Advertisers Now Opt for Prime Video and Hulu Over YouTube for Streaming Ads

According to Digiday's multi-part series covering the top ad-supported streaming services, YouTube is the platform that received the largest portion of ad placements and budget allocations. Following YouTube, Amazon's Prime Video (with ads) and The Walt Disney Company's Hulu are tied for second place in terms of ad placements.

Prime Video (with ads) and Hulu appeal to advertisers because of their own consumer audience and data benefits. Prime Video has an advantage due to Amazon's vast consumer data from being a leading sales platform and the most visited e-commerce and shopping marketplace. Hulu benefits from access to Disney's first-party consumer data through Disney Select and its programmatic ad exchange, DRAX (Disney RealTime Ad Exchange), offering advertisers substantial first-party data reserves and programmatic advertising options.

Streaming platforms offer a variety of advertising options tailored to different campaign needs. Here's a quick guide:

• Frequency capping: Available on Hulu, Netflix Standard (with ads), Peacock, The Roku Channel, Tubi, and YouTube.
• Non-skippable ads: Offered by Discovery+, Hulu, Max, Netflix Standard (with ads), Peacock, The Roku Channel, Tubi, and YouTube.
• Shorter ad breaks: Found on Discovery+, Max, Netflix Standard (with ads), Peacock, Tubi, and YouTube.
• Pause ads: Provided by Netflix Standard (with ads), Peacock, Max, Hulu, Tubi, and YouTube.
• Shoppable ads: Available on Hulu, Peacock, and The Roku Channel.
• Content takeovers: An option on Hulu, Peacock, The Roku Channel, and Tubi.
• Deep first-party data reserves: A feature of Disney+ Basic (with ads), Hulu, Peacock, and YouTube.

Prime Video's entry into the streaming ad market is significant because it raised the stakes for its rivals. Amazon's tactic of automatically opting in Prime subscribers to the ad-supported tier enabled it to report a massive monthly ad-supported audience of 200 million-plus viewers. Additionally, Amazon's position as the fourth-most visited website in the U.S. and its status as the top e-commerce and shopping marketplace allow it to collect extensive consumer data, giving it an edge over other streaming platforms in terms of data-driven advertising opportunities.

Advertisers should keep an eye out for the third installment of Digiday's series, which will provide information on the ad attributes that matter most to marketers. This includes factors such as ad break length, non-skippable ads, and frequency capping. This upcoming installment will further assist advertisers in understanding and leveraging the advertising capabilities of various streaming platforms.