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With more people in their living rooms streaming shows and movies during the Covid pandemic, the connected TV space has grown astronomically. And Google wants to build on that growth with YouTube.
YouTube Director of Product Neal Mohan will brief advertisers on what the platform saw last year in a session at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s annual executive meeting on Wednesday morning.
The company planned to share new numbers around the growth seen with viewers watching its platforms on Connected TVs (CTVs), offers such as the ability for advertisers to measure with Nielsen ahead of the next initial season, and trends seen on the platform over this unusual past year. .
The pandemic has been a boon to the streaming industry, benefiting players like Roku and ad tech player The Trade Desk.
In 2020, eMarketer forecast U.S. ad spend for CTV to be $ 8.11 billion, rising to $ 18.3 billion by 2024. But even though viewing has skyrocketed, eMarketer says most hours of User streaming takes place ad-free on platforms like Netflix, Disney + and Amazon Prime Video.
This gives YouTube the opportunity to tell advertisers that they have a space to reach viewers streaming through its platform.
YouTube claims that its own platform viewers are watching more and more on their TVs. He said 120 million people watched YouTube or YouTube TV on their TV screens in December 2020 while spending time at home.
Mohan told CNBC that figure was up from 100 million in March last year.
As the audience changes, so do advertising dollars. Mohan said that over the past year advertisers and media buyers have had ‘light bulb’ moments about how media consumption is evolving because ‘they are experiencing it in their own. life”.
YouTube said mobile still accounts for the largest percentage of content consumption on the platform. But he said in December that more than a quarter of connected YouTube viewers watched content almost exclusively on a TV screen.
The company declined to explain how the rest of the audience is grouped together.
To deal with this increased shift to TVs, YouTube said for the first time in the 2021 and 2022 season, advertisers will be able to use Nielsen to measure YouTube’s streaming TV inventory.
The beginnings occur when advertisers typically commit a large portion of their annual television spending to deals.
This should help media buyers and sellers verify audiences on YouTube and YouTube TV apps on smart TVs.
Offers like this are meant to show advertisers they can reach audiences they don’t reach elsewhere, and to compare reach more easily with addressable linear television.
Previously, the company said advertisers can only use Nielsen ratings to measure platform inventory on desktop and mobile.
“It’s something that brands have asked for,” Mohan said.
YouTube also worked on creating tools and offers for advertisers, which saw the business grow 46% year-over-year in the fourth quarter to $ 6.89 billion. . The company has developed direct response products on YouTube, such as “purchasable” ads that include product images.
Direct response was an area of strength that remained strong during the pandemic, but brand advertising also made significant returns in the fourth quarter, which also helped YouTube.
Electronic commerce exploded in 2020; Americans spent $ 791.7 billion throughout the year on e-commerce, up 32.4% from 2019, according to data released last month by the US Census Bureau.
Mohan said video plays a major role in this space, with creators reviewing products or making recommendations, as creators and their audiences have a more authentic connection.
Mohan also plans to talk about the short video trend to take hold. YouTube competitor TikTok ‘Shorts’ will expand into the United States in beta in “the next few weeks,” the company said.
Shorts doesn’t run ads in its beta, but YouTube said it is “exploring monetization options.”
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