Advertising enters the streaming wars

Until the last couple of years, streaming had been a largely subscription-funded space, but with Amazon now defaulting Prime members to its ad tier and GroupM joining forces with media owners across the space, advertising is coming to streaming. 

Why streaming matters

People are watching less TV, but not less TV content - their point of access has changed. Advertisers are now finding a way to that point of access at a time when consumers appear to be happy to pay a little less for their entertainment if it comes with ads. 

But the key questions here are about consistency, quality, and frequency. How quickly can either individual companies or partnerships build up an experience to rival the sophistication of TV? Can walled gardens allow buyers to accurately find reach without overdoing the frequency?

GroupM forms partnership to ease buying of streaming ads

WPP’s GroupM is working to reduce the barriers to advertising in streaming environments by bringing together media owners like Disney, Roku, NBCU, and YouTube, alongside several adtech firms. The group rolls out first in the US with more markets to follow in the coming months. 

• “The working group will strategize and create scalable ad formats that are designed to be ubiquitous across ad-supported streaming environments”, the agency explains in a press release. 

• “The rapidly evolving media landscape makes it difficult for advertisers to efficiently and resourcefully launch interactive advertising campaigns,” said Mike Fisher, Executive Director, Investment Innovation, GroupM U.S. 

• “Our clients need a simple way to activate interoperable and attributable campaigns across the ad-supported streaming ecosystem.”

Amazon goes it alone

Launching on 29th Jan, Amazon’s newly announced default ad plan for all Prime Video subscribers will price inventory at around $30, according to reports in Adweek. 

This contrasts with Netflix, whose ad tier launched in 2022 at a CPM of around double the anticipated Amazon pricing. 

Observers put this down to the service’s enormous scale, given that all subscribers (over 100m) will see ads unless they buy the $2.99 extra ad-free tier. But it is also moving fast with third-party verification through Nielsen and Moat as part of the package for advertisers.

• At launch, such numbers appear unlikely, but Amazon’s inventory will only be available through Amazon’s own demand-side platform - so establishing both cross-platform reach and frequency capping is going to be a significant challenge.

• Speaking on condition of anonymity, one ad buyer told Adweek that Amazon’s offer is “much more interesting than Netflix”. While targeting capabilities are relatively limited at launch, it’s very likely that soon buyers will be able to engage with Amazon’s rich targeting capabilities. 

Sourced from WARC, GroupM, AdWeek