CTV Share Of Digital Ad Video Impressions Holds Steady, Mobile/Tablet Video Share Grows
- by Wayne Friedman , May 13, 2020
Connected TV video advertising impressions keep growing -- but mobile and tablet video ad impressions grew faster in the first quarter of this year. COVID-19 issues were the primary cause.
Connected TV (CTV) now has a leading 37% share of digital video ad impressions as of the first quarter of 2020 -- down from its 47% to 51% share range in the four previous quarters of 2019, according to Extreme Reach, an ad server/management platform.
Mobile video ad impressions share grew to a 33% share (versus 29% share in the fourth quarter) and desktop video ad impressions came in at 23% (up from 16%).
Extreme Reach said the first quarter of this year was the first time ever CTV dipped in share versus other digital media platforms. It reckons COVID-19 issues resulting in more at-home media usage caused the changes.
advertisement
advertisement
Still actual number of CTV video ad impressions didn’t decline. “Interestingly, the volume of impressions served into CTV environments is flat from fourth quarter 2019 to first quarter 2020,” Melinda McLaughlin, chief marketing officer of Extreme Reach, tells Television News Daily.
She adds: “We knew that first quarter 2020 might show some anomalies as the COVID crisis turned usual media consumption trends on their head. And that definitely played out relative to the share of impressions going to different devices.”
In terms of where digital video impressions are placed, premium publishers remain dominant -- with a 78% share in the first quarter. Media aggregators’ video ad impressions are growing slightly and are now at a 22% share (up from 19% in the fourth quarter). Premium publishers were at an 80% to 83% share for the entire year of 2019.
Extreme Reach say the sharp increases for desktop/mobile, as well as tablet video ad impressions, occurred in the closing weeks of the first quarter.
We don’t think it’s a stretch to posit that our observation of impression destination shifts reflects the unprecedented stay-at-home environment where suddenly people are living a very different life,” McLaughlin said.
Wayne, when any source reports on share of "impressions" the data can be very misleading unless an absolute quantitative base is also provided. For example, in your report, CTV's share of "video" uasge declined sharply---down from 47-51% to only 37%, however, the number of "impressions" garnered via CTV didn't decline---due, no doubt, to heavier usage of videos in general. Obviously, the number of "impressions" is the more important statistic, though share deserves to be noted as well.