FOSTER CITY, CALIF.-- June 16, 2021 -- Conviva, the intelligence cloud for streaming media, released its inaugural State of Streaming Advertising report today, revealing big gaps in how publishers, buyers and consumers perceive streaming ads, and what this means for the future of the multibillion dollar streaming ad industry. For example, while 69% of sellers believe ad quality on streaming is as good as on linear television, just over half of buyers feel similarly (55%) and only about a third of consumers agree (35%).

“With streaming, there is an opportunity to provide high-quality creative to consumers, but we need to evaluate how and when we reach them,” said Scott McDonald, President & CEO, Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). “It’s time to move on from 1:1 targeting, with growing concerns over privacy and the challenge of scaling those campaigns, and think about how we can align ads with the content that viewers enjoy and trust.”

Conviva’s research, done in partnership with Dynata, details several areas of streaming ad industry disconnect including targeting, measurement and quality. Key learnings include:

· Better Data and Audience Targeting Will Lead to Monetization
Nearly three quarters of sellers agreed that streaming inventory can be targeted in a programmatic ecosystem and that effective audience targeting to households exists for direct buys, but less than half of buyers agreed. What’s more, 70% of sellers - but just 39% of buyers - agreed they have the data needed to run campaigns on streaming.

· Quality of Experience (QoE) is as Important for Streaming Ads as it is for Content
54% of viewers say they abandon a stream when ads fail completely or take too long to load, while 59% agreed there are too many streaming ads repeated during the same break or episode. Only 36% of viewers were satisfied with advertising on streaming overall.

· Streaming Advertisers Need to Build Consumer Trust
Less than a third of consumers are confident their privacy is being protected by streaming advertisers and publishers, yet 69% of streaming ad buyers and 75% of sellers say they consider privacy laws when building ad strategies and selling ad inventory.

· Measurement Effectiveness Needs to be Conveyed to Sellers
While nearly 80% of sellers think measuring campaign effectiveness is harder on CTV than other video platforms, only 19% of buyers agree. Similarly, 70% of sellers feel pixels and ad servers are too limited to deliver advanced ad measurement for streaming, while only 26% of buyers feel the same.

“91% of the world’s population is actively streaming, with consumers spending 47% of their TV viewing time on streaming platforms,” said Keith Zubchevich, CEO, Conviva. “Yet, according to PwC, streaming ads represent less than 10% of overall TV ad spend. This delta between eyeballs and dollars represents at least a $30 billion opportunity if publishers provide the targeting and measurement needed to increase sales. It is imperative the industry understand what motivates buyers to shift ad spend to streaming and viewers to keep watching streaming ads.”