What does the viewer want? It’s a question every video provider should be asking and, for broadcasters who specialise in live TV channels, the question is more pertinent than ever. Understanding the viewer and developing a relationship with them is at the heart of any successful advertising strategy in the online world, and the benefits are no more pronounced than in the live broadcasting arena.
As a provider of ad insertion technology for online video, Yospace is well placed to understand the relationship between providers and end users. This summer we ran a consumer poll to investigate viewer attitudes to advertising in live streams, particularly where targeting is concerned. The results were surprising, especially in what they represented for the future of live television.
Fundamentally, viewers want to be fed high quality content. In that regard, nothing has changed in the online space from the experience in front of a television set. The viewer starts watching, they sit back, they relax. A big advantage to advertisers in this environment is that every 10-15 minutes the viewer is used to seeing an ad break, unlike when watching on-demand or catch-up content where ad breaks are not necessarily expected. This was reflected in the poll results, as a surprisingly high percentage of viewers – 88% of viewers across all age groups – claimed to watch the ads on live television. 
It’s not just the ‘lean-back’ nature of live TV that has contributed to this figure. It’s the fact that broadcasters have successfully managed to recreate that experience online, which is a lot harder to do than you may imagine. For a start, they are not simply attempting to insert an ad into a video – they must replace the original ad break with ads that are sold specifically for online in order to make the business case stack up.
Such a requirement presents a number of challenges, not least the accuracy of timing that’s required. To provide a true broadcast experience, new ad breaks must fit exactly into the space left by the original ad break. To achieve this, a close integration with the broadcaster’s playout system is crucial. It is also essential that there is no buffering or delay added by the new ads while they load, so broadcasters have had to move away from the ad insertion systems they were using for on-demand / catch-up, which performed the insertions in the player of the user’s device. Instead, they have adopted new server-side ad insertion systems, which insert the ads before the stream reaches the device.
The result is an experience in which transitions to and from ad breaks are as seamless as the viewer experiences on a traditional TV set. This achievement places the broadcaster in a position where they’re able to tap into the online revenue potential of an audience in which 88% claim to watch ad breaks on live TV.
There is more. New ad breaks benefit from the digital opportunities opened up by advanced user targeting. In the poll, viewers claimed to be more interested in ads that are relevant to their geographical location, age and interests. Perhaps that’s to be expected as relevant content is always favoured over irrelevant content. But generally it’s when the depth of targeting crosses into personalisation that many users feel uncomfortable – not so in a live streaming environment, with 78% of viewers claiming to be more likely to take notice of personalised ads.
The most revealing answers, though, came in response to the next question, which probed the likelihood of viewers to interact with an ad: 64% of viewers said they were likely to click on an advert they like online. If we break that figure down by age group we find that nearly four of five millennials, or under 35s, take follow-up action to personalised ads.
The attitude of younger viewers is revealing as it points to a strong relationship with the broadcaster. In exchange for a true broadcast-quality experience, users will allow their data to inform which advertisements are served. And, of course, this points to future viewing habits too, which is great news for the broadcaster and advertiser.
To go back to my original question: what do viewers want? High quality content, yes; and delivered in a way that allows them to sit back and relax without any interruptions. When broadcasters achieve that experience with replacement advertising, their digital revenues are looking very healthy indeed.
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Paul Davies is marketing, communications and commercial manager at Yospace.
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