Ad Impressions in VOD Programming up 37% in Q4

Video-on-demand programming continues to grow as an advertising medium, according to new figures from Canoe.

Ads served by Canoe in video-on-demand programming registered 6.995 billion impressions in the fourth quarter, up 37% from 5.111 billion a year ago.

Canoe ran 3,412 campaigns in the fourth quarter of 2017, up 46% from 2,341 a year ago. Campaigns for clients represented 82% of the campaigns while network tune in ads comprised 18% of the campaigns. A year ago, 79% of the campaigns were run for clients.

Related: Set-Top VOD Ads Must Evolve to Survive

For the full year, Canoe racked up 23.326 billion impressions in 2017, up 30% from 17.903 billion in 2016.

Canoe ran 7,822 campaigns in 2017, up 35% from 5,783.

On average, Canoe is putting more ads in each VOD program. During fourth-quarter breaks in the middle of programs, an average of 4.04 ads ran in the fourth quarter, up from 3.73 a year ago. During pre-roll, 1.17 ads appear, up from 1.1, with 1.41 appearing in post-roll, up from 1.02.

During the fourth quarter nearly all of the impressions came from mid-roll ads. There were 5.9 billion impressions in mid-roll, compared with 969 million in pre-roll and 102 million in post roll ads.

Related: Canoe Marks 100 Billion Spots Inserted in VOD Programming

Campaigns that employ frequency capping put that cap at two impressions, on average.

The ads are overwhelmingly run completely. In mid-roll, 99% of the ads run to completion. In pre-roll, it’s 90.2% and in post-roll its’s 93.4%.

VOD viewing and ad delivery peaks during the weekend. Canoe delivered 1.196 billion impression on Sundays and 1.185 billion on Saturdays, the two biggest days of the week during the fourth quarter.

Canoe inserts ads in programming in 36 million households service by Charter Spectrum, Comcast and Cox, up from 35 million households a year ago. Those operators own Canoe as a joint venture.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.