WatchFree+ is exclusive to VIZIO Smart TVs in the U.S. The latest distribution agreements are part of an aggressive expansion strategy for free premium content during 2023 and the impact is being felt in monthly viewing hours. Every month since May, viewing on WatchFree+ On Demand has been at least double the figure it was in the equivalent month for 2022.

VIZIO’s CEO William Wang said last week that the Smart TV manufacturer is beginning to explore partnerships with other TV OEMs who are looking for alternatives within the connected TV market. Q3 2023 results also showed SmartCast viewing growth.

The Independent Streaming Alliance, which emphasises the importance of independent ad-supported streamers and works collaboratively to ensure a healthy ecosystem for them, has proved that its members reach nearly 15% of TV households in the U.S.

The Independent Streaming Alliance, which emphasises the importance of independent ad-supported streamers and works collaboratively to ensure a healthy ecosystem for them, has proved that its members reach nearly 15% of TV households in the U.S.

Like many Smart TV makers, VIZIO provides advertising services that include ad placements in streaming content, home screen promotion and the use of data to target relevant homes on television or retarget them across different devices, with its VIZIO Ads unit serving the U.S. market.

The provider of ACR data from VIZIO smart TVs Inscape has tracked trends in streaming over the last few years. In fact, by early 2022, streaming had displaced cable/satellite as the most-viewed TV source by US households. In the quarters since, it has steadily grown its share of viewing time and there are no signs of a slowdown.

This was among the key findings of research by iSpot.tv which showed that in total from 5 September 2022 to 29 May 2023, there were 860.3 billion household TV ad impressions delivered during daytime on linear TV, up 1.3% year-over-year.

The launch is said to reflect Qurate Retail Group's strategic initiative to expand the reach of its original vCommerce experiences across new media and digital platforms. The QVC+ and HSN+ streaming experience is available to more than 100 million internet-connected homes across the US.

Putting the needs to team into context, Fubo noted an iSpot measurement study for three major TV advertisers across distinct industries finding that on average, 40% of ad impressions served on Fubo reached incremental households that are unreachable on linear TV.

The expanded partnership includes the recent addition of the AMC+ app, nine free streaming channels and 159 on-demand feature films available on VIZIO’s free streaming service, WatchFree+.

Produced in partnership with sports betting and gaming entertainment company BetMGM, the series launches on 17 March exclusively on the VIZIO home screen. Following the premiere, the mini-series will be available on demand on VIZIO WatchFree+.

The FASTs Are The New Cable, Part 2: Advertising study was based on conversations between TVREV and dozens of key executives in the media industry and the analyst noted that one of the more universal comments it heard was a fear that dollars would not follow eyeballs, given how difficult it was to buy advertising on streaming, or to buy advertising on streaming across multiple platforms.

Another key trend revealed was that consumers are not very loyal to TV set brands, creating another measurement challenge for the industry. Many of the new currencies use Vizio data but projecting household viewing based on usage of Vizio smart TVs will not produce a complete picture as 86% of households with one Vizio TV have other TVs from other brands. Even in households with two Vizio TVs, other brands of TVs are present in 70% of cases.

With My Watchlist, Vizio believes that is has solved one of the biggest challenges viewers have with today’s fragmented streaming environment—keeping up with what programme is available on which service. With the new feature, users can build a queue of TV shows and movies across premium services including Apple TV+, discovery+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Paramount+, Prime Video, Starz, WatchFree+ and others.

Vizio and DistroTV say they are aligned in their missions to provide content and access for everyone; including movies and syndicated TV shows in the sports, kids and family, news, lifestyle, gaming, and music categories and more.

DistroTV claims to offer the largest, independent, free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) app in the US. Its channels encompass news, sports, movies, music and entertainment and lifestyle content. This includes original content and new channel offerings that cater to English, Southeast Asian / Indian and Spanish-speaking audiences, as well as a recently released channel bundle that targets the African community.

As consumers continue to shift from linear to streaming, understanding what ad experiences they find worthwhile has become more crucial and transparency will be the major issue the industry will need to solve says a research post from leading industry analyst Alan Wolk.

The study by the TVREV co-founder noted that the emergence of the streaming era and a flourishing connected TV (CTV) industry has led to a transformative shift in media and entertainment and gaining insight on understanding has been made more important as ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) viewership in the US surges, with brands needing to establish how to reach these audiences more effectively.

Goldman Sachs’ $325 million acquisition of a minority stake comes as iSpot claims that its utility as a TV currency is gaining adoption. The company recently completed 60 currency pilots between NBCUniversal, agency holding companies and brands surrounding the Olympics, Super Bowl and Q1 inventory across NBCU linear and streaming properties. In March, NBCUniversal named iSpot a preferred trading currency for the 2022 Upfront season, and WarnerMedia and Paramount used iSpot in a currency pilot for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The investment will be deployed to accelerate growth and adoption of real-time, cross-platform TV ad verification, audience measurement and performance metrics for the buy and sell side. That includes scaling engineering and product development, expanding the sales and customer success footprint, continuing to enhance the currencies for the marketplace to transact on for TV and video, and acquiring complementary businesses. “We have been very impressed with iSpot’s world-class data analytics software platform and proprietary systems which have been purpose-built for the increasingly dynamic video measurement space,” said Leonard Seevers, partner and head of media investment for the Private Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “We are incredibly excited to partner with Sean and the iSpot team to drive long-term growth and value creation together.”