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Q2 2020Video Benchmarks Report

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It seems like eons ago, but it’s been less than six months since the pandemic turned life in much of the world upside down. It was a mere three months ago, with stay-at-home orders in place, that we at ER were kicking into high gear for our Q1 Video Benchmark report.

Analysis of Q1 data revealed some anomalies in previously steady trends. The consistent growth of CTV impressions saw an unexpected dip. The share of impressions served to aggregators increased, though premium publishers continued to maintain the far greater share. Desktop and mobile gained as audiences worked and studied from home.

In a year in which unpredictability is the only predictable thing, we noted the facts and looked forward to seeing how things would shake out in Q2 before making further predictions about whether our video ad serving data would indicate a return to “normal.”

And now that the Q2 numbers are in and analysis done, the answer is...not entirely clear.

In Q2, we saw CTV impressions return to a level more akin to that in 2019, but desktop and mobile remain strong. This suggests the multi-device household with family members needing to find spots in the home to consume media without interfering with each other is still a big factor. Another interesting observation is that ads with a 30-second duration, which came to prominence alongside CTV, continued to grow as a share of all impressions. While that has been the trend, the anomaly is that completion rates, which are generally incredibly high given they can’t be skipped on CTV, decreased slightly in Q2.

In the turbulent year that is 2020, it’s difficult to offer a single truth. We can, however, offer the insights we draw based on our data and years of experience immersed in the always-changing digital video advertising ecosystem, with the hope that our report provides some helpful guidance during these challenging times.

As our data keeps growing, our spreadsheets get wider and we offer our fellow data geeks a download of our quarterly metrics dating back to Q1 2016.

We’d love to hear from you. Do the findings in this report reflect the patterns of your own campaigns? Do you have questions stemming from what you’ve read here? Feel free to drop us a line at marketing@extremereach.com.

AdBridge™ Insights

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Definitions

PREMIUM PUBLISHERS Direct sellers of digital inventory; generally broadcast networks or content providers.

MEDIA AGGREGATORSSellers of inventory from multiple sources including programmatically sold traffic. These are generally ad networks, DSPs, or agency trade desks.

Table of Contents

AdBridge Insights 2

Overall Breakdown of Video Impressions 4

Video Completion Rate 7

Average Time Spent by Ad Length 10

General Invalid Traffic Filtered Rate 11

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A Look at How All Video Impressions Served by Extreme Reach Break Down by Ad Length, Media Type and Device

Overall Breakdown of Video Impressions

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Impressions by Media TypeIn Q2 2020, 65% of video ad impressions served by Extreme Reach were to premium publishers, a 17% decrease from Q1. The remaining 35% of impressions were served via media aggregators, an increase of 59% over Q1. This represents the largest proportion of aggregator impressions seen since Q3 2018, when the share was 36%.

83%

80%

81%

78%

65%

17%

20%

19%

22%

35%

Q2 2019

Q3 2019

Q4 2019

Q1 2020

Q2 2020

Premium Publishers Media Aggregator

Impressions by Ad LengthContinuing the trend that began in Q2 2018, 30-second ads again grew in predominance in Q2 2020, reaching an all-time high of 79% of all impressions measured, a 3% increase over Q1. Inversely, the share of impressions for 15-second ads continued to decline, landing at 20%, a decrease of 9% from Q1 and a year over year decline of 40%.

33%

32%

30%

22%

20%

64%

66%

69%

77%

79%

Q2 2019

Q3 2019

Q4 2019

Q1 2020

Q2 2020

06-second 15-second 30-second 60-second

1%

1%

2%

1%

1%

1%

1%

6

Impressions by DeviceAfter a dip in Q1 2020, the share of impressions served to connected television (CTV) increased from 37% to 40% in Q2 2020, moving back toward the level seen pre-Covid. Desktop impressions were 20% of the total, which is lower than Q1 but still higher than the numbers seen throughout 2019.

Q2 is the first quarter during which mobile is divided into impressions served in-app vs. those served through mobile web. While trends cannot be discerned without comparable data from previous quarters, ads served in-app were more than double the impressions of mobile web in Q2 at 26% vs. 12%.

50%

51%

47%

37%

40%

16%

15%

16%

23%

20%

6%

5%

5%

25%

26%

29%

33%

26% 12%

Q2 2019

Q3 2019

Q4 2019

Q1 2020

Q2 2020

CTV Desktop Tablet Mobile Mobile App Mobile Web Unclassified*

3%

3%

4%4%

2%

2%

As of Q2 2020, tablet impressions are included in the mobile category and mobile impressions are now reported as either in-app or mobile web

The devices are displayed in a new order in our charts.

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Percent of Impressions Where Video Played All the Way Through

Video Completion

Rate

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Average VCRAverage video completion rates (VCR) declined very slightly in Q2 2020, from 85% in Q1 to 84% in Q2.

89% 89% 88% 85% 84%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Q2 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2019 Q1 2020 Q2 2020

Average

VCR by Media TypeThe completion rate for premium publishers actually increased quarter over quarter from 88% to 92%, but the significant increase in impressions served via media aggregators in Q2 brought the average completion rate down. Extreme Reach typically sees lower completion rates for aggregators than for premium publishers.

90% 91% 90% 88%92%

80% 81% 82%75%

69%

Q2 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2019 Q1 2020 Q2 20200%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Premium Publishers Media Aggregator

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VCR by Ad LengthBoth 30- and 15-second ads saw negligible decreases in completion rates in Q2 2020, with 30-second spots moving from 84% to 83% and 15-second spots declining from 88% to 86%.

82%

69%

87% 87% 87%87% 87% 89% 88% 86%90% 89% 88%

84% 83%

Q2 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2019 Q1 2020 Q2 20200%

20%

40%

60%

80%

06-second 15-second 30-second

VCR by DeviceCompletion rates for video ads served to CTV, which are frequently unskippable, reached 98%, an all-time high for Extreme Reach and an increase from 97% in Q1. The average completion rate for ads viewed in mobile app, reported for the first time this quarter, was 79% — significantly higher than mobile web impressions, which had a completion rate of 64%.

95% 96% 97% 97% 98%

83%80% 81%

74% 72%

87% 88% 89% 89%

81% 80% 80% 78% 79%

64%

Q2 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2019 Q1 2020 Q2 20200%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

CTV Desktop Tablet Mobile Mobile App Mobile Web

As of Q2 2020, tablet impressions are included in the mobile category and mobile impressions are now reported as either in-app or mobile web

The devices are displayed in a new order in our charts.

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Average Time Spent by Ad Length

13 12 13 13 13

26 26 27 26 26

Sec

onds

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Q2 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2019 Q1 2020 Q2 2020

15-second 30-second

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Percent of Impressions Filtered from Gross Counts

General Invalid Traffic Filtered Rate

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GIVT by ReasonThe average rate of invalid traffic for video impressions served by ER increased this quarter to 1.05%, a quarter to quarter change of 16.5% and a year over year change of 50%.

Of the 1.05% of impressions considered invalid, high-frequency traffic is the lead contributor at 0.95%. Invalid browsers represent the second largest contributor at 0.05%. Data center and spider/bot traffic complete the reasons at 0.04% and 0.01% respectively.

0.7%1.33% 1.01% 0.91% 1.05%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

Q2 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2019 Q1 2020 Q2 2020

High Frequency/Outlier Activity Invalid Browser Data Center IPs Spider/Bot

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GIVT for Premium Publishers vs. Media AggregatorAverage rates of GIVT for premium publishers in Q2 was 0.54% compared to 2.01% for media aggregators. High-frequency/invalid traffic was the lead contributor for both premium publishers and media aggregators at 0.57% and 1.33% respectively.

0.38%1.14%

0.76% 0.76% 0.54%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

Q2 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2019 Q1 2020 Q2 2020

High Frequency/Outlier Activity Invalid Browser Data Center IPs Spider/Bot

2.22% 2.06% 1.97%1.43%

2.01%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

Q2 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2019 Q1 2020 Q2 2020

High Frequency/Outlier Activity Invalid Browser Data Center IPs Spider/Bot

GIVT FOR MEDIA AGGREGATOR

GIVT FOR PREMIUM PUBLISHERS

© 2020 Extreme Reach Inc. All rights reserved. extremereach.com

AdBridge from Extreme Reach is complete asset management for TV and Video ad creative. AdBridge integrates all forms of asset preparation and delivery with Talent & Rights Management. When in-house and external teams work in one central platform, it’s fast and easy to manage, deploy and track ad assets across today’s complex media landscape, with total control and the assurance of compliance everywhere.

Extreme Reach revolutionized the way advertisers control the deployment of their creative and how the media sources those ads to execute campaigns. The company’s creative asset workflow platform, AdBridge™, is built upon a decade of innovation and integrates all the paths and processes required by today’s complex media landscape.

The company proudly serves the best and biggest brands, agencies, production companies, media destinations, performers and rights owners. With over 200,000 registered users and nearly fourteen million creative assets in its care, ER connects the creative flow between the buy and sell sides of the advertising ecosystem.