IAB report finds more money moving to digital video advertising even as measurement problems persist.
Marketers continue to move money into digital video despite significant doubts about audience measurement, according to a new report from the IAB.
Digital video ad spending is expected to be more than $ 62 billion this year, the IAB predicts. That is a 16% increase over last year and more than twice the $ 26 billion in 2020.
Since that year ad spend share shifted nearly 20 percentage points from linear TV to digital video. In 2024, digital video will get 52% of the video ad dollars, surpassing linear TV for the first time. This is a reflection of viewers’ shift toward digital. For example, the largest pay TV providers lost 6% of their subscribers in the last two years: 5 million in 2023 and 4.6 million in 2022.
Free ad-supported streaming TV ad spend increased to 51% from 44% last year. It is now in line with ads bought on virtual multichannel video programming distributors (55%) and streaming platforms (53%).
Measurement problems persist
Measurement issues remain an overall problem but vary significantly by channel — particularly with online video and CTV. Inconsistent publisher-level measurement frameworks plague online video. This makes it hard for buyers to understand placement, viewability and guarantees. CTV faces similar issues due to a lack of shared show-level data and inconsistent measurement approaches.
This and the proliferation of privacy-by-design have buyers turning to measurement tools less reliant on data signals. AI, data-driven optimization, MTA and MMM enable buyers to understand performance based on modeled data as signal deprecation decreases the pool of available data.
Nine out of 10 advertisers are using some form of alternative audience measurement — either via transacting, testing or having discussions with vendors. More than 75% of buyers requested that sellers provide greater transparency, offer performance-based solutions, grant access to first-party data and/or help set new measurement standards.
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