Already a third of Aussies own a Connected TV and some 15 per cent have over-the-top devices, offering advertisers additional channels to access the living room.
Of course, smart devices mean that the “living room” extend beyond the TV screen and can be found wherever viewers watch television, including on computers, tablets and phones according to a new paper by Tubemogul.
Called “The Programmatic Living Room” is designed to help marketers understand and best use the new means available to them to reach into the “living room”.
Tubemogel’s authors examine programmatic TV, connected TV and streaming sites and apps and discuss the audience reached by each channel. The paper also investigates how to consider planning around channel and how advertising performs on eachchannel.
Connected TV
Connected TVs are TV sets that can stream content over the internet, either directly or through a device. This category includes smart TVs, as well as TV sets that are connected to a gaming console or another streaming device such as a Roku. Viewers access content on these devices through a variety of apps like Crackle and Viewster. For apps that feature video ads, the video unit fills the TV screen, creating an impactful and immersive experience. For the marketer, connected TVs represent a method for they like to describe as a “lean back setting”.
Users customise their connected TVs by selecting their own apps which gives marketers an effective opportunity to target audiences.
The metrics around connected TVs’ performance look compelling – especially when compared to most other digital formats. It is characterised by both strong completion rates and strong viewability rates. Indeed completion rates were already high one year ago – in the 80 per cent range – have continued to growing, and have now reached the 90s range.
According to the study, Globally, connected TV’s story is one of high performance and growth, with smart TV ownership alone set to double in the coming five years.
Canada and Australia lead adoption outside of the US, with connected TVs in nearly a third of homes. Though connected TV is still nascent in many global markets, growing use of streaming devices and strong ad performance look set to drive future adoption, say the authors.
Streaming Sites and Apps
In the digital age of course, the “living room” experiences extend beyond the TV screen and can be found wherever viewers watch television, which includes computers, tablets and phones.
Online viewers have access to three types of streaming sites: service providers (e.g. Foxtel), program providers (e.g. SBS, TenPlay) and content aggregators (e.g. Viewster, DramaFever). Targeting these sites allows advertisers to reach audiences as they enjoy the living room experience from their personal devices.
However, one of the most important planning considerations is which type of service is providing the content. There are three possibilities to consider:
- Service providers: sites and apps for pay TV providers (e.g. Foxtel) that require users to sign in to access content.
- Program providers: sites and apps for television networks or programs (e.g. SBS On Demand, TenPlay) that sometimes require users to sign in with their pay TV provider to access content.
- Content aggregators: sites and apps that bundle programs and allow users to watch without a pay TV provider; sometimes require a subscription fee (e.g. Viewster, DramaFever).
With limited drop off in completion rates between 15 and 30 second ads, streaming sites and their attentive audiences allow marketers to spend more time delivering their message. Furthermore, according to the study, audiences are twice as likely to watch ads through to completion while keeping the player in view – a testament to television and the power of captivating content.
This article originally appeared on B&T’s sister site www.which-50.com
