Report: CTV attendance on the rise | Advanced Television

CTV industry expert Wurl posted: CTV Trend Report 2024 – A data-driven study examining the shifts in content and ad experiences across connected TV that have taken shape this year. The report breaks down metrics around sessions, ad load, and viewership to provide publishers and content providers with insights that can help inform business decisions.

Wurl says the report comes at a time when the evolving CTV landscape continues to grow increasingly complex. With more streaming content available than ever before, both broadcasters and marketers must prioritize the modern viewer experience and understand how key trends surrounding viewer behavior can impact their business strategies — including how shifts toward CTV are impacting engagement and where the industry stands post-pandemic.

“As one of the largest operators of FAST (free ad-supported broadcast TV) channels and a leader in this space from the very beginning, Wurl is in a unique position to understand viewer habits and help our broadcasters and publishers develop strategies to engage their audiences,” said Wurl CEO Ron Gutman. “While our recent insights show that viewer engagement on CTV is increasing, growth is not what it used to be as discoverability challenges around EPG and user experience persist, indicating an opportunity for further innovation in the medium.”

Key takeaways:

• Average daily viewing hours are increasing: After experiencing an increase and then a slight decrease during the pandemic from 2020 to 2022, average daily HOV sees an increase in 2024, increasing by 5% in Q3 2024 compared to Q3 2023.
• CTV is slowly getting stickier: Over the last three years, churn rates have largely plateaued and are trending slightly downward.
• Viewers watch longer:The average session length of CTV viewers, which has declined since the pandemic, increased by approximately 7 percent in Q3 2024 compared to the same quarter last year.
• Holiday channels perform exceptionally: Holiday channel viewership is unsurprisingly quadrupled in December compared to other months, but 25 percent of viewers continue to watch holiday content throughout the summer.
• Ad fill rate is cyclical and experiences seasonal changes: The 2024 occupancy rates are likely to be significantly lower than previous years, likely due to a supply boom in the market.