Hot and frothy … No, we’re not talking about a latte, we’re talking about the CTV/OTT/ “advanced” TV market.
Whichever descriptor you use, there’s no denying that interest is swirling and investments are flowing — and it’s always useful to have data that can help provide a more grounded perspective. So we were excited to have Google share some stats about the CTV ad market during a special webinar at our PubForum Virtual edition.
With impression data pulled directly from Google Ad Manager over the course of 2020 — including transaction trends, global viewership insights, and even details about live streaming performance — the session didn’t disappoint. It also covered some best practices for ad ops pros that are deep in the weeds managing their Google Ad Manager specs directly.
Dig into the insights that Google Ad Manager product experts Peentoo Patel and Carolyn Ganon shared in the full replay below.
A few highlights include:
2020 saw increases in CTV viewership — but also big shifts in terms of the way CTV ads were transacted:
- In terms of viewership, live-streamed content grew faster than VOD
- For the first time ever, in-app advanced TV impressions surpassed those on the web
- While direct-sold deals led CTV inventory sales, programmatic-based buys are growing, with Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) and Preferred deals growing the fastest
CTV standards are still emerging, and while adoption continues to grow there’s still some uncertainty — partly because of the variety of devices in the ecosystem. However, there are a few standards that stand out:
- App-ads.txt is one of the most viable tools that publishers can deploy in the fight against CTV ad fraud — and it’s recently been updated to support inventory sharing across multiple devices
- Google Ad Manager also supports industry standards that promote user privacy and increase transparency, including the IAB Tech Lab’s Identifier for Advertising (IFA), Session ID, and “Why this ad” disclosures on CTV inventory
You can also access the full 2020 Advanced TV Inventory Report here.