Study finds 78% of Strata user expect advanced ad spending to rise

Local media planners and buyers expect their spending on advanced TV advertising to increase over the next 12 months, according to a report by Comcast’s FreeWheel.

FreeWheel surveyed users of its Strata platform and found that 79% are extremely or very interested in using advanced TV. By comparison, 87% said they were at least very interested in using local TV and cable.

In the survey, 78% said they expect their spending on advanced TV to increase over the next 12 months. More than 20% of the buyers said they expected to decrease spending on network TV and cable and local TV and cable.

In the study, advanced TV includes set-top-box video on demand, over-the-top video, addressable TV, advanced linear TV and streaming full-episode players.

The top reasons why buyers at local and regional agencies said they were interested in advanced TV were its ability to deliver hard-to-reach audiences, reducing wasted impressions and improving cost efficiency.

“Data and automation are no longer the sole domains of national brands. It’s clear that all advertisers are now embracing the power of advanced advertising solutions to grow their businesses,” said Joy Baer, general manager, FreeWheel Advertisers. “Over the past few years, FreeWheel, and many other ecosystem players, from tech companies to distributors, have focused on bringing more automated, audience-based solutions to the local market, and our survey shows that these solutions are resonating with local marketers and their agencies.”

Automation of media buying was growing with 91% of the agencies surveyed said they use some form of programmatic technology. That’s up from 65% in a similar survey conducted in 2017.

Most of the buyers (53%) said it was easy to effectively measure attribution on advanced TV, compared to 43% who said it was easy to measure results on network TV and cable. Determining attribution on digital display ads was easy on digital according to 74% of buyers.

FreeWheel found that clients in retail, healthcare and auto represented the largest spenders on advanced TV.

FreeWheel said that 430 Strata users participated in the study, which was conducted from June 13 to July 1.