Advertising dollars desert TV globally and head online

Advertising spend on broadcast television, excluding political ads, fell by $34 billion worldwide in 2020 as the novel coronavirus paralyzed production and brands moved money into streaming platforms, according to a new advertising trends report.

WARC, the global marketing intelligence service, found advertiser-funded video-on-demand services, which are known as AVOD and which include the platforms Hulu, Peacock, and YouTube, saw brand investment rise by 9.9 percent, to a total of $26.7 billion, as the broadcast TV market ebbed last year.

Projections from Digital TV Research show that the AVOD market is set to double to a value of $54 billion by 2025.

The report indicated brand investment in AVOD platforms is set to triple in value in the United States during the coming five years, to a total of $24.2 billion, with China rising to $9.2 billion, Japan to $3.2 billion, and the United Kingdom to $2.8 billion.

The trend mirrors the evolving viewing habits of consumers. One in four viewers now spends more time with streamed video content at the expense of real-time television in the US and UK, according to AudienceProject surveying. Additionally, one in three people in the US now exclusively stream video content. Two in five consumers worldwide now have a NextGen TV, one that is able to connect to the internet either directly or via an intermediary device such as a set-top box, USB, or games console.

Streaming time across all devices rose to 28.7 minutes per play on average last year. Google's Chromecast received the longest watch time, at 35.5 minutes, followed by Roku, at 33.3 minutes. TV sets accounted for three-quarters of all streamed video time in the fourth quarter of 2020, while mobiles (10 percent), desktop computers (10 percent) and tablets (5 percent) made up the remaining time.

Mobile use is still predominant across Asia. YouGov finds that one in three people globally watch live TV on their mobile, tablet, or PC, but this rises to more than one in two in India and China.

James McDonald, head of data content at WARC and author of the research, said: "Consumers have never before had such a varied choice when it comes to how and where they watch video content, and the distinction between channels continues to blur-one in three Americans now regard You-Tube and TV as analogous. Brands are taking note, with investment data showing a clear pivot to AVOD platforms last year.

"Like linear before it, NextGen TV is demonstrating the core traits of offering mass reach for resonant creative in-brand safe environments. However, unlike with its ancestor, fraud now poses a very real and present threat to advertising trade, especially among unverified vendors."