The Ad Load Difference: 66% of Streaming Customers Are Satisfied

For video marketers who want to present their ads in the most favorable conditions, a new report suggests looking at ad load satisfaction. Created by Telaria and Adobe Advertising Cloud, the report says 66 percent of live streaming customers are happy with the volume of ads they see, but only 43 percent of pay TV customers can say the same.

"High rates of satisfaction with ad load among live streamers gives advertisers an opportunity to see outsized results per dollar spent," the report notes. If viewers are happy with the ads they see, they're more likely to feel positively about the products are services advertised.

The report also looks at issues streaming services need to solve. While over-the-top (OTT) services are busy trying to improve distribution quality and latency, the report sees a deeper problem in perception. That's because 42 percent of pay TV subscribers believe they need to keep their service to access live sports, news, and events. However, even if they did learn that several streaming plans offer live local channels, they still wouldn't know how to proceed: 55 percent of pay TV customers find cord-cutting options too confusing.

"There is always a learning curve associated with new consumer technology. Solving for awareness moves the consumer partially up the adoption curve, but driving demand still requires promoting benefits and ease of use to force a behavioral change," the paper says.

If the industry can solve this knowledge gap, it stands to win plenty of new customers. The report says 51 percent of current pay TV customers are satisfied with the price they pay, while 77 percent of live streaming OTT customers say the same. Also, 30 percent of pay TV customers would cut the cord if they were assured they could live stream sports, news, and events, while another 40 percent would consider doing so.

The report's data comes from an online survey of 750 U.S. adults conducted in April and May of this year. For more, download "Inside the Minds of Cord-Cutters and Cable-Keepers" for free (no registration required).

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net