 services are becoming more prevalent as subscription premium video platforms embrace ad-supported tiers.){kind=link}
Hybrid video on demand (HVOD) services are becoming more prevalent as subscription premium video platforms embrace ad-supported tiers.
That’s according to the latest Video Marketplace Report from FreeWheel, which noted that, despite continued economic caution among marketers, ad view growth on premium video remained healthy in both the US and Europe in the first half of 2023, with 6% and 15% growth respectively.
Hybrid VOD
Hybrid VOD advertising is growing thanks to companies such as Netflix changing their ad free business models to include options where viewers may have the service for free in return for being exposed to adverts.
There continues to be significant regional differences in viewing habits, though. Large screen viewing through connected TV (CTV) and set-top-box (STB) platforms make up 81% of ad views in the US, while in Europe, audiences split their time between large (53%) versus small screens (47%).
In the US, there is an 80% increase in ad placements that utilise audience targeting, part of a trend towards refining the viewer experience through a push for relevancy in the ads served to individual viewers.
Whereas in Europe, due to stringent data regulations (such as GDPR) and less data fluidity, targeting is primarily based on demographics.
US ad views are evenly split across live and video-on-demand (VOD); in Europe — where free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) adoption is slower and linear remains strong — audiences are largely accessing video on demand (82%) to watch long-form content.
The Live opportunity has not yet been realised, accounting for only 18% of ad views.
With available inventory increasing, particularly with the proliferation of HVOD services, optimising the consumer viewing experience is more than ever becoming a critical consideration for media companies.
The FreeWheel Video Marketplace Report (VMR) 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 ad supported video content worldwide and is based on aggregated advertising data collected through the FreeWheel platform.