It’s too late for the likes of Pseudo, but streaming advertising is poised
to see tremendous growth, according to a new study from DFC Intelligence.
The study anticipates that streaming ads supporting audio and video
programming will rake in $138 million this year. But it’s a severely
underutilized medium, with great potential for expansion, according to the
San Diego, Calif.-based firm: less than 10 percent of those streaming
content actually insert ads.
“There continues to be substantial growth in streaming usage for both
audio and video programming, and these are loyal users,” said DFC analyst
Paul Palumbo. “Because advertising in streaming media can be a very
effective way to reach a highly targeted and qualified audience, we see
strong long-term growth potential for this market, particularly for
cross-platform brands.”
The groundwork is there already, according to Palumbo. Already, about 63
percent of Internet audio broadcasters have actually deployed or have the
capability to deploy in-stream advertising. And about 24 percent of
streaming video publishers have ad-insertion capabilities.
Not surprisingly, audio streamers so far have been more successful than
their video counterparts in attracting advertisers. Currently, about 1.8
billion audio avail opportunities exist per month, with CPMs ranging from $5
to $60. Additionally, there are about 165 to 185 million available video
opportunities per month, with CPMs ranging from $30 to $120. But in-stream
video ads will only represent about 30 percent of total streaming
advertising this year, according to the report.
But as broadband rollout continues, and high-bandwidth connections become
available to the average consumer, Palumbo is anticipating accelerated
growth of streaming video ads.
As a result, the analyst likens the relatively small size of streaming
advertising to cable television — just before it saw explosive growth.
“Cable TV advertising was worth only $50 million in 1980,” he said.
“Today it is worth over $13 billion.”