This yr, viewers are watching extra CTV in longer classes. Viewership now approaches pandemic-era ranges after pulling again lately, in accordance with a brand new examine, “The CTV Tendencies Report 2024,” launched by Wurl, an AppLovin firm.
Common every day hours of CTV viewing are up 5% yr over yr, in accordance with the examine, which attracts on Wurl’s insights from greater than 4,000 channels and 1 billion month-to-month viewing hours by means of its CTV advertising platform.
Moreover, common session size is up 7% YoY, indicating that viewers are sticking to a specific program or streaming app for an extended time period on common.
Pandemic-era rebound. Each common every day hours and common classes are climbing again towards their pandemic peaks after declining post-pandemic.
Right here’s how common every day hours elevated through the pandemic, dipped and rebounded. The chart is “normalized,” utilizing the latest full knowledge as the usual towards which earlier durations are in contrast.
The typical every day hours of viewing peaked in 1Q 2023. After losses later that yr, the common is climbing again, maybe helped alongside by large occasions in 2024 just like the Paris Olympics and U.S. elections protection.
And right here is the common session size image.
This metric peaked in 2Q 2022, sooner than the common every day hours. As new streaming channels and companies enter the market, there’s extra competitors for a viewer’s consideration. The latest rise in session size reveals that streaming companies are discovering methods to strengthen viewer loyalty, even on this aggressive setting.
Churn. The churn charge has largely remained steady within the final three years.
Whereas viewing hours elevated later within the pandemic years, churn was a lot greater within the first yr, when many individuals had been cooped up at house and experimenting extra with CTV companies and programming.
Fill charges. Advert fill charges dropped within the first half of 2024 from the earlier yr. They seem like rising to 2023 ranges as we strategy the vacations.
Advert-supported subscription affords from premium streamers like Netflix, together with free ad-supported companies (FAST) are growing the quantity of advert stock whereas demand is lagging. Fill charges had been highest in 2022 when there was much less stock.
Dig deeper: Netflix leans into ad-supported tier as subscriber progress surges
Why we care. The expansion in CTV advert income assumes that elevated viewership makes the funding worthwhile. Viewer conduct issues — these figures present how viewership is fashioned over time. CTV habits didn’t take form till a number of years into the pandemic. In 2020, throughout essentially the most stringent lockdowns, CTV viewing hours had been removed from their highs. The newer improve in common session size, together with decrease churn, make a powerful case for extra enduring habits and CTV loyalty taking root for subsequent yr and past.
