Advertisers seeking cross-platform reach

Changing viewing habits mean that service providers need to deliver cross-platform reach to advertisers, but content owners continue to value pay TV and OTT audiences differently, according to a survey of US MPVDs, OTT providers, content owners and advertisers commissioned by ad technology outfit SpotX from S&P Global Market Intelligence-owned Kagan.

According to the survey of 41 US respondents, some 80% agreed that changing viewing habits had resulted in the requirement or ability to deliver cross-platform audience reach, with 100% of advertisers saying that this was the biggest resulting strategy change for them.

Despite this, over 60% of respondents said they value pay TV and OTT audiences differently, with the proportion differing between content owners and advertisers. Some 69% of content owners value audiences differently, while only 44% of advertisers do, according to the survey.

Some 36% of respondents said that OTT offers higher audience valuations on total reach. Currently, only 11% of advertisers spend 21-40% of their advertising dollars on OTT platforms. Within 24 months, however, this percentage is expected to grow to 67%.

Around 85% of respondents believe leveraging third-party data is a strong driver for the adoption of audience-based buying and selling of ads on OTT, according to the survey.

Advertisers unanimously agreed that third-party data was a strong driver for the adoption of audience-based buying and selling of ads, while 94% of content owners said that leveraging third-party data is the primary business driver for moving to audience-based buying and selling of ads.

Some 69% of content owners said that they would be focusing more on contextual advertising as a result of changing viewing habits.

For advertisers, 78% of respondents, ranked data security and measurement as the primary challenges in adopting audience-based buying of ads.