CTVs surpass mobile in share of video ad impressions for first time

Connected TVs continued their rise in both viewership and brand attention in 2021, moving past reigning champ mobile to become the platform with more video ad impressions than any, according to an annual study released today by Innovid. And all three big online-video delivery platforms – mobile, CTV and desktop – continued to grow, and across all sectors.

“For us what that implies is, a couple of years ago, CTV was an emerging and growing channel,” said Jessica Hogue, Innovid’s general manager of measurement and industries. “Now it’s not a blip. It’s big enough that we’re advocating that advertisers and brands have to pay attention.”

New York-based Innovid, which describes itself as an “independent advertising platform… for converged TV,” has been conducting an annual benchmark report for the past decade, tracking trends in online video advertising globally.

In 2021, connected TVs worldwide received 46 percent of all video ad impressions, up from 40 percent in 2020, when the pandemic outbreak and lockdown first supercharged the shift in viewership to Smart TVs.

The sector has blown up quickly, after receiving just 17 percent of impressions as recently as 2017, Hogue said. Advertisers are increasingly following the eyeballs, moving spending from legacy media platforms such as broadcast into CTV.

“I don’t have enough data to forecast where we think it will grow,” Hogue said. “Certainly, if you look at the last five years…it’s fair to say there’s some upward trajectory to go.”

The shift to online has driven growth across all three platforms, according to the study, but connected TVs grew at more than double the rate of the other two, according to Innovid.

Every vertical grew too, led by a reviving Travel sector, where 63 percent of video ad impressions went to CTV. Other major sectors included Auto (60 percent share), Quick-Service Restaurants (58 percent), Consumer Packaged Goods (52 percent), and Retail (51 percent).

Mobile ad impressions dropped from a 43-percent share of the market to 39 percent, according to Innovid. Desktop video ads gathered the remaining modest share of impressions.

The shift to Smart TV platforms was most pronounced in North America, with 48 percent of impressions on CTV. EMEA and Latin America both had about 22 percent CTV impressions, and mobile-dominated Asia-Pacific markets just 11 percent share.

The types of ads being purchased are shifting too, with nearly a third of CTV ads now using “dynamic creative campaigns” that allow extended, interactive experiences, such as video or photo galleries, that allow viewers to dive deeper into information about a product or service.

Such campaigns average 47 seconds more viewer time, or 72 seconds total, compared to the 25 seconds devoted to a traditional pre-roll video ad, according to the study.

“Maybe it doesn’t sound like a lot but think of it this way,” Hogue said of the difference. “The one finite resource we have is our time. Advertisers are getting to spend more time with customers. The ability to have them spend more time with a brand, that’s what we’re talking about.”

Methodology for Innovid’s Global Benchmarks Report involved analysis of 286 billion video ad impressions served on the company’s platform across 2021, and also included analysis of traffic across mobile, desktop, CTV devices, and social platforms. Forbes