COVID-19 Spurred AVOD's Growth, Parks Event Told

Stay-at-home viewing raised the profile of ad-supported VOD, a Parks Associates virtual conference was told last week. Acquisitions in AVOD including Pluto TV by ViacomCBS in 2019 (see 1903040002), Xumo by Comcast in February (see 2002250059) and Tubi by Fox in April (see 2004200070) raised the profile of the category, said Parks analyst Steve Nason. NBCUniversal further disrupted this space, launching the hybrid Peacock service first through its affiliate Comcast and with Cox customers, then broadly in July. Parks believes AVOD will continue to gain on subscription VOD services as they offer more exclusive content and other benefits. Among U.S. broadband households viewing AVOD in Q3, 9% watched Pluto TV, 8% The Roku Channel, 7% Tubi TV and 6% Peacock. Tubi got more engagement before the pandemic, said Vice President-Business Development Andrea Clarke-Hall. “The pandemic accelerated what was already happening.” Stefan Van Engen, Xumo senior vice president-content programming and partnerships, said fewer commercials and better overall user experience drive engagement. Ad targeting helps, said Henry Embleton, head-ad products and revenue at hybrid AVOD-SVOD anime streamer Crunchyroll.