• by Wayne Friedman , August 25, 2021

Streaming advertising consumption in the first half of 2021 showed ad views growing 50% versus the same period a year before, according to Comcast’s FreeWheel, the digital ad-server company.

FreeWheel also says streaming services accounted for 45% of recorded ad views -- greater than TV Everywhere, authenticated pay TV viewing, set-top-box video-on-demand (STB VOD) and virtual pay TV providers.

Connected TV devices accounted for 60% of total digital video ad views. After CTV, comes set-top box video-on-demand (STB VOD) -- 15% share; mobile, 13%; and desktop, 12%, it found.

Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices dominated much of CTV activity -- with a 43% and 26% share, respectively.

Smart TVs have an 8% share, while Google Chromecast came in at 7%; gaming consoles were at 6% and other comprised 10%.

FreeWheel says 92% of the ad views are entertainment-oriented, while 5% are for news content and 3% are for sports.

Live entertainment, however, is still strong when looking at all digital platforms. It had a 51% share in the first half of the year. Full-episodes were at 37% and video clips came in at 12%.

How did advertisers place their digital video ad buys?

FreeWheel says 24% was via programmatic platforms, while 76% were direct. Year-over-year programmatic ad-view growth hit 84%.