Navigating the Growing Connected TV Advertising Landscape
by Jaci Schreckengost
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SVOD, AVOD, TVOD—there are so many acronyms to remember when viewers just want to keep track of their favorite characters and shows.
TV viewership has changed drastically in the past few years (goodbye cable cords, hello wireless viewing). However, it’s going to keep changing as different platforms fight for viewers and struggle to become profitable, particularly in the face of economic uncertainty and an audience that may not want or be able to keep spending top dollar for an increasing number of services.
If you’re looking to make sense of the new TV landscape, read on.
Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) is a model of media distribution where consumers pay a recurring fee to gain unlimited access to a streaming platform’s content library, ranging from films to TV shows.
SVOD works by enabling subscribers to view this content at any time and from any device with internet connectivity, offering a high degree of convenience and user control over the content selection and viewing schedules.
SVOD services are the leaders in the Connected TV (CTV) space. SVOD services include:
The pros of SVOD are simple:
The cons are also obvious to anyone who’s signed up for an SVOD:
Advertising Video On Demand (AVOD) is a media distribution model that provides free or reduced-cost streaming services to viewers, who in return are shown advertisements during their viewing experience.
AVOD works by leveraging the revenue generated from these advertisements, allowing platforms to offer content at no cost to the user and enabling advertisers to reach a specific audience segment based on their viewing habits and preferences.
Some prominent AVOD platforms include:
AVOD’s pros are as follows:
For some, the ads constitute a disruption of narrative flow. However, research suggests that this depends on how many ads are shown, with consumers being fine with five ads or fewer.
While some AVODs are free, many (like Peacock and Hulu) still involve a monthly subscription fee. Even if these fees are lower than pure SVOD, they can still add up. You may want to draw the line somewhere rather than sign up for a half-dozen AVODs.
Still, trends show that AVOD is on the rise as a way for consumers to deal with increasing costs. Of HBO Max’s viewers, 30% watch on the AVOD tiers. And 73% of Peacock’s viewers watch with ads.
It’s critical for advertisers to focus on making high-quality—aka living room quality—ads so as not to detract from the viewing experience.
Transactional Video On Demand (TVOD) is a media distribution model where viewers pay for each individual piece of content they choose to watch, similar to the traditional rental or purchase of movies or television episodes.
TVOD works by providing a wide selection of content to users who can then selectively purchase or rent what they want to watch, thus offering high-quality content without needing a subscription or viewing advertisements.
Popular TVOD platforms include:
TVOD’s pros are:
Making several TVOD transactions can add up and get pricey when compared to the solid value proposition of a streaming service. This could get expensive if you have kids who want to watch the same movie repeatedly.
TVOD services may not offer every single thing you want to see. The internet has a lot on offer, but not everything is accessible. If you love cool old movies, subscribing to a site like Criterion Channel may give you more access to diverse offerings.
So, just for the sake of clarity, let’s summarize the key differences between each video-on-demand service.
SVOD operates on a subscription-based model, where users pay a set fee monthly or annually for unlimited access to a library of content.
AVOD, on the contrary, offers content free of charge to the users but monetizes through embedded advertising within the content.
TVOD requires users to pay on a per-content basis, providing the flexibility to only pay for the content they choose to watch.
With SVOD, viewers enjoy an ad-free streaming experience due to the subscription model.
In contrast, AVOD users have to tolerate periodic advertisements as a trade-off for free content access.
TVOD offers a mixed experience where purchased content is ad-free, but the user must individually select and pay for each piece of content.
Revenue in SVOD comes from the regular subscription fees paid by users.
AVOD generates revenue through advertisers who pay to place their ads within the content.
Meanwhile, TVOD’s revenue is derived from individual transactions made by users to access specific content.
CTV stands for “Connected TV.” On CTV, content is streamed solely via TV screens that are connected to the internet. CTV streaming devices can include: Rokus, Apple TVs, and Smart TVs.
OTT stands for “over-the-top,” meaning content that comes over your cable box via the internet rather than through a cable or satellite. Content may be watched on any device that has a connection to the internet—mobile, tablets, desktops—but more and more, people are shifting back to the TV screen in their living room.
Related: TV Advertising Campaigns: How Television Marketing Works
Demand generation refers, logically enough, to the appetite you can create in your audience for your product. The old days of cable TV advertising were scattershot at best, but CTV has provided a dynamic new performance marketing channel for a wide variety of brands.
MNTN Performance TV allows for a data-rich, constantly improving approach to targeting your audience and getting their attention in a crowded media landscape.
AVOD services are not only here to stay, they’re increasing in popularity. eMarketer projects that 41.6% of the US population will watch streaming content through AVOD services this year, and that figure is expected to reach nearly 50% by 2026. That means the audience is there for you to capture—so long as you have targeted, high-quality and entertaining ads.
Related: 10 Demand Generation Campaign Strategies That Actually Work
Compared to a handful of basic cable and network options in the old days, viewership could be seen as fragmenting with so many SVOD, AVOD and TVOD options. On the plus side, however, there’s a captive audience to be found at home watching SVOD, AVOD and TVOD content.
Viewers’ dependency on streaming services has only increased in recent years. That viewership may change with trends favoring one service or another, but the demand has certainly increased and shows no signs of reversing soon.
With a nimble partner, you can conquer the world of OTT and CTV, turning audiences’ hunger for quality content into a performance advertising channel of unprecedented power.
Get in touch with MNTN today to see how we can help you craft a killer campaign for your product. We can help you harness the power of data so that you can stand out and make a real impact on viewers. We make it easy, affordable and even fun—because you can’t afford to sleep on the potential of AVOD.
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