CTV has unquestionably become a staple for many households. But within those households, media buyers and sellers need better insights into who is in the room when content is streaming, and of those viewers, who is engaged with their eyes on the screen. Recently we talked about CTV Co-Viewing as a critical metric that can help both marketers and platforms better value their CTV ad inventory. This week, we're highlighting some trends around how watching CTV with a group impacts attention and how this varies by Co-Viewing demographics. Note, these insights and more are available in our new CTV Co-Viewing Report.
Watching TV can often be a social event, but that doesn't necessarily mean co-viewing audiences lose focus. In fact, when multiple people sit down to watch a program together, they’re more likely to keep their eyes focused on the screen. When comparing Attention and Co-Viewing for some of the most-watched CTV apps, the majority with high Viewers Per Viewing Household (VPVH) also index well above average for Attention. In the second half of 2021, apps that scored high for both metrics included HBO Max, Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube - as you can see in the below chart.
In general, younger audiences are more likely to co-view CTV content. Viewers under 18 show the highest Co-Viewing rates of all demographic groups with 70% of their views occurring with more than one person in the room while in comparison viewers between ages 25 and 54 show Co-Viewing rates of around 56%. That said, adult audiences pay more attention to ads overall— even more so when they’re watching with other adults or by themselves vs. when they’re watching with children. Children, on the other hand, are more likely to pay attention to ads when they’re watching in a group vs. on their own, though to a lesser degree than co-viewing adults.
In our previous blog, we saw that movies & family programming are most likely to attract multiple viewers. However, programming types impact attention differently across age groups. When it comes CTV, adult attention varies dramatically based on what they’re watching and whom they’re watching with. They are significantly more likely to pay attention to adult movies and TV shows, and their attention to kids’ programming indexes even lower when they’re watching with kids. Meanwhile, children pay almost as much attention to adult movies as they do to those geared toward their age group, but their attention to adult TV shows indexes lower across the board—especially when they’re co-viewing with others.
Want to see the most co-viewed CTV apps or find out which programs are most likely to attract the crowds? Download TVision's full CTV Co-Viewing Report for more insights or explore our CTV Analytics Platform.
