The Big Shift To Connected TV

I’m happy to be back with another episode of our Ad Legends series. This time, I sat down for a chat over Zoom with Brian Albert, the Managing Director of U.S. Agency Video at Google, and someone who I always love to talk with about consumer viewing patterns. After meeting his Yorkie-Poo McGoo, we talked through the massive shift in viewership we saw in 2020 and into this year. Brian pointed out that we’ve reached an inflection point as there are more Connected TV households than paid TV households in the U.S., and we’re rapidly moving toward a new video ecosystem where we’ll find paid TV used for sports and news only — but most entertainment viewing will be through 3-5 apps on mobile and CTV.

He also shared an interesting perspective I hadn’t heard before. Paid TV has recently seen a 39% decline in impressions, but ad spending on TV has remained relatively even. Can you think of another industry where 39% of market share disappeared and everything went on unchanged? He gave some amazing examples that bring home the point — think Ford, GM and Toyota gone from the auto industry. That’s the kind of change we’re seeing in TV viewership.

Check out the video below for some awesome food for thought on Connected TV and YouTube from Google’s Brian Albert: