The Video Advertising Bureau released a research report in February 2026 titled "The Impression Gap," comparing audience behavior across 21 premium streaming platforms and YouTube on connected television. The study, produced in partnership with TVision and drawing on custom data collected from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, found that impressions on services such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max outperform YouTube on every key attention and engagement metric measured. VAB has been re-promoting the findings throughout June 2026 as part of National Streaming Month.

The report is aimed squarely at media planners and agencies allocating CTV budgets, a segment where spending is growing rapidly. Its central argument is that impression volume alone does not describe impression value, and that the environment in which an ad appears determines whether it is actually seen.

How TVision measured viewing behavior

VAB commissioned TVision to conduct the underlying data collection, using a passive in-home panel technology that captures four variables simultaneously: the program or ad playing, the delivery method, the individuals present in the room, and whether those individuals are actively looking at the screen.

The technology stack has three components. A sensor using person and facial recognition identifies who is in the room and whether they are paying attention. A digital meter detects device and app usage. An Automatic Content Recognition engine identifies specific content and ad units. Together, these tools generate second-by-second data across both linear television and streaming environments, spanning thousands of US households weighted to represent national viewing patterns.

The study defined a viewing session as continuous use of a given app by a specific viewer within a single day, with a new session triggered by a gap of more than 10 minutes. The minimum session threshold was 30 seconds for YouTube and 5 minutes for premium video platforms. Sessions were then grouped into four buckets: super short (0 to 20 minutes), short (20 to 84 minutes), medium (84 minutes to 3 hours), and long (3 hours or more).

It is worth noting that the report was produced by VAB, whose members include premium video providers and distributors. TVision supplied the measurement data, but the framing and presentation were constructed by an organization with a commercial interest in the findings' direction. That context is relevant to how the conclusions are read.

Co-viewing: the household multiplier

The first metric is co-viewing - the proportion of total impressions that occur with at least one additional viewer in the room, based on overlapping active viewing sessions of five minutes or more.

According to the VAB and TVision study, premium video platforms averaged a co-viewing rate of 60% across all impressions. YouTube registered 45%. That gap represents a 33% stronger co-viewing rate on premium platforms. YouTube ranked 18th out of 19 environments measured, ahead of only a single SVOD platform.

The demographic breakdown is consistent. For viewers aged 2 to 17, premium platforms achieved 76% co-viewing against YouTube's 59% - a 29% difference. Adults aged 18 to 34 showed 65% on premium versus 48% on YouTube, a 35% gap. The 35-to-54 bracket showed 60% against 45%, a 33% gap. Viewers 55 and older showed 55% on premium versus 37% on YouTube - the widest margin at 49%.

The practical consequence is direct: a single ad impression on a premium platform is more likely to reach multiple people in the same room. Vikrant Mathur, co-founder of Future Today, described the mechanism in the report: "Co-viewing leads to deeper engagement with ads and, as a result, higher performance...ultimately, when family members are in a room watching together, it increases their attention, not just for programming, but for advertising, as well."

A November 2025 Magnite study referenced in the VAB report found that 43% of consumers say they are likely to discuss ads with others when co-viewing. A Thinkbox UK study found a 23% increase in ad recall when watching with others compared to watching alone.

Attention: what eyes are actually doing

The report measures attention through two indices, both normalized to a CTV viewing baseline of 100.

The first is the presence to active index: the percentage of time a viewer was in the room out of the total active viewing session, indexed to the CTV norm. Premium platforms averaged 102; YouTube reached 97. That is a 5% gap - the smallest of the five metrics examined.

The second is the attention to presence index: the proportion of time spent with eyes actually on the screen while the viewer was in the room. This is a stricter threshold than mere presence, measured using computer vision that tracks gaze direction. Premium platforms averaged 108 here; YouTube reached 95. The gap widens to 14%.

On the platform-level chart, YouTube ranked 17th out of 19 environments for this measure, with a score of 95.0 - below the CTV average. The top performer registered 126.1. The spread from first to last was 36.3 index points, a substantial range for a metric that governs whether any advertising message actually reaches a human eye.

Jason Jutla, head of practice for EMEA and UK at WPP Media, noted in the report that attention data provides a common measurement framework across channels: "Attention gives us a unifier across the different channels that we operate in...which will help us from the planning phases all the way through to our optimization on an ongoing basis."

Sustained attention: whether eyes stay on screen

The third and most demanding attention measure is the attention to duration index, which tracks whether eyes remain on screen relative to the total session length. A minimum of 30 seconds of consistent viewing is required to register. This tests not just initial engagement but whether that engagement is maintained over time.

Premium platforms averaged 110 on this measure; YouTube reached 93. The gap of 18% represents a meaningful difference in sustained engagement quality. According to the VAB report, premium platforms are 18% more likely to convert viewing time into attentive minutes. On the platform chart, YouTube ranked 14th at 92.6. The top performer reached 174.0.

The demographic data shows the pattern holding across all age groups. Adults 35 to 54 showed a 13% premium platform advantage on this measure; adults 55 and older showed a 13% advantage; viewers 18 to 34 showed 8%; children 2 to 17 showed 14%. Dr. Karen Nelson-Field, CEO of Amplified Intelligence, framed the commercial implication in the report: "The more seconds of active attention an ad receives, the more days it can stay in the memory, and the longer it can work."

Independent research cited in the report gives this figure practical weight. Data from WARC's July 2024 guide on attention, drawing on a Mars Essence Mediacom study, found 30% higher sales lift and a 10% increase in ROI when campaigns were optimized for attention compared to non-attention-optimized approaches. The Adelaide 2025 Outcomes Guide found 41% higher brand lift from campaigns using attention metrics.

Dentsu's January 2024 research found attention metrics improve ROI campaign forecasting by 38% compared to viewability. These figures from third-party sources provide some independent corroboration for why the measurement category matters, even if the primary report originated with VAB.

Session length: time available for advertising

Session length is the final metric. The report groups viewing sessions by duration and measures which platform type attracts the longest engagement windows.

Premium video platforms averaged 1 hour and 18 minutes per session across the 12-month study period. YouTube on CTV averaged 52 minutes. That difference of 26 minutes represents a 49% longer session on premium platforms. YouTube ranked last among all 19 environments measured. The longest-session platform, a vMVPD service, averaged 1 hour and 49 minutes.

Broken out by app type, virtual MVPD services averaged 1:26; FAST channels averaged 1:24; hybrid SVOD/AVOD platforms averaged 1:11; pure SVOD services averaged exactly 1:00; and YouTube sat at 0:52.

The session-length gap has a specific consequence for ad load. According to the report, 75% of YouTube's CTV impressions fall within super short (0 to 20 minutes) and short (20 to 84 minutes) viewing sessions. Those condensed windows limit how many ad exposures an advertiser can accumulate while maintaining reasonable frequency. James Rooke, president of Comcast Advertising, made the directional case in the report: "Ads viewed in the long-form, lean-back TV environment have greater unaided recall and purchase intent."

FreeWheel data, cited separately in the report from its September 2023 research, found a 94% average ad completion rate for long-form premium video content - a figure that reflects the reduced skip and abandonment behavior in extended viewing contexts.

The compound effect across metrics

VAB's summary slide from the report describes the combined premium platform lift over YouTube on CTV: 5% more likely to be in the room when the TV is on; 14% more likely to have eyes on screen; 18% more likely to keep eyes on screen; 33% stronger co-viewing; 49% longer viewing sessions.

The maximum differential between the single highest-performing premium platform and YouTube is wider still: 20% on presence to active, 33% on attention to presence, and 88% on attention to duration. The 88% figure on the duration measure reflects how far the best-performing platforms outperform YouTube when attention is measured against total session time rather than just momentary gaze.

Benjamin Vandegrift, SVP of measurement strategy and innovation at VAB, offered the key marketer summary in the report: "While attention on YouTube tends to underperform, Premium Video Platforms deliver elevated attention across session durations, which unlocks deeper engagement and greater brand storytelling opportunities for marketers."

Industry context

The VAB findings sit within a broader measurement movement. CTV is now present in 83% of US TV households, according to the report. Viant acquired TVision for $40 million in April 2026, with the deal closing May 5, integrating TVision's panel data directly into a DSP buying platform. OpenX and TVision launched a pre-bid CTV attention targeting product in March 2026 that converts second-by-second panel data into real-time activation signals before a bid is placed. xpln.ai and TVision announced a partnership in April 2026 to embed the same attention data into cross-channel predictive models.

The shift from reporting attention after a campaign runs to targeting on attention before a bid is placed is significant for buyers. It changes attention data from a diagnostic tool to an optimization tool. For CTV specifically, where impression-level differences between platforms are measurable but rarely visible in aggregate reporting, this kind of pre-bid signal represents a structural change in how inventory quality can be evaluated.

The report also notes that YouTube TV - the live streaming service - was classified as a premium vMVPD platform for the study and is distinct from YouTube itself. The YouTube figures in the report relate exclusively to the main YouTube app, which includes user-uploaded content, creator videos, music, and some movies and shows.

Timeline

  • July 1, 2024 - Study data collection begins across 21 premium video platforms and YouTube on CTV
  • November 2025 - Magnite publishes "Streaming Together: Why Co-viewing Matters for Advertisers," cited in the VAB report, finding 43% of consumers discuss ads with others when co-viewing
  • January 2025 - Dentsu publishes "What is the Attention Economy," finding attention metrics improve ROI forecasting by 38% over viewability
  • January 2025 - Adelaide publishes its 2025 Outcomes Guide, documenting 41% higher brand lift from attention-optimized campaigns
  • June 30, 2025 - Study data collection ends; 12 months of panel data across all measured platforms
  • February 24, 2026 - VAB and TVision release "The Impression Gap" report
  • June 5, 2026 - VAB re-promotes the report during National Streaming Month

Summary

Who: The Video Advertising Bureau (VAB), a trade organization whose members include premium video providers, released the report. TVision, an audience measurement company now owned by Viant, supplied the custom panel data. The findings are addressed to brand marketers, media agencies, and CTV budget decision-makers.

What: A research report titled "The Impression Gap" measuring five audience behavior metrics - co-viewing rate, presence to active, attention to presence, attention to duration, and session length - across 21 premium video platforms and YouTube on connected television. On every measure, premium platforms outperformed YouTube.

When: The underlying data was collected from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. The report was originally published February 24, 2026. VAB re-promoted it in early June 2026 during National Streaming Month.

Where: The study measured CTV viewing behavior in the United States using TVision's in-home panel technology deployed across thousands of households weighted to represent national patterns. CTV is now present in 83% of US TV households, according to the report.

Why: As CTV advertising budgets grow and impression volume increases across both premium platforms and YouTube, the report argues that raw impression counts are insufficient for evaluating media value. The gap between a 60% co-viewing rate on premium platforms and a 45% rate on YouTube, or between 78-minute and 52-minute average sessions, reflects differences in how audiences engage - differences that affect awareness, recall, and purchase intent but are not visible in standard impression-based reporting.