More people were consuming content on over-the top platforms than on traditional TV by the end of last, according to a new multinational report from programmatic company MiQ.

The COVID-19 pandemic boosted usage of both traditional TV last year in the U.S. and five other countries, with a spike happening between March and May, the report said. In that period, nearly 100% of viewers watched some traditional TV. Around 90% were watching over the top at that point.

Usage dipped until turning upwards again in July. By November, nearly 100% of of people were content on OTT platforms and about 95% were using traditional TV, according to MiQ.

“Content consumption on OTT platforms has grown 19% among people aged 18-34, the traditional OTT loyalists. But it’s grown even more strongly among people aged 35 and older (21%), many of whom are likely to be new to OTT,” the report said. 

MiQ said the growth in OTT ad inventory was less a boon for marketers than a mix back. 

In the early stage of the pandemic, which viewers were locked down at home, there was a decline in the viewability of ads.

Since then, viewability has improved to above pre-pandemic levels, MiQ said.

Video completions have also recovered from a slump in March-April 2020 and are up 3.8% year-on-year with consumer responses to video ads being more pronounced in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

“In short, it’s taken a while for the increase in online activity to start paying dividends for marketers, but the data is starting to suggest that the year in lockdown has made consumers more receptive to online advertising, particularly in the more mature programmatic markets like the US, Canada and the UK,” the report said.

MiQ's data comes from digital devices as well as viewing information from connected TVs. It compared its data with results of a survey of global customers conducted by Sapio Research to identify changes in consumer considerations.

The marquee matchup between Gonzaga and Baylor provided a fitting end to an exciting March Madness tournament. As the two teams strived to create history (Gonzaga chasing a 32-0 perfect season and Baylor looking for the elusive national championship crown), TV networks and online sports books were creating milestones of their own.

After a break year, March Madness, the 68-team NCAA Division I Men’s College Basketball Tournament, is back with a bang. TV ratings during the early rounds of this year's tournament saw historical jumps compared to the 2019 season. Viewership for the regional semifinals was up 12% compared to the Sweet 16 round in 2019. The 2021 regional semifinals averaged 12.9 million viewers across TBS and CBS delivering the best Sweet 16 viewership since 1993, while TBS and truTV accounted for a gross viewership of 7.6 million viewers during the first four rounds, the highest recorded viewership for the tournament’s early stages ever.

And, while critics may point at double-digit declines during the Elite 8 games held during the work week, the resurgence in sports viewership among U.S. audiences should be putting a smile on the face of advertisers looking to use live sports as part of their media plans this year.

The tournament might be over, but it has left some learnings for marketers in its wake as we head into a new action-packed sports season. Here are some of the key takeaways for marketers from this year’s tournament. 

47M Americans Placed Their Bets

The American Gaming Association (AGA) predicted that more than 47 million, or 18%, Americans planned to wager on the NCAA tournament this year, with a 206% increase in the number of people looking to place the bet online. 

The dramatic growth in sport betting popularity could be attributed to the expansion of the legal market, as 73.6 million more Americans in 14 new legal jurisdictions could safely place bets on March Madness this year compared to the 2019 tournament. A 180% increase in online activity across betting domains in North Carolina (where betting was legalized March 18) compared to the 2019 season was a clear testament to this as well. 

A higher interest in online betting has further translated into increased activity around college basketball content online, with audiences across all age groups reviewing stats from the historical college basketball season. Young sports enthusiasts (18-to-34-year-olds) were 1.63 times more likely to conduct thorough online research before making a wager. The betting audiences with bigger bankrolls were also comparatively more likely to follow college basketball this year than before.

Americans aged 25-44 with a household income greater than $75k per year displayed a higher propensity (1.68 times the average) to place a bet online. A majority of these wagers were made over mobile platforms with an average user accounting for 17 sessions on gambling domains in March, a 54% month-over-month increase.

Cross-Platform Viewership Is Growing

The elevated interest in college basketball isn’t just about gambling. Ardent sports followers are also tuning in now more than ever just to catch the action live. TBS and TruTV accounted for a gross viewership of 7.6m viewers during the first four stages of the tournament, the highest recorded viewership for the stage of this tournament ever. CBS and Turner sports also reported record viewership numbers for the Sweet 16 stage, pulling in 12.9m viewers on an average (a 12% lift compared to 2019) indicating elevated levels of interest among college basketball followers.

While the scheduling of Elite 8 games on weekdays meant a smaller section of the fans were able to tune in to the live telecast of these games, increased demand (+18% week-over-week) for short match highlight reels on YouTube and online game summaries (+13% week-over-week) meant that audiences were finding new ways to stay in touch with the game even on workdays.

The top 20% of March Madness viewers consumed an average of 23-24 games through the tournament, consuming over 20 hours of live March Madness programming with a median sitting time of over 23 minutes. Casual audiences (the bottom quintile) tuned in for just a single game consuming just over 20 minutes of March Madness action. In terms of commercials viewed, the average ardent follower (in the top quintile) consumed close to 500 TV commercials during March Madness programming on average.

Linear TV continued to account for the bulk of March Madness viewership, with over 8 in 10 households engaging through traditional channels. But OTT and streaming audiences for sports programming has grown significantly - and continues to grow. Not only are more people tuning in through OTT, but OTT audiences are more engaged than traditional audiences when watching the game.

Increase in Second-Screen Opportunities

While more people are tuning in, their attention is more divided than ever. We observed a significant increase in cross-screen opportunities among March Madness audiences. Almost a quarter of March Madness viewers who tuned into the live telecast or stream were also found to be active on an alternate device. 40% of impressions generated on second screens were on the phone while almost half of second-screen opportunities were on desktops.

On average, three impression opportunities were generated on second screens during games. The most active online audiences (the top 10%) could be reached by up to 15 digital impressions per game. News, travel, and food and drinks domains were popular content categories among March Madness viewers during the game, while more people logged in for sports content post-game than before or during. Online activity was elevated on games scheduled on workdays indicating a lot of audiences tuned in to the game as they worked.

Phone usage during the game was higher among people aged 25-44 with higher relative household incomes, while older audiences were the least likely to be on another device. Those tuning in on weekdays seemed as if they were working while watching — the laptop/desktop activity was 11% higher as a percentage of all second-screen activity among households tuning in during the Elite 8 compared to the Sweet 16 and Final Four rounds. 

More Online Food Orders 

Continuing a trend from the Super Bowl, 21% more Americans looked to order food online during the tournament this year compared to the 2019 tournament. The apprehension around mobility and gathering in crowds continues to be a big driver for the elevated interest. Mid-income ($50K- $100K) millennial audiences (25-44) without any kids displayed a higher proclivity towards ordering in on game days. Activity across online gaming platforms during the tourney also saw a considerable increase (+26%) this year compared to 2019.

Social Engagement Up

General interest around college basketball on YouTube has also grown considerably this year, with more audiences interacting with game highlights and tutorials on “how to set up the perfect March Madness brackets.” Apart from increased engagement across YouTube, we also saw a 31% lift in engagement around the official social March Madness handles compared to the 2019. Gonzaga, Florida and USC are undoubtedly the online fan favorites, followed by Baylor and Michigan.

Methdology

We used MiQ’s proprietary Advanced TV integration with LG and Vizio to track the activity of more than 3 million households that tuned in to March Madness programming this year. These household profiles were further mapped to our ad serving integrations to create digital profiles of 7.8 million distinct March Madness followers, which were then used to analyze audience behavior online.

Rebecca Rosborough is chief marketing officer at MiQ, a programmatic media partner to marketers and agencies.

When the 2020 presidential race began, no one could have predicted the current pandemic and the huge impact it would have on many political advertising campaigns. It’s no secret that the big players spend big budgets making sure they reach the right person, at the right time through the right device.

But the pandemic has had a huge effect on the demand and supply of advertising. On top of that, changes in the way we’re consuming digital content and interacting with our connected devices are having big consequences for the advertisers trying to reach us.

Content consumption has increased by nearly 2% day-over-day since the national emergency began. YouTube visits have increased by 14%, and movie consumption has seen a spike of 28% since pre-lockdown. But just because consumption has increased, doesn’t mean that demand has. With advertisers pulling or reducing their ad spend because stores are shutting down, and consumer habits changing in terms of how much we consume and when we do it, cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) has fallen for many domains.

Many of these new inventory opportunities are to be found around content relating to business, industry news and health and wellness. While these topics might not be where general advertisers are looking for their audience — because they’re not relevant or there are brand safety concerns — these are exactly the kinds of opportunities that political advertisers are looking for to connect with potential voters.

And because inventory costs for these content types have significantly dropped over the last three weeks, it’s a double opportunity to drive higher reach through less-expensive yet still high-value inventory.

Rise of Cord-Cutters, OTT

Even before the outbreak, TV consumption was changing. We found that during a one-month period in 2020, 16% of identified households were watching OTT content through their smart TVs and another 8% were apparent cord-cutters.

Cord-cutters tend to be younger, meaning that people aged 18-34 are the easiest to target through smart TVs. Generally, households with fewer than three members have higher OTT content consumption (2.4 times higher). Households with dependents or retirees are more likely to watch content using both linear and OTT. Importantly, OTT consumption has increased 50% amongst those between the ages of 35 and 54 — voters the candidates need to reach — since mid March.

But a higher OTT use doesn’t necessarily correlate to high TV consumption overall. In fact, households with linear TV tend to watch nearly double the amount of TV content than households with access to OTT platforms. This is all-important information when attempting to reach potential voters.

Peaks in TV watching used to occur on the weekends, but now that behavior has flipped due to the fact that we’ve had our TV fill by Saturday. Additionally, daytime viewing is up, creating more opportunities for political advertisers to reach their audience.

News consumption has risen 32%, movies 26% and premium content 22%. However there have been significant declines in music (-3%) and sports (-14%) content. The cancellation of huge sporting events has caused many advertisers to reconsider how they are going to reach those audiences. The possible loss of the Major League Baseball season could have a large impact on political advertising due to its older-skewing audience containing many potential voters.

Measuring Success in Unsure Times

Measuring the success of a political campaign can be tricky. Advertisers are often given one chance to measure true success — Election Day — and by that time the need for measurement and optimization is over. That’s why it is critical for political advertisers to find effective ways of measuring success through proxy metrics prior to election day.

One way of doing this is by measuring incremental reach. Advertisers need to see to what extent a campaign is able to expand its reach to include new households and voters that weren’t previously being reached through other ad buys. This is especially useful for campaigns that are focused on reaching cord-cutters or cord-trimmers, where the goal may be to make sure previously unreachable audiences are being reached. By using OTT as a way to reach cord-cutters and deliver media to people who were previously unreachable, political advertisers can make sure their campaign messages are getting to the highest reach.

2020 was shaping up to be a monumental year for U.S. politics and the pandemic has forced most physical rallies and outdoor marketing collateral online.

Political advertisers need to not only make sure they take advantage of new opportunities, but also ensure they continually refresh their approach during these uncertain times. 

Jesse Contario is director, political & advocacy, and Melissa Kurstin is regional VP, mid-Atlantic, at MiQ.