Report: Online, TV viewing becoming similar

Television is television - and entertaining - even if the content is streamed online rather than viewed from a TV set. That's the takeaway from Freewheel's Q2 Video Monetization report which shows ad views are up, content viewing is up and live viewing is up.

by Kristina Knight

Some interesting findings from the Freewheel report include:

• For long form content online and TV are mirroring with 3.7 ads shown in mid-roll breaks
• On average long form content ads are :30
• Long form content ad views increased 35% YoY, long form accounts for about half of all video ad views
• Short and mid-form content ad views increased 17% YoY

As for live events, the report indicates online is becoming the place to go for live content - sporting events, award show red carpet events and other tent pole events. According to Freewheel's data live ad views increased more than 200% YoY and accounted for nearly 20% of all ad views.

Meanwhile, Over the Top (OTT) devices are beginning to lead the way. Freewheel's data shows desktop and laptop monetization still holds a significant lead (76%) over smartphones and tablets (12%, 7% respectively), but OTT devices gained 236% between Q2 2013 and Q2 2014.

"TV viewing habits are most closely replicated on tablet and OTT devices," write the authors of the report. "63% and 70% of ad views come from long form and live content [tablet, OTT devices]. Desktop computers, laptops and smartphones are used for viewing shorter content: 69% of desktop computer and laptop ad views and 65% of smartphone ad views are on content under 20 minutes in duration."

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: Freewheel, online video, video advertising, video content, video trends