蘑菇AV

OTT video viewing is about to get a boost in the UK, as traditional TV viewing gets a broadband delivery option next year.

Traditional TV has long been losing time, and even some digital media鈥攍ike social networks鈥攁re starting to go backward. In this context, sub OTT鈥檚 4.5% growth this year seems relatively strong. Sub OTT is the most time-consuming digital media and trails only traditional TV among all media. Consumers spend far more time with sub OTT video than with social media or digital audio.

YouTube is the dominant platform where they discover new toys, far outpacing traditional TV and gaming platforms, according to a May 2024 Precise TV and Giraffe Insights survey. It鈥檚 also Gen Alpha鈥檚 top platform by time spent, at 84 minutes daily, per Qustodio, a third-party parental control and monitoring platform offered by Qoria. Shopping independently is not commonplace.

They have significantly higher levels of trust in pharma websites (22%) and traditional TV (20.4%). While out-of-home includes far more than billboards, the data underscores the intense competition for healthcare marketing budgets. Our take: In a highly regulated, high-stakes category like healthcare, OOH offers an often underappreciated advantage: patience. This isn鈥檛 about instant transactions.

The shift from traditional TV to digital platforms is creating new opportunities to capture sports audiences鈥攇iving platforms a chance to attract subscribers and reduce churn. Sports viewership is relatively predictable compared with other types of programming, making it a safer investment for media companies and strategically important for retaining viewers and attracting new subscribers.

The trend: At Cannes Lions 2025, Meta, TikTok, Google, and others made clear that AI-powered ad automation is no longer an experiment鈥攊t鈥檚 the plan. The news: Meta and TikTok each emphasized agency relationships, but both platforms expanded generative AI tools that let brands generate and manage campaigns without intermediaries. Amazon, Comcast, and Google are doing the same, pushing toward platform-native, self-serve ad models. Our take: As automation replaces traditional support services, agencies face existential pressure. To stay relevant, holding companies will need to prove they offer value that AI can鈥檛 replace鈥攆ast.

Thirty-five percent claim CTV/OTT advertising helps them capture declining audiences from traditional TV. Digital video allows for multi-platform reach while offering enhanced measurement and attribution capabilities. Platforms like programmatic CTV offer live campaign reporting with delivery and performance metrics, enabling advertisers to refine strategies when necessary.

Traditional TV鈥檚 decline is accelerating the industry鈥檚 restructuring. Both Paramount and WBD saw TV revenues decline in Q4, with WBD鈥檚 dropping 5% to $4.77 billion. In response, WBD is separating its assets into two divisions: Streaming & Studios and Cable TV Networks, a move that mirrors broader industry trends toward consolidation.

The 2023 upfront market will likely be the last one transacted primarily on Nielsen鈥檚 legacy currency. A shift from traditional TV to digital video advertising is the main factor driving this change.

WBD grows streaming profits as TV revenues decline: It added 6.4 million Max subscribers, but TV ad declines and cord-cutting continue.

Digital platforms are reshaping viewing habits, but with a surprisingly traditional twist. For the first time ever, more video viewing time will be digital than traditional in 2025. However, traditional TV-like behaviors are making a comeback, engaging digital viewers for longer. Broadcasters are fully digitizing.

To top it off, digital sports viewership surpassed traditional TV viewership for the first time last year, driving high demand for the varied ad targeting offerings available on digital channels. Our take: The 2025 Upfronts will be a major litmus test for the state of the video advertising industry.

The broader CTV market is undergoing rapid transformation, with US CTV ad spend projected to surpass traditional TV in 2028, reaching $46.89 billion. By 2026, nine streaming platforms鈥攊ncluding Roku, Netflix, and Amazon鈥攁re expected to have $1 billion+ CTV ad businesses, intensifying the need for innovation.

The new Premium Lite tier ditches extras like offline downloads but could lure budget-conscious users鈥攃hallenging traditional streamers and YouTube鈥檚 own Premium model.

The pivot away from traditional TV viewing continues at pace. In 2023, for the first time, less than half of 16- to 24-year-olds watched traditional TV in an average week, per Barb Audiences Ltd. data for Ofcom鈥檚 鈥淢edia Nations: UK 2024鈥� report. Where a data source doesn鈥檛 break out a Gen Z categorization specifically, we use a representative age group as an approximation.

US adults will spend 55 minutes more per day with digital video than with traditional TV in 2024, per our February 2024 forecast.

Over half (56%) of Gen Zers and 43% of millennials find social media content to be more relevant than traditional TV or movies, per October 2024 Deloitte data. That includes both creator-produced and user-generated content (UGC). Yet seeing creators and their work on non-social channels is still the exception rather than the norm.

YouTube tops TV rankings: Nielsen鈥檚 February data shows YouTube capturing 11.6% of TV viewing, overtaking Disney and redefining the streaming landscape.

Digital live sports viewers have surpassed traditional pay TV live sports viewers in the US, per 蘑菇AV forecast. This trend will continue next year, when 114.1 million people will watch sports via digital while 82.0 million will watch via TV.

Retail media will stay ahead of connected TV (CTV) in US ad spending and close in on traditional TV this year, according to our forecast. Search overall, including paid search on retail media networks, will reach $108.48 billion in 2023.

There鈥檚 no stopping the retail media juggernaut. At $45.05 billion in US spending in 2023, it鈥檚 already far ahead of connected TV and closing in on traditional TV.

Despite a surge in ads, connected TV (CTV) faces the same challenge as traditional TV: getting consumers鈥� attention. Our analyst Paul Verna shares why co-viewing won鈥檛 hurt CTV鈥檚 targeting abilities and how too much repetition may make ads ineffective.