More and more households are streaming, and ad-supported video is showing some of the biggest gains, according to a new report from TVision.
TVision found that in the first quarter 84.4% of U.S. households were able to watch programming on connected TVs, up from 82.4% in the third quarter of 2020 and 80.3% in the first quarter of 2020.
Also Read: TVision Launches Person-Based Advanced Audience Projections
The time spent watching AVOD grew by 200% from May 2020 to May 2021, according to TVision. During the same period, time spent with SVOD climbed 100% and time spent with linear viewing dropped by 13%.
The number of apps per TV is falling, TVision found. In the first quarter, the average TV had 6.9 apps, down from 7.1 in the third quarter of 2020 and a peak of 7.6 in the second quarter. But the number of apps remains higher than the 6.3 found in the first quarter of 2020.
TVision said the drop might indicate that viewers have found their favorites after seeking out new options at the beginning of the pandemic.
Netflix was installed in 85.4% of homes with more than seven apps and in 22.3% of the homes with just one app. Hulu was second in both categories. In homes with 7 or more apps Amazon Prime was tied for second, followed by Disney Plus and HBO Max. HBO Max was third in homes with just one app, followed by Disney Plus and Prime Video.
TVision focuses on viewer attention and found that SVOD commands the most attention from viewers, with a 106.5 attention index. MVPD app have a 106.3 index, with linear at 100 and AVOD at 92.5.
The top apps for commercial attention were fuboTV, Tablo, CBS All Access (now the ad-supported tier of Paramount Plus), Xfinity and AT&T TV Now. TVision notes that attention is normally lower for sports than for other programming genres. “It is possible that fuboTV delivers high attention because its viewers are intentionally seeking this content and therefore are more attentive, engaged fans,” TVision said.
The AVOD programs that delivered the highest attention were Hulu’s Letterkenny, Paramount Plus’ Star Trek: Discovery, Hulu’s The Hardy Boys, Hulu’s The Sister and Hulu’s A Teacher.
Peacock had the most binged AVOD show with Punky Brewster and the most co-viewed show with John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise.
TVision noted that while Netflix’s practice of dropping all the episodes of a series at one generates more episodes viewed per viewers close to the release date, but over the longer run, shows released weekly drove longer-term viewer engagement.
While CTV is growing as a commercial media, some marketers have questions about how the measure CTV commercials and benchmark their performance against competitors.
TVision launched a planning tool for CTV.
“CTV advertising is no longer just an experiment, but a critical element of media campaigns and it needs to be measured effectively,” explains Yan Liu, CEO of TVision. “With the major apps controlling the performance data that they share, it has been hard for marketers to standardize measurement across apps and linear TV. Our CTV Planning tool is the industry’s answer to the walled gardens, allowing for transparent measurement.”
TVision said its tool enables advertisers to evaluate viewer engagement across both linear TV and CTV. The tool provides attention and engagement insights into 130 channels, 16,000 hours of CTV content and more than 75,000 ads.
“The opportunity to make an impact with CTV advertising is significant - it’s why brands are increasing budget allocation in this area,” said Mike Perlman, CRO of TVision. “But when it comes to effectively planning an ad campaign that spans CTV and linear, brands are hamstrung by a lack of transparency. Our CTV Planning tool solves this problem.”
The TVision study covered data collected from Jan. 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 from 5,000 homes across the U.S.
