Understanding CTV Viewership Trends in 2020 [New Report]

During the present pandemic, connected TV (CTV) viewership has spiked. According to Nielsen, collective connected TV viewership in the U.S. topped 3.5 billion hours a week when shelter-in-place orders were first instituted across the country — and watching CTV content has remained a popular pastime ever since then. 

But what are these CTV consumers actually like? Specifically, how are these consumers using different services and hardware to watch their favorite streaming services? That’s what we wanted to find out.  

In our latest report, Connected TV and OTT Viewership in 2020, we dive into the world of CTV using first-hand consumer-based insights. Download this report today to learn: 

• How smart TV sets compare to other CTV viewing options. 
• Which age groups are likely to use different CTV viewing options, including the options most popular with both jet streamers (a group that millennial professionals and other young adults that are and busy balancing work and family, according to SpotX) and silver streamers (streaming-minded, digitally savvy baby boomers). 
• Whether CTV viewers watch ad supported content. 
• Whether consumers are willing to pay for subscriptions beyond the CTV content and apps they already have. 
• How current trends will shape the future of CTV advertising. 

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Sneek Peak Of Our CTV Report 

For a preliminary look at this new report, enjoy this preview! 

“For years now, it has been possible to connect a television set to the internet. But more recently, the concepts of Connected TV(CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) video viewing have grown by leaps and bounds. The ability to connect a TV set to the internet, either through a dedicated device or through the TV itself, has perhaps never been easier, and this technology is increasingly more ubiquitous. 

As a result of this, CTV has been one of the biggest trends and buzzwords among advertisers over the past few years. There’s a reason we had it listed as both a key trend to watch in 2020AND in 2019. And it’s become an even hotter space during the COVID-19 pandemic, with millions of people in the U.S. and across the globe stuck at home and eagerly looking to entertain themselves. 

Indeed, in April and May, we found that most CTV device owners spend two to four hours a day watching TV shows and/or movies through their preferred connected devices. To put this into comparison, eMarketer noted in April that the average social network user in the U.S. typically only uses social media for an hour and 22 minutes a day. 

From an advertiser perspective, it’s easy to see why the CTV space looks so enticing. This kind of digital advertising has the potential to combine the many benefits inherent in digital and in-app marketing (tracking, viewability, programmatic capabilities, personalization, targeting etc.) with the wide screen, laid back viewing of television. It can be the best of both worlds. 

But since CTV viewing is such a nascent space, many advertisers just don’t know that much about who is watching this streaming content. Who specifically are these consumers, and how do they differ from mobile in-app and linear TV audiences? How do they view content, and what do they care about? That’s what we wanted to find out. 

To better understand these viewing habits and consumer preferences, we looked at a few sources of data. For starters, we used InMobi Pulse to conduct two surveys in 2020, one in March and another that ran from April 27 to May 8. Each survey reached over 1,000 adults in the U.S. We also leveraged our first-party telco data insights to see who is using relevant OTT apps on their mobile devices. Using these various sources of truth, we can gain crucial insights into the connected TV consumer and their habits and preferences. 

Here’s what we uncovered.” 

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Interested in running a CTV advertising campaign soon? Reach out today to learn more and to get started with InMobi. 

About the Author       

Matthew Kaplan has over a decade of digital marketing experience, working to support the content goals of the world’s biggest B2B and B2C brands. He is a passionate app user and evangelist, working to support diverse marketing campaigns across devices