Australians are increasingly opting for free streaming services over paid due to COVID-19 quarantine measures according to research from digital ad verification firm Integral Ad Science (IAS).
The Impact of Stay-at-Home Behaviours on CTV report revealed that 57% of consumers are more likely to add a free streaming service to their connected TV (CTV) compared to 49% who would add a paid subscription service.
According to the report, CTV has become mainstream in Australia with eight in ten consumers having access to CTV, and 47% of Australian consumers preferring to stream video content on CTV compared to mobile, desktop, or tablets.
The report also shows that 78% of consumers say they have increased their consumption of streaming content during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Alongside the growth of streaming, consumers may be starting to feel subscription fatigue with 76% of respondents reporting that they are willing to see ads in exchange for watching free streaming videos.
The majority (62%) plan to add free video streaming services in the next 12 months.
In response to the quality and relevancy to the streaming ad placement, almost six out of ten respondents say they prefer high-quality ads and almost half of them indicated that the ads must be relevant to the content they are watching.
Contextual suitability of ads associated with streaming content helps maintain consumer attention, with 55% of Australian consumers saying they are likely to view an ad to completion if the ad is relevant to the content they’re engaging with.
“The majority of Australian consumers are streaming content via CTV and they have a new appetite for watching ad-supported free content," IAS ANZ country manager Jessica Miles says.
"This gives advertisers a real opportunity to connect with consumers via this high impact medium in the lead-up to the peak shopping season."
“We expect ad spend on CTV to increase through the remainder of 2020 and we advise that Australian advertisers have a world-class fraud mitigation strategy for their CTV buys to protect their investments."
The Impact of Stay-at-Home Behaviours on CTV report by IAS provides insight into consumer perceptions of connected TV and streaming video content consumption. The results are based on a sample of 505 Australian participants.
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