adRise: Long-Form Content Dominates Connected-TV Viewing

SAN FRANCISCO: While viewing of short-form video content remains high on the web, consumers with connected TVs have shown a strong preference for watching programming that is a half hour or longer, according to a new report from adRise.

The Connected TV Market Report says that usage of connected TV (CTV) devices is increasing. However, the market’s greatest hurdle, according to adRise, is fragmentation. With OTT devices and set-top boxes, Smart TVs and Blu-ray players, game consoles and tablets, fragmentation has resulted in content owners having to develop an app for each device.

The report also finds that long-form content is dominant on CTVs, with 80 percent citing that they prefer to watch content that is at least a half hour in length. adRise also says that the premium content is already on CTVs. Netflix, of all the apps in the CTV landscape, dominates usage. Hulu Plus, HBO Go and Amazon are also popular, while usage for free apps such as Sony’s Crackle is on the rise. The report predicts that the migration of premium content to CTVs will accelerate; as advertisers move their budges to CTV, content owners will follow.

There are also certain viewing patterns for CTVs that differ from web usage. Internet video viewing usually peaks during weekday hours, while CTV viewers watch mostly during prime-time TV hours on the weekends and weeknights. Particularly, CTV viewers gravitate to weekend activity.

The data indicates that CTV viewers are accepting of the idea that watching content for free means that there will be sponsored messages from advertisers. Commercials of 30 seconds or less have an average completion rate of 95 percent, while longer form ads—ranging from one to three minutes—have an average completion rate of 75 percent.