Video Ad Destination Mix Stabilizes Across Channels, According to Extreme Reach Report

Video ad impression mix by destination type remains consistent across the ecosystem, according to the latest findings from Extreme Reach (ER), the global leader in creative logistics. The company’s latest Video Benchmarks Report, with data from Q3 2021, shows very little movement in impression share by device, indicating that video delivery by platform has stabilized with CTV continuing to garner the largest share.

The new report compiles the aggregate performance metrics for impressions served from the company’s accredited video ad server. The data track campaigns for a diverse set of brands across multiple categories.

“Consumer viewing habits changed dramatically in 2020, as CTV became a much larger part of viewers’ lives at a much faster pace than anyone could have predicted,” said Mary Vestewig, VP of Digital Account Management at Extreme Reach. “Three-quarters of the way through 2021, we’re seeing only minor shifts in the share of impressions across the major channels, signaling that viewer habits and advertiser strategies may be reaching a new baseline. Here at ER we’ve seen tremendous growth in the volume of impressions served — a year over year increase of 128 percent in Q3 — yet the share of impressions by platform and media type remained steady, an indication that this may be the new normal.”

Key findings in the report include:

• Connected TV accounted for 35% of total ad impressions for the second straight quarter, and for the third time in the past four quarters. CTV commands the largest share of impressions of the delivery channels included in the quarterly report from Extreme Reach.

• Mobile app, at 25%, accounted for the second largest share of impressions served by ER in Q3. That was down just 2% from the previous quarter, and down 1% year over year.

• Desktop accounted for 21% of impressions in Q3, down 1% from the previous quarter, remaining steady with where it was a year ago.

• Mobile web owned 17% share of impressions, up 1% from Q2, and up 4% year over year.

• Aggregators and premium publishers are in a dance, alternating as the leader in share of impressions over the last few quarters. At 53% in Q3, media aggregators led premium publishers for the second consecutive quarter, and the highest share aggregators have commanded since the start of 2016 when ER began publishing quarterly benchmark reports. This total share has been trending higher and is now a total inverse from Q3 2020 when media aggregators accounted for 47% share of impressions.
  
• Conversely, the share of impressions going to premium publishers has been trending down for the past three quarters. At 47% in Q3, that’s a decline of 2% from the previous quarter.

• Video completion rates remained steady, and the overall average completion rate was up 1% from the previous quarter, despite a greater percentage of media going to aggregators, which historically have seen lower completion rates. In Q3, aggregators saw a 66% ad completion rate (up 2% from the previous quarter) while premium publishers saw a 94% completion rate — the same as the previous quarter and remaining at its highest level for the past year.

Access the full report here.

About Extreme Reach

Extreme Reach (ER) is the global leader in creative logistics. Its end-to-end technology platform moves creative at the speed of media, simplifying the activation and optimization of omnichannel campaigns for brands and agencies with unparalleled control, visibility and insights.

One global creative-to-media supply chain answers the challenges of a complex marketing landscape and an equally complicated infrastructure under the global advertising ecosystem. The company’s groundbreaking solution integrates all forms of linear TV and non-linear video workflow seamlessly with talent payments and rights management. Now, brands and agencies can optimize campaigns as fast as consumer consumption shifts across linear TV, CTV, OTT, addressable TV, mobile, desktop, and video-on-demand.

Extreme Reach connects brand content with consumers across media types and markets, fully illuminating the marketing supply chain for a clear view of creative usage, waste, performance and ROI.

With the acquisition of Adstream, Extreme Reach operates in 140 countries and 45 languages, with 1,100 team members serving 90 of the top 100 global advertisers and enabling $150 billion in video ad spend around the world. More than half a billion creative brand assets are managed in ER’s creative logistics platform.