Long live the set-top box!
Although video viewing continues to migrate to mobile screens and over-the-top devices, the set-top box is still a popular venue for VOD ad views, per a recent study from FreeWheel, the Comcast-owned online ad-tech company.
Growth in set-top VOD ad views for programmers that have enabled dynamic ad insertion rocketed 103% year-over-year and represents a share of 16%, FreeWheel found in its Q3 Video Monetization Report, which based its findings on more than 47 billion video views in the period.
Desktop/laptops held the largest share of online VOD ad views, at 36% and up 11% year over year, while showing more signs of leveling out, followed by OTT devices (22%, up 63% YoY), set-top VOD, smartphones (17%, up 39%), and tablets (9%, up 15% year over year). Overall, ad views rose 28% YoY, while video views climbed 37%, driven by greater short-form video consumption, FreeWheel said. Short-form content rose 31% in the period due in part to news clip viewing tied to the U.S. presidential election.
