CTV in a Pandemic World
2020 certainly brought its fair share of changes. In March, the world came to a halt as we isolated at home to slow the spread of COVID 19. And what did we do while we were stuck inside? We binged more TV than ever before, purchased new streaming devices, and signed up for new subscription services.
Since the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic, CTV has skyrocketed in terms of both streaming hours and new accounts. According to AdExchanger, consumers now spend more time watching streaming than linear, and 1 in 3 households have cut the cord.
NBCUniversal’s new streaming platform, Peacock, has 26 million signups, and streaming device giant Roku hit 100 million users in 2020 and now touches 49% of OTT viewers. Subscriptions to on-demand video services will reach 1.9 billion people by the end of 2025.
Per Pixalate, CTV/OTT ad spend rose 70% between Q1 and Q3. Additionally, marketers can now reach 72% of households via programmatic OTT/CTV advertising, up from 59% in Q1 2020. 60% of linear TV budgets are expected to be reallocated to CTV in 2021.
Media overall declined by 5.8% over 2019, but fared much better than the initial 11.9% decline projection and is expected to grow 8.2% in 2021. Social, SEM display and video advertising will take 71% of 2021 total budgets, mostly in part to targeting and efficiency, reach, and ability to optimize creative (per the IAB). Digital will make up 66% of global advertising by 2024.
There’s never been a better time to give CTV a try; there’s more reach than ever, allowing us to run across over 150 Private Marketplace deals and optimize to your target audience in real-time.
We’ve made it to 2021, and the end of the pandemic is in sight. For now, though, let’s keep binge-watching.
