• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 10, 2021

Streaming platforms and connected TV (CTV), ecommerce powered by digital video, and short-form content are the three trends that continue to move digital video into the future, said Neal Mohan, chief product officer at YouTube, during the IAB’s annual leadership conference on Wednesday.

eMarketer estimates more than 106 million U.S. households will watch streaming content in 2021, eclipsing pay TV, but the numbers have already materialized for YouTube. 

More than 120 million people streamed YouTube and YouTube TV on their TV screens in December 2020 in the U.S., up from 100 million in March 2020, according to the company’s data. Of these, a significant number watch YouTube almost exclusively on TV screens.

As YouTube CTV viewership continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important for advertisers to measure the impact alongside other devices and platforms.

For the first time, advertisers will have the opportunity to measure their YouTube CTV campaigns in Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings (DAR) and Total Ad Ratings (TAR). This includes all ways to buy on the YouTube main app, including YouTube Select CTV, and YouTube TV.

The first phase of measurement in Nielsen's Digital Ad Ratings starts with YouTube TV. Measurement for YouTube is estimated to be added ahead of the 2021-2022 Upfront season.

Early adopters like Christina Seidner, senior brand manager at Kimberly-Clark, found that campaigns drive incrementality across linear TV and other YouTube desktop and mobile campaigns.

To find an efficient way to reach new audiences, Seidner relied on YouTube to earn unique reach to TV, but said "the real learning for us was in the incrementality CTV provides to our other YouTube cross-device buys, our CTV only campaign delivered an incremental reach of 36% to our core cross-device campaign.”

Viewers are streaming all types of data. In fact, YouTube data shows that in the U.S. as of December 2020, year-over-year music content has grown more than 50%, cooking content, more than 40%; humor content, more than 60%; travel content more than 40%; and educational content more than 50%, according to data released Wednesday.