YOUR POWERHOUSE FOR
DIGITAL MARKETING SOLUTIONS

CONTENTS

How We Watch Video

Roku joins the 1% club

5 big questions re: how we watch video:

1) How much time do we spend online?
2) What share of our online time is spent with video?
3) Which streaming apps account for the highest share of total TV?
4) Do men or women spend more time streaming TV?
5) What share of the population watches streaming content daily?

Setting the table: Streaming grew its share of time again in May, driven, in
part, by ad-supported streaming services (FAST) such as the Roku Channel, which broke 1% share for the first time.
Share of total TV time according to Nielsen:

1) Streaming - 36%
2) Cable - 31%
3) Broadcast - 23%
4) Other - 10%

Big question #1:

How much time do we spend online?

Quick answer: 7.5 hours per day
Share of time spent online by device according to eMarketer:

1) Mobile - 51%
2) CTV - 25%
3) Desktop/Laptop - 15%
4) Other - 9%

Big question #2:

What share of our online time is spent with video?

Quick answer: 45%
Share of time spent with digital video:

1) CTV - 52%
2) Mobile - 38%
3) Desktop/Laptop - 10%

Share of population streaming video on mobile according to Samba TV:

1) Gen Z - 89%
2) Millennials - 85%
3) Gen X - 70%
4) Baby Boomers - 42%
5) Silent - 17%

Big question #3:

Which streaming apps account for the highest share of total TV?

Share of total TV time (streaming only):

1) YouTube - 9%
2) Netflix - 8%
3) Hulu - 4%
4) Amazon Prime - 3%
5) Disney+ - 2%

6) Tubi - 1%
7) HBO Max - 1%
8) Peacock - 1%
9) Roku Channel - 1%
10) PlutoTV - 1%
11) Other - 6%

Big question #4:

Do men or women spend more time streaming TV?

Quick answer: Women spend a 23% larger share (37% vs. 30%) of their TV time streaming than men.

Big question #5:

What share of the population watches streaming content daily?

Quick answer: 49%
Share of the population watching streaming TV daily according to Leichtman Research Group:

1) 2015 - 12%
2) 2016 - 19%
3) 2017 - 25%
4) 2018 - 29%
5) 2019 - 31%

6) 2020 - 40%
7) 2021 - 39%
8) 2022 - 46%
9) 2023 - 49%

MEET OUR NEW TEAM MEMBERS!

Aakriti
Finance
Hey there, I'm Aakriti! I'm a finance grad from the University of Delhi, but let me tell you, I'm not your average number cruncher.
I'm a total finance nerd and I absolutely love diving into content creation. I get a real thrill out of brainstorming and finding innovative solutions to any challenge that comes my way. Trust me, my active listening skills are pretty mind-blowing, but watch out when I start gabbing away (just kidding!).
You'll usually find me cozied up in a cozy corner, lost in a captivating book while munching on some delicious food.
Hey, I'm Michael Northcutt, and I proudly call Huntington Beach, CA, my stomping ground. When it comes to sales and management, I've got the skills to pay the bills. I know how to seal the deal and rally a team to success like nobody's business.
When I'm not conquering the corporate world, you'll find me soaking up the sun, sipping on those tropical concoctions, and enjoying a good view.
Challenges don't scare me—they fuel me. And with my infectious charm and unwavering determination, I'm ready to take on anything that comes my way
Michael
Jr. Account Manager

WTF are made-for-advertising sites (MFAs)

What's deceptive. fueled by profit and involved in ad arbitrage? Made-for- advertising (MFA) sites. These cunning sites masquerade as prime real estate
for online advertising. luring gullible advertisers into their web of trickery.
With each passing day, their misleading practices grow more refined, perpetuating a lucrative grift that shows no signs of abating. Sounds bad right? Read on to find out how bad. why the situation is so dire and what can be done about it.

Firstly, WTF is an MFA site?

Picture a web page overrun by towering banner ads and strategically positioned video ad players, morphing the browsing experience into a cacophony of commercial chaos. To the discerning human eye. this amalgamation of cluttered ads and questionable content would appear as the epitome of a digital nightmare.
However, behind the scenes. the very machines that facilitate ad purchases
perceive these sites as golden opportunities. They're more likely to be seen and they're cheaper than a lot of other ads. Of course. those ads are going to be bought.

So this is really another way programmatic advertising is being gamed?

Yes. that's the crux of the issue. It all begins with an unattainable desire for the impossible: cheap media of impeccable quality.
Well. correction — this sort of media does exist but only if marketers are
willing to prioritize superficial success metrics like cost per viewable
impressions over genuine business outcomes.
Surprisingly. a significant number of marketers are inclined to do so. and
this very demand willed into existence MFAs.

Isn't this fraud?

It depends. By industry standards. MFAs do not meet the criteria for invalid traffic (IVT). While MFAs enable marketers to reach real users engaged
in genuine content, the duration of their engagement is typically short-
lived. This occurs when traffic is acquired through content recommendation companies rather than organically earned.
As a result, MFAs tread a fine line between legitimate traffic and potential IVT, leading marketers to invest in ads that yield little impact on consumer behavior.
"MFA sites are a great working example of a programmatic system being gamed.-" said Damon Reeve. CEO of the U.K-based publisher alliance Ozone.
"Avertisers don't like them, publishers don't like them. and yet advertiser
budgets still flow to them. And that's because they are designed to perform
according to the ad-tech metrics that advertisers value for their digital budgets."

How big is this problem?

No one knows for sure how widespread MFAs are (this is programmatic advertising. after all). That said. the limited information available on MFAs paints a concerning picture.
In the ANA's examination of programmatic ad dollars. MFAs accounted for 21% of the audited 35 billion impressions. This translated to 15% of the $123 million spent by 21 advertisers.
Nevertheless. it's highly likely that the true extent of this issue exceeds these figures. Consider this: the ANA's findings specifically pertain to a piece of the premium part of the programmatic open marketplace, where ad buys are determined through real-time bidding auctions.
Unfortunately. MFAs extend beyond these auctions. They're also being baked into private marketplaces.

Wait, aren’t private marketplaces meant to be free from such dodgy inventory?

They are in theory meant to be made up of the best inventory. but the reality is they aren't always. This has been explicitly highlighted by programmatic consultancy Jounce Media.
In the past 90 days. it has run 136 multi-seller private marketplaces (commonly known as auction packages). Surprisingly. 106 of these marketplaces included MFA inventory. Alarmingly. nearly a quarter of these PMPs (23 in total) allocated more than 25% of their budget to MFA inventory.
Far from being premium, these marketplaces increasingly resemble a programmatic version of a bait-and-switch tactic — enticing unsuspecting advertisers only to deceive them with subpar offerings.

Are advertisers concerned?

Well perceptions may vary, but the conversations surrounding this issue
have been fervent since the ANA’s recent investigation came to light last
week.
Ad execs have consistently emphasized the imperative of prioritizing high-quality media over low-cost. low-value inventory.
Meanwhile. marketers have expressed their frustration toward ad tech vendors for allowing MFAs to flourish. Then there are the consultants who have advised marketers to only buy ads from a shortlist of trusted sellers.
And therein lies the problem — it's all just talk. To act on it would require
markets to do the unthinkable. They would need to consider adopting more meaningful KPIs that effectively measure campaign success that align
with tangible business metrics. Such a shift would undermine the very
foundation that allows MFAs to persist.
But it would also mean admitting the metrics marketers currently use are
superficial.
“Acknowledging MFAs are nothing more than a vehicle for gaming a system, and investing in the alternative — proven channels that deliver real and sustainable business results — will be a wonderful milestone for brands,” said Reeve.

How likely is it that marketers will tackle MFAs head on?

If past patterns are any indication, the likelihood seems slim. Despite multiple opportunities, marketers have consistently fallen short in curbing the proliferation of issues like MFAs.
In fact, all indications point to the continued growth of MFAs in the coming years. Ad tech vendors, once dismissive of MFA inventory, are now embracing it. leading to an influx of sales opportunities for these duplicitous impressions. Publishers are also jumping on the trend, enlisting MFA specialists to maximize their ad revenue.
Furthermore. MFA sites are becoming increasingly adept at acquiring traffic
at remarkably low costs, adding to the challenge.
"This is a great case of the difference between brand safety. and brand suitability." Lou Paskalis, chief strategy officer at Ad Fontes Media, said on a panel in Cannes last week. He intimated that arriving at an industry consensus on what constitutes a made for advertising website would go some way to alleviating the issue.
"The MRC [Media Ratings Council] says these [MFA websites] are generally brand safe sites, but while there's nothing nefarious about them. they're not brand suitable as they are a terrible user experience." Paskalis continued.
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