AdExchanger Reports Streaming Services Haunted By Ghost Audiences
Ghost audiences are inactive subscribers who don't actively watch, affecting CTV measurement. Ad-supported Premium SVOD subscriptions have risen to 110 million in the US.
Original reporting · adexchanger.com
Original: “Ghost Audiences Are Haunting CTV Measurement”
Read “Ghost Audiences Are Haunting CTV Measurement” at AdExchanger →
How this was written. Awesome B2B wrote this article with a language model from AdExchanger’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from AdExchanger’s report
- Ad-supported Premium SVOD subscriptions have risen to 110 million in the US, with nearly half of all premium subscription video-on-demand accounts being ad-supported.
- The industry continues to value audiences using outdated metrics, such as subscriber counts and monthly active users.
- Audience availability is becoming a new measure of value, as inventory is increasingly valued impression by impression.
- Ghost audiences are inactive subscribers who remain subscribed but aren’t actively watching during meaningful campaign windows, contributing little to campaign-ready inventory.
- The next competitive advantage in streaming will be smarter supply, with the ability to identify and reach the best available audience being key.
Streaming services are experiencing significant growth, with nearly half of all premium subscription video-on-demand accounts in the US being ad-supported, according to Antenna. This shift is pulling dollars into streaming, with CTV upfront spend surpassing linear for the first time this year.
Global CTV ad revenues are projected to nearly double by 2030, reaching $81 billion. However, the industry continues to value audiences using metrics built for a bygone era, such as subscriber counts and monthly active users, which are poor indicators of advertising opportunity or campaign-ready inventory.
Audience curation is increasingly moving to the sell side, where OEMs, SSPs, and publishers are using deterministic viewing data and real-time signals to get a direct view of who is watching. Marketers should ask their media partners about audience availability, rather than just audience size, as viewer loyalty is to the show, not the app.
The concept of audience availability is becoming a new measure of value, as inventory is increasingly valued impression by impression. Knowing who is available to reach matters more than knowing who subscribed and potentially ghosted. Ghost audiences are inactive subscribers who remain subscribed but aren’t actively watching during meaningful campaign windows.
The audience availability gap refers to the difference between the audience a platform reports on and the audience an advertiser can actually reach. This gap can be significant, with Samsung Ads finding that two of every three new viewers had ghosted a streaming service after the NFL season ended. These ghost audiences contribute little to campaign-ready inventory, resulting in a widening disconnect between reported audience size and transactable supply.
The industry’s next evolution is happening closer to the supply, with OEMs and SSPs evolving from distribution partners into intelligence partners. Competitive advantage will come from identifying the best available audience at the exact moment an impression becomes available, rather than just reporting the largest audience. The next currency in streaming will be the strongest combination of reach and availability.
AdExchanger reported that the next competitive advantage in streaming will be smarter supply, with the ability to identify and reach the best available audience being key. As the industry continues to evolve, it is likely that new metrics and measures of value will emerge, allowing for more effective targeting and advertising in the streaming space.
Questions and answers
What is a ghost audience?
A ghost audience refers to inactive subscribers who remain subscribed but aren’t actively watching during meaningful campaign windows, contributing little to campaign-ready inventory.
Why is audience availability important?
Audience availability is important because it allows advertisers to reach the best available audience at the exact moment an impression becomes available, rather than just relying on reported audience size.
How is the industry evolving in terms of audience measurement?
The industry is evolving to value audiences using new metrics, such as audience availability, rather than just relying on outdated metrics like subscriber counts and monthly active users.
