Broadcaster Video On Demand is an exciting and evolving landscape which offers advertisers a host of premium advertising opportunities around trusted, quality content. It’s an important part of the new TV ecosystem that is helping people to watch more of the TV they love across many devices and on the move.

 

Key points:

  • Broadcaster VOD is the high-quality content made available on-demand by the TV broadcasters
  • Broadcaster VOD is growing, but it’s still a small percentage of overall TV viewing – an additional 3%
  • People watch linear TV and VOD for different, complementary reasons
  • Broadcaster VOD is prime advertising real estate for brands
  • VOD is everywhere, but it can mean different things to different people

 

An uploaded clip to YouTube, watched on a smartphone while waiting for the bus, of someone hilariously covering their favourite song is obviously a world away from watching Game of Thrones in your living room via your Sky box on your HD TV set. So, as online video of all flavours proliferates, it is increasingly important to distinguish between the different forms. Not all VOD is created equal and certainly not as far as advertising opportunities go.

Broadcaster VOD is prime advertising real estate; the fertile soil that brands can grow in. It is the high-quality content made available on-demand by the TV broadcasters – Educating Cardiff on All 4, Downton Abbey on lTV Player, A League of Their Own on Sky Go, or Red Dwarf on Dave On Demand. Broadcaster VOD is essentially TV-on-demand. There are also other quality VOD services (like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video) which are subscription-based services generally unrelated to broadcast TV schedules. Currently they do not offer advertising.

 

Broadcaster VOD is expanding

Broadcaster VOD is growing, with commercial broadcaster players – and the BBC iPlayer of course – now found on many platforms and devices including YouTube and games consoles.

Despite the fact that it enables viewers to watch what they want to watch, when they want to watch it, and on what device, Broadcaster VOD is still a small percentage of overall TV viewing – an additional 3% based on broadcaster and Ofcom data- but it is a very interesting one with some exciting advertiser opportunities – and is expected to increase.

 

Why we watch VOD

Thinkbox’s ‘Screen Life: TV in demand’ research revealed how and why viewers choose between watching TV live or on demand (VOD) and why they watch different types of online video. It found that we watch on demand to fit all our TV into our busy lives, to catch-up when we’ve missed things and to act on the recommendations of friends.

“People watch VOD for increased choice, more control, me-time, a bit of content bingeing, to time-shift something, to place-shift it, and perhaps to discover new stuff. But overwhelmingly they watch it to catch up, so they can get back to the linear schedules.”