AUG 2021

Paul Verna

TV Ad
Measurement 2021
Opportunities and Challenges in the Convergence of Linear
and Digital TV

Contributors: Ross Benes, Nicole Perrin, Chuck Rawlings

 TV Ad Measurement 2021: Opportunities and Challenges in the
Convergence of Linear and Digital TV
Addressable, programmatic, and connected TV (CTV) have made advertising more accountable and potentially more
effective than traditional TV, but challenges remain in achieving holistic measurement across linear and digital platforms.

What is the market opportunity for TV and video

Combined US Linear and Connected TV Ad
ad measurement?
Spending, 2017-2025
US linear TV ad spending will remain flat, but addressable billions
and programmatic will make up a growing part of the mix. $91.29 $93.33
$88.57
CTV ad spend will grow by billions of dollars over the next $85.32
$79.32
few years, which will significantly increase the overall TV ad $76.75 $77.01
$72.86 $4.36 $6.42 $70.79 $17.44 $21.37 $24.76 $27.47
$13.41
spend. As more programming moves to CTV, TV networks,
$2.64 $9.03
marketers, agencies, and other players have an opportunity
to increase the measurability of TV screen advertising.

What challenges stand in the way of holistic ad

$70.22 $72.40 $70.59 $61.76 $65.90 $67.88 $67.20 $66.53 $65.86
measurement across linear and CTV?
The process of bringing both linear and CTV ads onto the
same viewing experience is in dire need of standardization.
It doesn’t help that, at many agencies and TV networks, the 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
teams that buy and sell ads are siloed. Further, companies Linear TV Connected TV
that own TV and video ad inventory are reluctant to share Note: linear TV includes broadcast (network, spot, and syndication) and cable TV; excludes
their data with buyers, putting the burden on agencies digital; connected TV (CTV) includes digital advertising that appears on CTV devices;
examples include display ads that appear on home screens and in-stream video ads that
to come up with campaign-specific metrics instead of a appear on CTVs from platforms like Hulu, Roku, and YouTube; excludes network-sold
inventory from traditional linear TV and addressable TV advertising
commonly accepted currency that works across linear Source: eMarketer, March 2021

and digital. 268303 eMarketer | InsiderIntelligence.com

How can participants work through these challenges? KEY STAT: Combined US ad spending on linear and
CTV platforms will exceed $93 billion by 2025, from just
The roles that companies can play in streamlining the under $80 billion this year. All the growth will come from
ecosystem vary according to their place in the supply chain. CTV spending.
That said, industry efforts to pool addressable inventory and
create universal identifiers that buyers and sellers can use
for enhanced audience targeting and measurement are a
good start. Contents
2 TV Ad Measurement 2021: Opportunities and Challenges
WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report examines the state
in the Convergence of Linear and Digital TV
of TV ad measurement, including the progress the industry
has made toward correlating linear and digital campaigns 3 The TV Ad Measurement Opportunity
and the challenges that continue to stand in the way of 7 Potential Disruptors
holistic metrics.
8 Acting on the Opportunities
10 Key Takeaways
12 Insider Intelligence Interviews
13 Read Next
13 Sources
13 Editorial and Production Contributors

Copyright © 2021, Insider Intelligence Inc. All rights reserved. Page 2

 The TV Ad Combined US Linear and Connected TV Ad
Spending, 2017-2025
Measurement Opportunity billions
$91.29 $93.33
The advertising industry has come a long way since $85.32
$88.57

the days when media buyers complained that half their $76.75 $77.01
$79.32
$72.86 $4.36 $6.42 $70.79 $17.44 $21.37 $24.76 $27.47
campaign spend was wasted, but they just didn’t know $13.41
$2.64 $9.03
which half. Although that adage predates television, it
could easily refer to TV ads transacted on broad age
and gender targets with panel-based ratings as the
common currency. $70.22 $72.40 $70.59 $61.76 $65.90 $67.88 $67.20 $66.53 $65.86

Addressable, programmatic, and connected TV (CTV)

environments have changed the dynamics to make
advertising more accountable and potentially more 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
effective. Buyers can now direct their ads to more finely Linear TV Connected TV
targeted audiences and track their campaigns through the Note: linear TV includes broadcast (network, spot, and syndication) and cable TV; excludes
digital; connected TV (CTV) includes digital advertising that appears on CTV devices;
purchase funnel. examples include display ads that appear on home screens and in-stream video ads that
appear on CTVs from platforms like Hulu, Roku, and YouTube; excludes network-sold
inventory from traditional linear TV and addressable TV advertising
Though US linear TV ad spending will be flat through Source: eMarketer, March 2021

2025, massive growth in CTV spending during the same 268303 eMarketer | InsiderIntelligence.com

period will inject over $14 billion into the market for TV
The US traditional TV advertising business will stay flat over
screen advertising. Further, more linear TV dollars will flow
the next four years as spending increases slightly in 2022
to addressable and programmatic channels, resulting in
but trends downward to $65.86 billion in 2025—essentially
substantial growth in advertising that’s digital in nature and,
the same as the 2021 total of $65.90 billion.
therefore, more readily measurable than traditional TV.

As marketers get acclimated to applying digital metrics to US TV Ad Spending, 2021-2025

digital video ads, it is more important than ever for them to billions and % change
have a holistic way to measure the performance of all their $65.90
$67.88 $67.20 $66.53 $65.86
TV screen ads, regardless of how the content is delivered to
the viewer.

Market Size: US TV and

Video Advertising
Combined spending on traditional and CTV will reach
$93.33 billion by 2025, from $79.31 billion in 2021. This 6.7%
3.0% 2023 2024 2025
represents growth of 4.2% on a compound annual basis
0
over those four years. 2021 2022
-1.0% -1.0% -1.0%

TV ad spending % change

Note: includes broadcast TV (network, syndication, and spot) and cable TV; excludes digital
Source: eMarketer, March 2021
268418 eMarketer | InsiderIntelligence.com

By contrast, CTV advertising will more than double, reaching

$27.47 billion in 2025, from $13.41 billion in 2021. This
means all the growth in TV screen advertising will come from
the digital side.

Copyright © 2021, Insider Intelligence Inc. All rights reserved. Page 3

US Connected TV (CTV) Ad Spending, 2021-2025 ■ Among US adults, daily average time spent with digital
billions and % change video will reach 2 hours and 42 minutes in 2023, up
$27.47 from 1 hour and 51 minutes in 2019. During the same
$24.76
period, time spent on traditional TV will decrease to 2
hours and 51 minutes, from 3 hours and 27 minutes.
$21.37

$17.44
These trends were firmly in place before COVID-19 but were
48.6% accelerated by the pandemic.

$13.41 “We’ve seen a mass shift in consumer behavior over the last
15-plus months,” said Tim Sims, chief revenue officer at The
30.0% Trade Desk. “People have moved faster than I think anyone
22.5%
anticipated into streaming services.”
15.9%
10.9%
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Viewing trends will increase consumer time and advertising
CTV ad spending % change dollars spent on inherently measurable forms of TV
Note: digital advertising that appears on CTV devices; includes display ads that appear on advertising, helping ad buyers improve the ROI of campaigns
home screens and in-stream video ads that appear on CTVs from platforms like Hulu, Roku,
and YouTube; excludes network-sold inventory from traditional linear TV and addressable TV
with lower-funnel key performance indicators such as
advertising conversions and site visits. Still, significant hurdles remain,
Source: eMarketer, March 2021
268419 eMarketer | InsiderIntelligence.com including the following:

We expect significant increases in both US addressable TV ■ Correlating addressable, programmatic, and

and linear programmatic TV spending: CTV campaigns with linear buys. The latter are still
transacted on legacy age and gender benchmarks
■ US linear addressable TV ad spending will grow by derived from Nielsen panels.
a compound annual rate of 21.7% to $4.22 billion
by 2023.
■ Making sense of disparate data sources. Many of
the parties that own and control ad inventory—which
■ US linear programmatic TV ad spending will increase by include TV networks but also increasingly aggregators,
20.9% to $7.95 billion in the same time frame. smart TV manufacturers, and exchanges—don’t share
or license their data, leaving agency buyers with the
While these rates are significant, they point to a shift in difficult task of making sense of opaque and potentially
traditional TV ad spending rather than overall growth in conflicting data.
the format. That shift means that a growing amount of
the TV inventory is digital in nature, offering more refined ■ Achieving identity resolution—i.e., reconciling all
targeting capabilities as well as the ability to drive and device identifiers associated with a consumer—
track more specific outcomes than is possible through across digital and linear environments. The Trade
traditional channels. Desk recently opened its Unified ID 2.0 standard,
which PR Week described as “an identity framework
that enables the same cross-site targeting and
Consumer Adoption and Time Spent attribution as third-party cookies but with stricter
processes and controls.” It was developed as a
Viewing trends—including the number of people watching noncommercial, open-source initiative. Other partners
digital video on CTVs and the time they spend doing so—are include AMC Networks, Buzzfeed, Foursquare, fuboTV,
shifting irrevocably toward digital. Following is a summary of Index Exchange, The Los Angeles Times, and Magnite.
key metrics from our forecasts: In addition, members of the OpenAP coalition have
agreed to use OpenID as the connective tissue across
■ The number of CTV households will increase to TV networks, opening their respective ID graphs to
115.2 million by 2025, from 106.4 million in 2021. each other and to ad agencies and technology vendors.
■ The number of cord-cutters will grow to 103.3 million by These efforts will theoretically provide identity-based
2025, from 73.4 million in 2021. targeting and cross-platform measurement capabilities,
but they will take time to roll out and may face
logistical barriers.

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Who Are the Players and How Do ■ Aggregators: By the end of 2021, the Roku Channel
will have 57.2 million US viewers and generate
They Interact? $1.47 billion in ad revenue. Amazon’s Prime Video
One of the barriers to a successful TV ad measurement Channels are also building on the strength of the
strategy is the growing fragmentation of the market. TV company’s flagship video service, Amazon Prime Video,
advertising has morphed from a simple market of buyers which will have 146.5 million viewers and generate
(marketers and agencies) and sellers (TV networks) into a $5.94 billion in display ad revenue in 2021. Those
sprawling web of players with different business models and figures—all of which are expected to grow through at
different agendas, all competing for ad inventory or for the least 2023—indicate how much power those content
chance to monetize it. aggregators wield in the TV ad market and, therefore,
how important they are in the measurement equation.
■ Brand Marketers and ad agencies: On the buy side of
TV advertising, the players haven’t changed significantly.
■ Smart TV manufacturers: With installed bases of
However, what was once a simple partnership between up to tens of millions of US households, TV makers
marketers and agencies has evolved into a more including Samsung, LG, and Vizio are flexing their
complex relationship as brands increasingly own direct- muscle in the ad space and forcing media buyers to
to-consumer data and call the shots on how campaigns factor in the smart TV as one of the many potential
are run and measured, instead of letting the agency sources of ad inventory and measurement data.
manage the process. “Nine out of 10 agencies are going ■ Multichannel video programming distributors
to deliver the metrics or buy in the way that the brand (MVPDs) and their digital counterparts: Through
wants them to,” said Andrew Swanston, co-founder and their carriage deals with TV networks, MVPDs and
CEO of ad tech firm Tru Optik. “Very few times have I virtual MVPDs control a portion of the TV ad inventory
seen an agency dictate how they're going to report to a that flows through their systems. Typically, these
brand. It's always the other way around.” providers have access to 2 minutes of ad time per hour,
■ TV networks: Broadcast and cable networks continue or about 15% of the total inventory.
to own virtually all the linear TV inventory and the lion’s ■ Intermediaries: The complexity of the TV and
share of the CTV inventory, the latter through their video ad market has given rise to a plethora of
affiliated streaming services. However, in addition to intermediaries such as Ampersand and Xandr, both
competing with each other, they also now compete with of which sell national inventory in partnership with
standalone streaming services, content aggregators, MVPDs and are now focusing on addressable ads.
and device makers—all of which own or control at least In addition, intermediaries include ad tech firms that
some portion of TV screen ad inventory. broker programmatic advertising on linear TV and
■ Standalone streaming services: Although TV network video platforms.
groups control many of the industry’s most trafficked ■ Measurement firms: In the linear TV space, Nielsen,
ad-supported streaming services, there are several Comscore, and Tivo are among the top players. Nielsen
independent players in the mix, including Crackle Plus, has operated its industry standard household panel for
Redbox Free Live TV, Walmart’s Vudu, and Amazon’s generations, and despite the evolution of the market,
IMDb TV. This makes for a complex market for players ads continue to be transacted based on Nielsen
on the sell and buy sides of TV advertising. ratings. Comscore uses data from MVPDs, while
Tivo also partners with MVPDs and captures viewing
data through its DVR technology. On the digital side,
targeting and measurement data is available through
many of the providers listed above, including smart TV
makers, aggregators, and streaming services.

Copyright © 2021, Insider Intelligence Inc. All rights reserved. Page 5

What Are the Potential Benefits of An April 2021 study commissioned by the Interactive
Advertising Bureau (IAB) and conducted by Advertiser
Improved TV Ad Measurement? Perceptions found that linear and CTV had different
Broadly speaking, TV advertising has typically been used for strengths and weaknesses, reinforcing Olive’s point
branding and awareness, while digital ads have been used that using the two in tandem is a good best practice for
to drive more specific performance outcomes. As television TV advertisers. The research found that US marketing
continues along the digital path, the goal of advertising on professionals considered CTV more effective than linear
TV screens is evolving accordingly. CTV platforms can bring TV at driving advertising ROI and managing frequency.
together the best of these worlds and provide marketers However, respondents rated the two mediums roughly
with sophisticated tool sets to measure their campaigns. equally when it came to driving reach—still one of the fortes
of linear TV with its massive scale.
Evolving Goals for TV Ads
It would be an oversimplification to say that all traditional Effectiveness of Connected TV Advertising vs.
TV advertising is brand oriented or, conversely, that all Traditional Linear TV Advertising According to US
digital ads are performance-based. But in general, those Agency/Marketing Professionals, April 2021
two ends of the ad spectrum are starting to converge on % of respondents in each group
CTV, as well as in linear programmatic and addressable Driving return on ad spending
36% 55% 9%
environments. For marketers, this means TV screen ads can
cover a wider range of campaign objectives than in the days Managing frequency
36% 49% 15%
of linear-only television.
Driving reach
24% 52% 25%
“All the hallmarks of performance marketing are present in
TV streaming,” said Julian Mintz, national brand sales lead at More effective As effective Less effective
Roku. “It just happens to show up on this huge screen in the Note: n=350; numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding
Source: Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), "Video Ad Spend 2020 & Outlook for 2021"
living room that we know is also great for awareness.” conducted by Advertiser Perceptions, May 4, 2021
265998 eMarketer | InsiderIntelligence.com

The expanding set of objectives available to TV advertisers

means they can aim for the upper and lower ends of the Attribution
marketing funnel.
One of the most tantalizing prospects of injecting lower-
“What we've learned is that there is definitely a function that funnel metrics into TV advertising is the potential for
brand awareness needs to play in the upper funnel,” said attribution, particularly on the CTV side. Although tracking
Wil Danielson, senior vice president of sales at TV station an ad to an actual sale isn’t always possible or practical, even
group Nexstar. “But the more the advertisers start to look in a digital video setting, the ability to capture location data
at bottom line, lower-funnel metrics are very important or drive specific outcomes like site visits expands the set of
to them.” objectives available to TV marketers.

As TV advertisers continue to assimilate the opportunities “If you’re an automaker, you can now do more than just
that digital can provide, they are grappling with the target your ad to, say, men ages 18 to 49,” The Trade Desk’s
potential tradeoffs of narrow targeting versus aiming for Sims said. “You can track whether people visited your
massive scale. website or built a model of a car they're interested in, and
you can serve them a customized ad and see if they came to
“If you try to hyper target your ads, are you losing the ability the lot.”
to reach a large audience at scale?” said Darren Olive,
executive vice president of national advertising sales and Sims elaborated further that, with these digital platforms,
strategy at video streaming service Crackle Plus. “It's a really marketers can think about blended measurement beyond
a mix of art and science where you want to be in the right reach and frequency by looking at marketing outcomes,
environment and you want to have brand messaging, but you sales lift, and other benchmarks.
want that lower-funnel purchase intent metric too. Ideally,
those things work hand-in-hand instead of just going all in
on one or the other.”

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 Potential Disruptors Improvements Needed to Measure Video Ad
Effectiveness According to US Agency/Marketing
The state of flux in the TV industry creates disruptions Professionals, April 2021
% of respondents
that can both benefit and inhibit ad measurement.
Standardization of video metrics to prove ROI across screens
53%
Deeper audience insights to optimize future campaigns
Consumer Behavior and Ad 52%
Spending Changes Attribution that ties to lower-funnel, business outcome metrics (e.g., store
visits, acquisition, sales)
The ongoing shift away from linear TV platforms to digital 50%
ones is reflected in the growing ranks of digital video viewers Trusted consumer identity data to draw deeper attribution insights
and cord-cutters, as well as in the rising fortunes of CTV 48%

and digital video ad spending. This migration was firmly in None, solutions are fine as is
3%
place before the pandemic, but it was accelerated by large
numbers of people staying home and watching streaming Note: n=350
Source: Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), "Video Ad Spend 2020 & Outlook for 2021"
video on CTVs. Those trends are leading marketers, conducted by Advertiser Perceptions, May 4, 2021
networks, and intermediaries to a place where the value of 265997 eMarketer | InsiderIntelligence.com

advertising on TV screens is better measured than in the

days when Nielsen panels were the only currency. Similarly, a study from Innovid and Digiday found that
US brand marketers and agency executives thought
inconsistent measurement was the biggest challenge of
Fragmentation CTV advertising.

Just because holistic ad measurement is technologically

possible, it doesn’t mean it will happen seamlessly. Ad Challenges of Connected TV (CTV) Advertising
inventory is now fragmented across many players whose
According to US Brand Marketers and Agency
Executives, April 2021
systems don’t speak to each other, and many of the
% of respondents
companies that play in the space aren’t willing to share their
first-party data. Inconsistent measurement 57%

Targeting the right audiences 53%

These include TV networks, streaming services, content
Inventory fragmentation 41%
aggregators, social media companies, smart TV
Frequency 32%
manufacturers, makers of set-top boxes, cable and satellite
operators, virtual MVPDs, and programmatic exchanges. Brand safety 28%

These companies control the ad inventory that shows Reach 22%

up on our TV screens, whether through traditional pay, Ad fraud 18%
addressable, or CTV. Also, TV programming viewed on other
Note: n=100 who invest in CTV advertising
devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops only adds Source: Innovid and Digiday, "The State of CTV Advertising," May 21, 2021
to the fragmentation. 266465 eMarketer | InsiderIntelligence.com

“People would complain about Nielsen, but they loved the Both these studies suggest that the industry faces a
fact that there was only one set of data on the planet and challenge not only in resolving identify conflicts and other
that everyone had the same numbers,” said Jim Spaeth, issues across linear and digital systems but also in driving
partner at TV consulting firm Sequent Partners. “Now you consistency within CTV.
have all these different sources, and nothing matches.”

More than half of the respondents in the IAB/Advertiser

Perceptions study said they believe that standardization of
video metrics is the biggest improvement needed to gauge
video ad effectiveness.

Copyright © 2021, Insider Intelligence Inc. All rights reserved. Page 7

Phaseout of Third-Party Cookies and Acting on the Opportunities
Mobile IDs
The unruly world of TV ad measurement presents
Although TV advertising isn’t dependent on cookies or
potential business opportunities, but how to zero in on
mobile IDs, Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies
them depends on the company’s place in the ecosystem
in its Chrome browser and Apple’s decision to move away
from its Identifier for Advertisers have implications for and its business model. Following is a summary of
the television industry. Specifically, the privacy concerns how the various industry players can capitalize on
that motivated those companies to restrict their own new opportunities.
technologies could have a knock-on effect on TV ads.

“The IP addresses that are central to the measurement of Marketers and Agencies
television attribution are also likely to be deemed personally
identifiable information,” said Alice Sylvester, partner at For marketers and their ad agencies, the convergence of TV
Sequent Partners. “Right now, advanced targeting can occur and digital video advertising presents opportunities to reach
in television, but there's an eye toward a future where that younger consumers and capture important data on their
may not be quite as automatic.” media consumption patterns, purchase habits, and other
metrics that can inform strategic decisions.

What Do US Marketers Need Publishers and Media “The migration of viewing habits is particularly pronounced
Companies to Provide to Buy* More Confidently in certain demographics,” said Stacy Daft, general manager
From Them in a Cookieless World? of enterprise commercial business development at TV and
% of respondents, Dec 2020
CTV ad platform Amobee. “You tend to find the younger
Transparency in measurement audiences consuming content on CTV at a faster pace.”
48%
Confidence in consent management/privacy policies Based on a marketer’s objective, it could be more efficient to
42%
reach younger viewers on CTV as opposed to linear TV, but
Ability to bring their own data to table
the approach doesn’t have to be exclusive to either platform.
41%
More accuracy across open web, mobile, and OTT
“TV is still a very efficient medium to reach a lot of people
39%
with a specific budget,” Daft said. “But because of the
Openness to second- and third-party data attributes and behaviors
37%
fragmentation, advertisers now need to look across different
More scale across open web, mobile, and OTT
platforms to cobble together the frequency they need for
36% the clients.”

Note: n=153; *includes direct or programmatic buys

Source: Lotame, "Beyond the Cookie: The Future of Advertising for Marketers & Publishers,"

TV Networks
Feb 17, 2021
263814 eMarketer | InsiderIntelligence.com

Because every major TV network now has an affiliated

At minimum, US marketers will be pushing for increased streaming service, there’s a growing opportunity for
transparency in ad measurement from TV networks and networks to show that CTV provides incremental reach
publishers in a post-cookie world, according to research and access to younger audiences who are increasingly
from TV data firm Lotame. abandoning traditional TV. That said, fulfilling the promise of
greater measurability and accountability in advertising will
require the breaking down of silos on the network side.

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“I see more silos on the TV network side than on the agency If initiatives like the Vizio-led Project OAR live up to their
side,” said Yan Liu, co-founder and CEO at TV data analytics promise, having open standards for addressable advertising
company TVision. “Some companies still sell linear inventory on CTVs could drive greater scale and better measurability.
separate from their digital platform, and some legacy
salespeople don't know how to sell the digital platform.”
Content Aggregators
Companies like Roku and Amazon are increasingly
Pureplay Streaming Services flexing their muscle in the CTV ad market through free,
Streaming services sit on a wealth of consumer data derived ad-supported channels on their platforms. Like the TV
from subscribers or users who opt in to sharing feedback makers, these companies are amassing valuable data that
about their viewing habits and preferences. Increasingly, advertisers can leverage to better target and measure their
the services are leveraging this data to prospect for new campaigns. But again, this data is typically closely guarded,
customers and engage existing ones, but they also have shared only with major ad partners.
an opportunity to create greater value for their ad partners.
This is especially important given that most US viewing on Advertisers can only tap into this trove of information if they
CTV happens on platforms that are ad-free, such as Netflix, commit to a campaign on a Roku or Amazon device or on
Amazon, Disney+, and Apple TV+. another “walled garden” platform like YouTube. But the data
isn’t available for the agency’s planning purposes.
In a mid-2020 study by ad platform SpotX and research
firm Mintel, some 80% of video streamers watched “What's missing in the industry is a planning system where,
ad-supported content. Further, nearly 60% of streamers said if I’m at a media agency and I want to see what sort of
they had seen ads for products they were interested in, 17% incremental reach and frequency I would get if I ran a
considered making a purchase because of an ad they saw, campaign across, say Roku or YouTube, I wouldn't be able to
and 12% made a purchase in response to an ad exposure. do that,” said Gerard Broussard, principal at TV consulting
firm Pre-Meditated Media.
While streaming services are understandably reluctant to
part with their first-party data, sharing this data with their ad It’s unlikely that companies aggregating this data will
partners can result in a win-win provided the data is used in make it available under open standards, but ultimately, the
a privacy-compliant way. The more attractive the streaming ecosystem would benefit from greater information sharing
service is to advertisers, the more likely they are to funnel ad and transparency.
dollars toward that service.

Measurement Firms
Device Makers The 800-pound gorilla in the measurement space is
Smart TV manufacturers are among the newest and most Nielsen, whose viewer ratings have been the currency on
powerful players in the TV ad space. Because their devices which TV ads have been transacted for generations. But TV
are in millions of households, most of which opt in to sharing networks and ad buyers have long complained that Nielsen’s
anonymized viewing information via automatic content panel-based system isn’t built for the demands of the CTV
recognition (ACR), the companies are sitting on a gold mine ad marketplace.
of data that can be of tremendous use to advertisers.
Recently, VAB—the trade group for US TV networks—
“The ACR data is becoming more and more valuable,” said petitioned the Media Rating Council to suspend its
Raghu Kodige, co-founder and chief product officer at LG accreditation of Nielsen’s national ratings service. VAB’s
Ads. “Companies that have large scale, like LG, Samsung, main complaint is that Nielsen undercounted viewing,
Vizio, and Roku aren’t licensing that ACR data to a lot of particularly among minority audiences, during the pandemic.
people. If an agency wants to use the ACR data for targeting Whether this effort results in specific action against Nielsen,
and measurement, they have to go directly to these four or the point is almost moot. The bigger issue is the growing
five companies.” tension between Nielsen and its TV network clients, who
pay significant sums to access the viewing data that Nielsen
captures through its consumer-based panel.

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As this feud plays out, Nielsen is also working on Nielsen ■ There are market opportunities for companies that
ONE, a combined metric for linear and CTV it expects to crack the code of harmonizing linear and CTV ads.
begin rolling out in late 2022 with plans to transition the Participants throughout the TV industry—including
industry to cross-media metrics by 2024. The company also networks, streaming services, marketers, agencies,
recently doubled down on its Digital Ad Ratings service, device makers, and third-party vendors—all have an
which as its name implies, measures ad performance across incentive to make the ad market more transparent.
CTV platforms. The catch is that, for many of those companies, the
business case for owning and leveraging first party data
These are welcome changes, but there is a stark difference is stronger than for making that data available to their
between overseeing a panel of less than 40,000 households ad partners.
(whose members must physically activate a hardware
interface every time they watch TV) and measuring the
Glossary
extensive, precise metrics associated with CTV viewing.
Addressable TV: Targeted TV ads delivered on a home-by-
In addition to Nielsen, players such as Comscore and home basis via cable, satellite, and telco boxes. It includes both
linear and video-on-demand (VOD) delivered in this way but
Tivo also have an opportunity to put forward standards
excludes connected TV and OTT.
that will work in a converged world of linear and CTV.
The key is establishing a currency that the rest of the Ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD): These services
industry will accept—not a small challenge considering the include free platforms like YouTube as well as those, like Hulu,
that charge a subscription fee in addition to serving ads.
fragmentation in the space.
Advanced TV: Television paired with technology that allows for
new features, components or uses. Addressable, programmatic,
OTT and interactive are all subsets of advanced TV.
Key Takeaways Automatic Content Recognition (ACR): Technology that
tracks what people watch on internet-enabled TVs. Marketers
■ The US dollar volume of TV screen advertising use this data to measure which programs and ads viewers see.
will grow by over $14 billion in the next four years, Connected TV (CTV): A TV set connected to the internet
despite the stagnation of the traditional TV through built-in capabilities or through another device such as
market. The growth will come from CTV, while linear a Blu-ray player, game console or set-top box (e.g., Apple TV,
TV becomes more “measurable” as dollars flow to Google Chromecast, Roku).
programmatic and addressable channels. The upshot of Cord-cutter: Someone who once had but then cancelled a pay
this transition is increased measurability of TV ads. TV service.
■ US viewing patterns are shifting toward digital. Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST): Services that
This sea change is reflected in our forecasts on CTV provide TV programming on a free, ad-supported basis.
viewers, time spent on CTV compared with linear, and Examples include the Roku Channel, Crackle Plus, Vudu, Pluto,
Xumo, Tubi, and IMDb TV.
cord-cutters.
Linear TV: Television programming distributed through cable,
■ A lack of standardization is hampering efforts satellite, or broadcast networks; includes VOD.
to achieve measurability across linear and CTV Multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD): A
platforms. In linear TV, the industry long accepted service provider that delivers programming over cable, satellite,
Nielsen’s panel-based ratings as the currency for or wireline or wireless networks.
measuring the value of ads, even if the system wasn’t Over-the-top (OTT): Any app or website that provides
perfect. On CTV, there is no similar standard, despite streaming video content over the internet and bypasses
industry efforts to find common ground among traditional distribution; examples include HBO Now, Hulu,
disparate sources of ad inventory and different Netflix and YouTube. Traditional distribution includes internet
philosophies of how to target and measure ads. protocol TV (IPTV), cable, satellite, wireless carriers and fiber
operators, multiple system operators (MSOs), MVPDs, and
major TV broadcast and cable networks.

Copyright © 2021, Insider Intelligence Inc. All rights reserved. Page 10

Pay TV: A service that requires a subscription to a traditional
pay TV provider; excludes IPTV and pure-play digital video
services (e.g., Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, Sling TV, etc.). Traditional
pay TV providers include cable, satellite, telco and fiber
operators, MSOs, MVPDs, and major TV broadcast and
cable networks.
Programmatic: Ads transacted via an application program
interface (API), including everything from publisher-erected
APIs to more standardized real-time bidding (RTB) technology.
Programmatic TV: The use of software platforms to automate
the buying or selling of TV advertising distributed through cable,
satellite, or broadcast networks
Smart TV: A TV with built-in internet capability.
Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD): These services
generate revenue through selling subscriptions to consumers.
Examples include Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.
Virtual multichannel video programming distributor
(vMVPD): An MVPD that delivers service via the internet;
interchangeable with “linear OTT” or “skinny bundle.”

Industry Consortia
Go Addressable: A group of TV distributors formed in 2021
to promote addressable TV advertising. Its founding members
include Altice USA, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox
Media, DirecTV, DISH Media, Frontier Communications,
and Vizio.
OpenAP: A consortium of TV networks formed to provide
a single source for premium video advertising inventory
and unified audience-based buying. Members are AMC
Networks, Fox, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, Univision, and The
Weather Channel.
Project OAR: An initiative by media and tech companies
launched in 2019 to develop an open standard for addressable
advertising on connected TVs. Members include Vizio, AMC
Networks, Comcast NBCUniversal, Discovery Networks,
Disney, Fox, Freewheel, Hearst, Scripps, Univision, ViacomCBS,
Warner Media.

Copyright © 2021, Insider Intelligence Inc. All rights reserved. Page 11

 Insider Intelligence Interviews
Insider Intelligence and eMarketer research is based on the idea that multiple sources and a variety of perspectives
lead to better analysis. Our interview outreach strategy for our reports is to target specific companies and roles within
those companies in order to get a cross-section of businesses across sectors, size, and legacy. We also look to interview
sources from diverse backgrounds in order to reflect a mix of experiences and perspectives that help strengthen
our analysis. The people we interview for our reports are asked because their expertise helps to clarify, illustrate, or
elaborate upon the data and assertions in a report. If you would like to be considered for an interview for one of our
reports, please fill out this form.

Gerard Broussard Adam Lowy

Principal Head of Sales and Strategy
Pre-Meditated Media Magnite
Interviewed July 23, 2021 Interviewed April 1, 2021

Vicky Chang Mark Marshall

Director, Media Buying and Planning President, Advertising and Client Partnerships
Tatari NBCUniversal
Interviewed April 23, 2021 Interviewed April 1, 2021

Jane Clarke Julian Mintz

CEO and Managing Director National Brand Sales Lead
Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) Roku
Interviewed June 16, 2021 Interviewed April 21, 2021

Stacy Daft Dave Morgan

General Manager, Enterprise Commercial Business Development Founder and CEO
Amobee Simulmedia
Interviewed April 22, 2021 Interviewed March 26, 2021

Wil Danielson Sean Mueller

Senior Vice President, Sales Founder and CEO
Nexstar iSpot.TV
Interviewed April 27, 2021 Interviewed April 22, 2021

Justin Fromm Darren Olive

Head of Research Executive Vice President, National Advertising Sales and Strategy
LG Ads Crackle Plus
Interviewed July 8, 2021 Interviewed March 31, 2021

Raghu Kodige Jes Santoro

Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Senior Vice President, Advanced TV and Video
LG Ads Cadent
Interviewed July 8, 2021 Interviewed April 21, 2021

Yan Liu Tim Sims

Co-Founder and CEO Chief Revenue Officer
TVision The Trade Desk
Interviewed March 30, 2021 Interviewed April 28, 2021

Copyright © 2021, Insider Intelligence Inc. All rights reserved. Page 12

Jim Spaeth Editorial and
Partner
Sequent Partners Production Contributors
Interviewed July 14, 2021
Anam Baig Senior Report Editor
Andre Swanston Rahul Chadha Director, Report Editing
Co-Founder and CEO Jason Clinkscales Senior Report Editor
Tru Optik Matthew Corkins Copy Editor
Interviewed April 27, 2021 Justin DeVoursney Graphic Designer
Joanne DiCamillo Senior Production Artist
Alice Sylvester Donte Gibson Senior Chart Editor
Partner Katie Hamblin Director, Charts
Sequent Partners Dana Hill Director, Production
Interviewed July 14, 2021 Erika Huber Senior Copy Editor
Ann Marie Kerwin Vice President, Content
Na Li Senior Data Research Manager
Penelope Lin Copy Editor
Read Next Reuben Loewy Director, Report Editing
Jennifer Merritt Executive Editor
Publisher Ad Monetization After the Third-Party Cookie Stephanie Meyer Product Specialist
Q2 2021 Digital Video Trends Heather Price Senior Director, Managing Editor
Magenta Ranero Senior Chart Editor
Amanda Silvestri Senior Copy Editor
Sources Julia Woolever Senior Report Editor
Ali Young Copy Editor
Advertiser Perceptions
Digiday
Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)
Innovid
Lotame
Mintel
SpotX

Copyright © 2021, Insider Intelligence Inc. All rights reserved. Page 13

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