Advertiser investment in connected TV (CTV) is ramping up quickly as more inventory becomes available, with YouTube, Hulu and Roku dominating the landscape. We estimate CTV ad spending in the US will reach $10.81 billion by 2021, up from close to $7 billion in 2019. But still, challenges remain, including fragmented inventory, ad fraud and frequency capping.

Increased political ad spending contributed to a banner year for connected TV.

In analyzing the media landscape, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is reimagining the future of digital viewership. In this Q&A, the IAB's Eric John, vice president, media center, discussed continuous growth in video advertising and connected TV, why the old model of a million-dollar TV commercial playing once everywhere is gone, and how to make creative work better.

Just as Netflix and other OTT services experienced unforeseen user boosts, usage time per person will grow across all of these services more than previously expected. We projected that US adults would spend an average of 43 minutes per day with various OTT providers this year, but now we forecast that figure will be just over an hour, at 62 minutes.

In general, YouTube is second only to Netflix in terms of share of time spent with OTT video in the US. That’s particularly notable given that YouTube is among the only major streaming video platforms that’s almost entirely ad-supported. Impact of the Pandemic on US YouTube Viewing. Like other OTT platforms, YouTube also benefited from the surge in streaming video consumption amid the pandemic.

But does it include OTT? It may—if that video is streamed onto a TV set. We define OTT as video that’s delivered independently of a traditional pay TV service, regardless of device. CTV refers specifically to video watched on a TV set with internet connectivity.

Mobile advertising is by far the preferred destination for digital ad spending in the US, just as it is everywhere else. However, mobile’s ever-accelerating domination of the digital ad market appears to finally be leveling off.

On a percentage basis, the number of monthly US live video viewers, video game viewers, and subscription over-the-top (OTT) users will experience the largest pandemic-related bump in 2020, based on an analysis of our current forecast compared with our pre-pandemic forecast. Esports and podcasts are also gaining users quickly this year, but the pandemic isn’t the main reason for their growth.

YouTube is the leading digital video platform in Canada still, but over-the-top (OTT) services are starting to rival it in terms of actual viewers. Netflix accounts for the bulk of OTT viewing, but other services like Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and homegrown platform Crave have gained significant subscriber bases. How prevalent is cord-cutting in Canada?

“[Connected TV (CTV)] and OTT are becoming increasingly valuable channels in the paid media space and have proven to be a significant driver of brand awareness for Olipop.”. Ads from Shopify merchants will be slotted into 15- and 30-second spots primarily within The Roku Channel content.

Digital video time spent: Includes all video content viewed on desktop/laptop computers, mobile devices, and connected TVs, such as video streamed through OTT services. Excludes video streamed through social networks.

Yet another factor that will cause media ad spending to contract are the production delays in scripted television. TV networks have, in turn, delayed the ad campaigns that surround their fall TV lineups. As traditional media conglomerates lose more ad revenues because of the pandemic, they are less likely to spend ad dollars of their own.

Our annual lookahead for Canada highlights some growth areas for brand marketers as well as the mediascape that’s evolving to serve them.

How did the pandemic boost over-the-top (OTT) viewing? We raised our forecast for 2020 US monthly subscription OTT viewers from 192.7 million to 207.5 million. WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report covers key events in the digital video industry based on data, trends, and business activity in Q3 2020. It includes updated forecasts for TV and digital video ad spending.