FreeWheel: Connected TV is now a mature platform

Last week, FreeWheel released a new whitepaper on Connected TV. The whitepaper The Power of CTV: Audiences and Engagement is a follow-up to a 2017 paper on the topic.

“The results of FreeWheel’s latest Signature Insights report show that CTV is now a mature platform,” said David Dworin, Vice President, Advisory Services, FreeWheel. “The viewing patterns we’re seeing on CTV are mirroring what we’ve historically seen in linear TV, suggesting viewers are turning to new ways to watch their favorite shows. For advertisers, this represents an opportunity to tell their story to viewers they have not reached on other channels.”

Connected TV Primetime

FreeWheel found that CTV viewing follows similar time patterns as traditional TV viewing, suggesting that audiences now consider CTV as more than an occasional supplement to linear TV. For all CTV device groups, ad consumption rises gradually during the day and reaches a high during peak primetime, 8-10 p.m., replicating the same patterns as linear TV.

Completion Rate

The report shows that CTV’s average ad completion rate is 97%. FreeWheel says this completion rate indicates high engagement from viewers across connected devices. And according to FreeWheel, CTV also offers one of the highest authentication rates of any digital platform: 68% of ad views are generated by viewers that have logged in, with that number even higher (90%) for Smart TVs in particular.

Measurement

Measurement is full of challenges on CTV. Tracking dependent on VPAID is not supported by Connected TV. CTV is VAST compatible only. FreeWheel also points out that Connected TVs do not employ cookies so audiences are only possible to be built based on device id’s, IP addresses or user agent.

Demographic and session length

63% of the audience watching Connected TV range between 18 and 49 years old.

In Q3, 2019, 61% of the sessions on CTV were over 60 minutes. This percentage was 36% in Q1 2017.

Devices

Connected TV is made of 3 devices. According to FreeWheel, 91% of the ad views happened on Attached Devices (E.g.Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku), 5% on Gaming Consoles, and 4% on Smart TVs

FreeWheel says Smart TVs are internet-enabled televisions that have the ability to receive traditional linear feeds as well as stream on-demand content without any additional devices. However, attached devices are still largely preferred for their more modern operating systems.

Reported on Connected TV this month

eMarketer this month said the time spent with OTT video content to surpass 62 minutes per day this year. Google added an OTT line item in DV360, and created a TV section in DV360’s Marketplace. Disney is testing Nielsen’s Addressable TV Advertising solution. Connected TV usage remains above pre-COVID-19 levels, Nielsen found.