BEYOND THE LIVING ROOM

Transcription

1 PREPARED EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE BIG DATA SUMMIT BEYOND THE LIVING ROOM INSIGHTS FROM CATCH-UP TV VIEWING For this year s Variety Big Data Summit, Ooyala conducted some exclusive research into the viewership and monetization of catch-up TV services around the world. For the purpose of this research we define a catch-up TV service as when a content provider publishes TV content online typically in an ad-supported model, after the content has premiered on broadcast television. The results, based on the actual usage patterns of millions of catch-up TV viewers around the world, provide some answers to the questions many providers have about viewer engagement with services, consumer device preferences for catching up on films and TV shows, and most importantly the tactics that can be used to make the most money with ad-supported catch-up services. OOYALA VIDEO INDEX EXTRA Q

2 60% 45% 30% SHARE OF PLAYS 15% PHONE TABLET SUM OF THE TWO 0% JUL 2013 MAR 2014 NOV 2014 JUL 2015 MAR 2016 SEP 2016 IT S A MOBILE WORLD AVOD ENTERTAINMENT PLATFORM POWER USERS AVERAGE DAYS VISITED 51.6 minutes AVERAGE TIME PER PLAY minutes AVERAGE TIME WATCHED PER DAY It is clear now that mobile devices, smartphones and tablets specifically are the devices of choice for a large percentage of video viewers, particularly among millennials and Gen Edge, with over 51% of all video plays within Ooyala s global footprint occurring on mobile devices, up 15% from a year ago and up 203% since It s not just short-form video either. Among the estimated 78 million millennial U.S. mobile video viewers this year, more than a third (34%) will watch full-length TV shows and 18% will watch full-length movies. 1 More catch-up TV providers around the world are adjusting to this trend and are investing heavily in mobile experiences for their core video offerings; to follow the eyeballs and maintain control of their monetization opportunity. In essence, mobile is the new DVR for younger generations; the shift to viewing catch-up TV on mobile devices demonstrates new technology being used for very well established behaviors. We used our data collected during Q to understand how heavy power users of catchup TV services watch shows on their favorite services. (We defined a power user as someone who watched a service more than six times a month.) What we found was highly engaged viewers who visit services regularly, watch almost an hour of content per play and are on average on a site for over two hours. But how exactly is catch-up TV being viewed on these devices? How can you keep viewers watching one more show and how does advertising keep up with this behavioral shift? 1 Source: Tivo and emarketer OOYALA VIDEO INDEX EXTRA Q

3 VIEWING TIME IS PRECIOUS As viewing options for premium content increase exponentially through online services, it is vital for catch-up TV providers to offer the right content at the right time. Can you change a viewer s state of mind from I want to catch up on my favorite show to I want to be entertained all night? It comes down to a value exchange. When a viewer is watching, they get value through entertainment, whereas the companies in our ad-supported service providers derive value in terms of advertising revenue. With so many options available to a consumer, the more time they spend looking for that entertainment, the more chance they will leave. As you can see, smartphone and tablet viewers are much more targeted with their catch-up TV sessions: They only browse very briefly whereas PC viewers spend a great deal longer to choose their content. So the more a catch-up TV provider does to personalize and recommend content to mobile devices, to get people to what they want to watch as fast as possible, the better. At Ooyala we call this delivering content in context. Understanding where, at what time and how a viewer has accessed your service is vital for serving up the right content recommendations. To illustrate this, below is a chart which shows time spent on catch-up TV sites (session length) alongside time actually watching content and time spent browsing. The trick here is to keep browsing to a minimum before viewing content, as that means your viewers are discovering content quickly and engaging with it deeply HORIZONTAL LINE DENOTES THE AVERAGE VALUE MINUTES PC PHONE TABLET 0 ENGAGEMENT VS. TIME ON SITE OOYALA VIDEO INDEX EXTRA Q

4 SHOW ME THE MONEY! IMPRESSION GROWTH, YOY ( ) PRE-ROLL 14% MID-ROLL 110% POST-ROLL 74% AVERAGE AD-COMPLETION RATE PRE-ROLL 78% MID-ROLL 90% POST-ROLL 65% So now you have your viewers discovering the content they want quickly and in context, plus the time spent viewing is trending higher, so how can you monetize effectively without losing your hard-earned views? Many catch-up TV operators have a one size fits all attitude to monetization, which can be dangerous; giving your mobile viewers the same advertising load as your desktop or big screen viewers is risky with attention span differences and value perceptions. Configuring your ad load to adapt to device and content yields very good results, a little effort goes a long way. Pre-rolls have been the darlings of online video advertisers, but the evidence is clear that the rise of the mid-roll is sustained and growing. In fact in the last year, mid-roll impressions are up by over 110%, whereas pre-rolls show more conservative growth, and the mid-roll completion rate is up to 90%. When you look at how these statistics break down within our entire global customer base you can clearly see that mid-rolls are showing higher completion rates. Mid-rolls are a terrific barometer of engaging content. Simply put, the more mid-rolls that get completed, the more your viewers are engaged with your content. Holding back on pre-rolls therefore enables your viewers to get into your content. Our data shows you risk that viewer engagement if you are overzealous on your pre-roll strategy. If you identify your priority content and adjust the number of pre-rolls, or even eliminate them altogether, you will enable more revenue opportunities through viewer engagement throughout the show. Loading up on mid-rolls rather than pre-rolls also encourages viewers to come back to your site if they disengage with content earlier than expected, as they likely made the wrong choice of content rather than got overwhelmed with the pre-roll ad load. Our data shows the simpler you make the journey to your top content, the more benefits you will reap. MID-ROLL PRE-ROLL SHORT (<10 SEC) MEDIUM (10 20 SEC) LONG (>20 SEC) POST-ROLL 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% AD ENGAGEMENT BY AD FORMAT AND AD LENGTH OOYALA VIDEO INDEX EXTRA Q

5 FINAL THOUGHTS While catch-up TV, compared to linear broadcast, is still in its ascendency when it comes to overall time spent viewing, there are some clear lessons that can be learned from our study. For a large segment of providers, having the right advertising formula for various content and device types is critical, second only to getting and keeping your audience engaged with relevant content. These are keys to success, so tailoring your advertising and continually A/B testing theories is the winning path. One size does not fit all, particularly when it comes to your contenthungry millennial audiences, test out strategies based on time of day, or the device being used. While catch-up TV measurement and digital measurement of video is not a substitute for a traditional ratings report, it is important to understand that it can be used as an important additive. The absolute measurement of catch-up TV can be used to provide deeper insight into your online audience than traditional measurement alone can achieve. For instance, combining a user ID with the measurements we have discussed within this document means you can tie a video view to an individual; that is a powerful way of companies using this additional information strategically, alongside the accepted currency of the daily ratings reports. Importantly, knowing the right questions to ask of your data, and finding the results can change the way you position or maintain your catch-up TV service. Using the additional aspects of measurement we describe here (advertising engagement, time spent watching and browsing, device trends and more) can give a catch-up TV provider deeper insight into the viewing habits of their online and mobile audiences, which can then augment the measurement of traditional broadcast TV to provide a more complete picture of usage and what makes viewers return. OOYALA VIDEO INDEX EXTRA Q