Ads playing when CTVs are switched off cost $1 billion

Between 8% and 10% of commercials that play on advertising-supported streaming platforms do so after connected television (CTV) sets are switched off, leading to an estimated $1 billion in wasted spend per year.

Why it matters

With CTV adspend rising, and more platforms competing for eyeballs, this channel is increasingly important for brands. As with other developing technologies, measurement and verification solutions often lag behind the tools for delivering ads.

By the numbers

• GroupM, the media investment arm of agency holding company WPP Group, and measurement company iSpot.tv undertook the study.
• Looking at impressions delivered only via CTV streaming devices – like games consoles, steaming boxes, dongles and sticks – showed that 17% were delivered when the CTV was switched off.
• Native apps for smart television sets, said to account for around 50% of total CTV viewing, recorded “virtually no incidence of overcounts across streaming ad delivery”.
• The variation in overcount by publisher varied from 2.5% to 15% depending on the TV make and model, streaming device and publisher app.

Signals of difficulty

• One contributor to this unfavorable outcome is that a CTV set does not always signal to a streaming device, often connected using an HDMI port, when it is switched off.
• Consequently, the streaming device carries on playing a show and the accompanying ads unless a viewer exits or pauses the streaming app.
• GroupM estimated that advertising revenues for CTV will increase by 26.7% in 2022 to $12 billion.
• Nicholas Zanger, an analyst at investment bank Stephens Inc., suggested the overcount in CTV ad delivery is worth around $1 billion, according to trade title Broadcasting+Cable.

Sourced from GroupM, Broadcasting+Cable