Nearly all households that consume TV content on any platform also engage in “co-viewing” of that content, a trend that marketers should consider as they plan campaigns, according to a
new study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau also supported by Hulu, Roku and Freewheel.
Co-viewing means
that two or more people watched a program together. Often these are members of the same family, but also friends and others.
According to the study, 93% of people engage in
co-viewing, and over-the-top video now reaches more of those viewers than DVR or video-on-demand services. About 29% of time watching OTT video is spent co-viewing with others.
Those OTT subscribers are also more likely to be in a younger demographic (age 18-34), and a majority engage with video delivered through those platforms. Perhaps most significantly for
marketers, co-viewing consumers are likely to discuss ads and brands while they watch.
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“When you are watching [OTT TV] with someone, else, you are going to be leaned in, and discussing
it,” said Dan Robbins, head of ad research at Roku, during a panel unveiling the study at the IAB Video Symposium Monday .
In addition, co-viewers spend more than
twice as much time watching ad-supported services as they do watching ad-free services.
Still, as brands begin to think about how to target consumers who watch with others,
concerns over measurement remain. “People do watch TV together, and we haven’t, to date, been able to count the people in the room,” said Julie DeTraglia, the head of ad sales
research for Hulu, at the IAB summit.