Explosion of STB VOD and growing popularity of live content see ad views rise by one fifth in 2017
London, UK: FreeWheel, a Comcast company and the industry’s most complete advertising management solution, has announced the launch of its Q4 2017 Video Monetisation Report (VMR), which shows premium video advertising advancing at an impressive rate in Europe thanks to the migration of IP delivered content to the big screen and the increased popularity of live streaming.
The report, which looks at the performance of premium video for the whole of 2017, as well as including figures for the last quarter, found that ad views in Europe were up by 20% across the year. This compares with a 22% growth in the US during 2017.
Over the last quarter, data from the VMR highlighted three major trends for Europe:
- The big screen continues to grow in importance for premium video thanks to the explosion of Set-Top Box Video on Demand (STB VOD) and Over-the-Top (OTT) delivery, which have a combined 37% share of ad views in Europe. STB VOD saw 154% year on year growth in ad views
- Boasting double-digit growth – 45% and 30% for video and ad views respectively – live content can be seen as a new contributor to premium video’s continued success in Europe. In both the European and US markets, publishers are using tent-pole events to push the growth of live viewing
- There has been continued collaboration within the industry, with the strengthening of operator syndication agreements and the forming of alliances, such as the European Broadcaster Exchange (EBX). Premium broadcasters are joining forces, and also forging partnerships with operators to maximise inventory
Additional findings from the report included:
- Ad views from clips saw impressive growth in the European region in Q4, increasing 119% YOY and representing 21% of the market
- The advance of programmatic video has continued in Europe, up 24% YOY and now holding around 20% of ad view share. Similarly, the US market has also seen a positive growth of 29% YOY; although this still only accounts for 10% of ad views
- 2017 saw a decrease in ad loads within premium video content to maintain the positive balance between monetisation and viewer experience. On average, viewers in Europe experienced 4.63 ads per long-form break in Q4, compared to 5.95 ads per break in Q4 2016; equating to a reduction of 42 seconds
The report concluded that the continued growth of premium video was a result of continued technological innovation in the industry, plus the fact that advertisers and agencies were demanding more premium video inventory, leading to greater creative diversity and falling ad repetition rates.
Commenting on the latest figures, Thomas Bremond, General Manager, International, Comcast, said: “Following a year when transparency and brand safety hit the headlines, it is time for TV and digital to learn from each other to provide a better advertising experience for viewers. Premium video content can make this connection by combining the high-quality, fraud-free environment of TV with the data-driven programmatic capabilities of digital.”
The FreeWheel Video Monetisation Report is released quarterly and highlights the changing dynamics of how enterprise-class content owners and distributors are monetising premium digital video content. The data set used for this report is one of the largest available on the usage and monetisation of professional, rights-managed video content worldwide, and is based off of census-level advertising data collected through the FreeWheel platform.
The full report can be downloaded here: http://freewheel.tv/insights/#video-monetization-report
About FreeWheel:
FreeWheel, a Comcast Advanced Advertising Company, is the industry’s most complete advertising management solution. Purpose built for the New TV ecosystem, we enable our collective client base across all key industry segments to manage and monetise their premium video inventory in the brand safe ways they require. Our leading technology, unmatched service and guidance, and collaborative advocacy power the advertising businesses of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world, including AOL, DIRECTV, Fox, NBC Universal, Turner Broadcasting System, and Viacom in the U.S., and MTG, Sky, Canal + and Channel 4 in Europe. Our offerings work in synchronised tandem to meet every aspect of our clients’ business needs across all screens, data sets, and monetisation channels, while providing the full safety, compliance, and control the New TV ecosystem demands. With offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, Beijing, and across the globe, FreeWheel stands to advocate for the entire industry through the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. For more information please visit www.freewheel.tv, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
