.

Another 62% who watch VOD say online ads displayed before, during or after VOD programming are distracting, and 65% wish they could block all ads.

Still, most say they “don’t mind getting ads if I can view free content.” That’s the case for 68% of consumers in North America; 60% in Latin America; 59% in Asia-Pacific countries; and 53% in Europe.

About 50% of people in North America, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East/Africa say they don’t mind getting ads for recent purchases already made. But this percentage is far lower in Europe, at 34%.

Nearly 60% of global respondents favor watching VOD programming because it is less expensive than programming via a cable or satellite service. Still, nearly 70% say they have no plans to cancel their existing traditional service.

Younger TV consumers watch more VOD programming per day -- short- or long-form programming -- than older users: 49% of those age 15-to-20 and 48% of those 21-34. Thirty-eight percent of older viewers 35-49 watch VOD daily; 26% of those 50-64 and 21% of those 65 and older.

The research comes from a Nielsen survey in the third quarter of 2015 -- August 10 through September 4 -- polling more than 30,000 online consumers in 61 countries.

2 comments about "Nielsen Finds Little Demand For Ads In Video-On-Demand, Apathy Growing".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, March 16, 2016 at 3:31 p.m.

    Another of those highly generalized and relatively worthless studies. Of course a lot of SVOD viewers say that most SVOD ads are for products they don't care about. What else could they say?The average consumer uses only a third of all advertised product categories in the first place. But that point, aside, this sort of research stacks the deck against any medium that carries advertising. Were the same types of broad stroke questions asked about TV, they would probably have gotten similar results. Why not measure a few representative campaigns in both TV and SVOD at the same GRP levels and see if SVOD performs at a lower level?Then, maybe, you have shown us something.

  2. John Grono from GAP Research, March 16, 2016 at 5:26 p.m.

    Interesting that the article says that they “don’t mind GETTING ads if I can VIEW free content.”

    Is the intended implication that they merely 'get' ads served that they don't view while they are off doing something else, as opposed to 'viewing' content that they specifically requested.   It basically describes my modus operandi but I am a sample of n=1.

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