CTV Ad Frequency Soars 80% In 2 Years: Report
- by Wayne Friedman , March 26, 2024
The frequency of advertising messages for connected TV continues to increase -- rising 80% over the last two years per household over the life of a brand campaign, according to Innovid, in an analysis of its advertising platform.
The frequency now is an average 7.42 messages in 2023 -- up from 4.08 two years ago.
Campaigns that earned more than 200 million impressions had a higher ad frequency, with a total of 12.14.
At the other end of the spectrum, campaigns with just 20 million to 39 million impressions have an average frequency of 5.18.
All this can be a double-edged sword, as Innovid and other analysts have long noted.
“Brands want their ads viewed by consumers multiple times — but they don’t want to annoy,” say the authors of the report.
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But the report also says new technology continues to provide brands with better frequency controls. “As the 100% digital era of TV approaches, the possibility of precisely scaling frequency is arriving.”
In its recent report Innovid says home and garden advertisers have on average the highest frequency, with 16.73 messages. Travel/Tourism is next at 12.90, followed by automotive (11.52) and financial services (8.73) .
The lowest frequency rates are seen with pharmaceuticals at 5.05, followed by services at 5.14 and consumer packaged goods with 6.63.
In terms of average reach, consumer packaged goods campaigns have the highest, at 25.2%. Technology is next with 20.3%, followed by services at 17.5%.
In 2023, Innovid says its ad server delivered almost 380 billion video impressions and 53% of those impressions were from CTV, with 35% coming from mobile and 12% from desktop.
Wayne, the folks at Innovid need not trouble themselves about viewers rebelling against advertisers who reach them too often. Why? Because the "impression" stats overstate ad viewing by 200-300%. In other words, a 10.0 averege monthly ( ? ) "impression" frequency is actually a 3.5 real world looking at the screen frequency---or less than once a week. No problem---really.
As for the finding that more "impressions" generate greater frequency---golly, that's not news. But is the solution to this "problem" a major reduction in CTV ad spend? Somehow, I doubt that most AVOD and FAST time sellers would like to see that.
What would be interesting ---if anyone has the data----would be a tally of the percent of total "impressions" that are bunched together in the same episode---or showing---of CTV content. This is what puts viewers off. If it's very high---like 50%---then that's a real problem that needs to be dealt with by the sellers. If it's only 5%, then by all means try to minimize it---but don't panic---the sky isn't falling--as yet.
If you were an alien species dropped onto planet earth and watched streaming for a week, you'd think that the all earthlings used sports betting apps and suffered from plaque pscoriasis. The problem of frequency is a combination of lazy scheduling, lazy buying, weak technology implementation, and a lack of in-program reach. The latter two problems will sort themselves out. The former two problems will have to be addressed by applying the appropriate incentives.
I wish I had that data for you Ed. And Jim ... spot on.