Unlocking mainstream AVOD The silver streamer catalyst
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The 20,000 Foot View: Ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) has been championed as the free-to-access equivalent of subscription video on demand (SVOD). However, for AVOD to become the digital successor to free-to-view TV it needs to break out of its current niche user base. This will not be achieved with ad-averse, digitally-native younger audiences – or at least not solely. Instead, the current wave of silver streamers (age now adopting on-demand means a new generation of ad-tolerant, lean-back consumers are now available for AVOD services to unlock. These consumers will enable AVOD services to both deliver mainstream scale and higher-value audiences to advertising partners keen to improve ROI through superior digital targeting and measurement.
Key insights
- The age consumers who make up half of linear TV audiences are also the least engaged with TV advertising
- Broad reach rather than targeted engagement is increasingly wasteful in the digital era
- Over year olds that stream – the ‘silver streamers’ – are poised to take AVOD mainstream
- Older TV audiences are translating their linear behaviours into streaming, with binge viewing displacing linear viewing for silver streamers
- The digital natives that currently dominate AVOD audiences are ad-averse and low income
- The empowerment of on-demand video alternatives to free-to-air TV is a threat to the TV ad model, yet it is also an opportunity for AVOD to become the premier model for an advertising world pivoting into digital-first
- Linear TV viewers and silver streamers over-index for favourable digital ad engagement, with the age group the least likely to skip video ads
- The great TV ad disconnect (big, high-value audiences that ignore ads) represents a major strategic opportunity for AVOD
Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Amazon, HBO Max, IMDbTV, Peacock, Pluto TV, Roku, The Roku Channel, Tubi TV, WarnerMedia