Growth in CTV Spending Stabilizes Digital Advertising

Increased spending on connected TV advertising is helping to stabilize digital advertising amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released by the IAB during the Newfronts on Tuesday.

According to the report, average CTV spending for the year is expected to reach $16 million per advertiser.

More than half of buyers in the study said they were shifting dollars from broadcast and cable advertising to CTV.

The biggest CTV spenders  were the retail category spending $32.2 million per advertisers, media/entertainment, spending $31.9 million per advertisers and telecom, at $20.6 million per advertiser.

“Connected TV has proved to be resilient during the global pandemic, taking share from traditional TV budgets,” said David Cohen, president, IAB. “Buyers are not only following consumer attention, they are flocking to CTV because it is the perfect marriage of high-quality content, superior targeting, in-market optimization and robust measurement. We are also seeing a strong desire from buyers to look at the video marketplace holistically, and the continued convergence of omni-channel video planning and buying solutions.” 

The IAB study found that brand safety was the most important criterion for buyers. It also found that programmatic in-housing is growing 64% year over year. Shoppable ads and augmented reality advertising are also up. 

The study was conducted by Advertiser Perceptions, which surveyed 350 marketers and agency executives from Feb. 27 to March 12 and from May 1 through May 6.

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.