Demand For Connected TV Ads Jumped in Last Year

With viewing on connected TV growing, interest among advertisers is blowing up, according to a study by Beachfront.

Beachfront, which focuses on video supply monetization across connected TV (CTV), desktop and mobile devices, said request for CTV ads rose 1,640% in November 2018 from a year ago.

There were 29.9 billion requests for CTV ads, up from 1.7 billion in November 2017, according to Beachfront.

“We saw a lot more advertisers actually buying CTV, which I think should be no surprise,” said Frank Sinton, founder and president of Beachfront. “the the amount of business, people actually transacting, has gone up tremendously. I think the usage started last year and then this year the advertisers are catching up.”

CTV ads now have the scale advertisers are looking for, he said.

Some of the increase came from political ad spending, Sinton added.

Among CTV platforms, Roku dominated, accounting for more than 87% of ad requests. The next largest was Amazon Fire TV followed by LG, Samsung TV, Vizio and Chromecast.

Sinton said that CTV’s popularity has also grown because it achieves advertisers objectives, with ads that are 100% viewable and with high completion rates.

The targeting has gotten better, he added. “Segmentation is better on CTV versus the traditional cookie-based desktop. I think those targeting options have gotten much better in the past year All these things lead towards a big increase in CTV spend.”

Completion rates were more than 90%, according to the Beachfront report, The company notes that on premium video apps, completion rates are above 95%. But there is more long-tail content being delivered over CTV, and that has an 85% completion rate, pushing down the average.

“Beachfront has been a leader in connected TV advertising since 2015, and remains uniquely equipped to traverse what’s up ahead as the space keeps growing as a profitable option for advertisers,” said Chris Macarro, CEO at Beachfront. “Connected devices will only continue to permeate the market and as data-centric players like Google and Amazon keep investing further, that creates a more relevant and successful ad experience for consumers.”

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.