August 2023: Streaming Recap

 

August 2022-2023: Ad spend by platform YOY

Source: Vivvix 

 

Leading industries

Financial and insurance gained about $13M in CTV spend from July to August, landing the industry at $92.5M total. As the top-ranking industry for Pluto TV spend—$15M toward the platform—this amount comprised 16% of that total. 

Restaurants spend declined by about $14M, while food and beverage spend increased by $4M and media spend increased by $8M. 

Automotive spend on MAX increased by $7M to $15.1M, bringing MAX’s share of the industry’s total CTV spend up by nearly 9% from July to August. This increase nearly closed the gap between automotive and regular MAX top industry, media. 

• Financial and insurance, food and beverage, and media spend were some of the main forces behind the increase in overall CTV spend 
• Automotive spend on MAX increased by $8.1M from July to August 
  
  

August 2023: Industry rankings

Source: Vivvix

 

Top spenders

          1. Walmart
          2. State Farm
          3. Amazon

Top-spender Walmart preferred Discovery+ in August, investing 30% of their total CTV spend in the platform. 

Source: Vivvix

Source: Vivvix 

Amazon cut their Paramount+ spend in half relative to July. But Olive Garden, new to our top 20, favored the platform with an allocation of 40% of their total CTV dollars, and Hulu was a close second for them at 30%. 

Hulu also entered our top-spender ranks as the first streaming platform to do so. And they advertised on their own platform, sure, but an extraordinary 79% of their CTV spend went toward Pluto TV. 

AT&T became the top MAX advertiser, and Peloton was the second-ranked Tubi spender—trailing just behind two-time top-spender Credit Karma. 

• Walmart invested 30% of their total CTV spend in Discovery+ 
• Olive Garden invested 40% of their total CTV spend in Paramount+ 
• Hulu, as an advertiser, invested 79% of their total CTV spend in Pluto TV 

Streaming vs. linear

Progressive’s AVOD spend leapt exponentially from July to August—by 440%—the new spend breakdown shaking out to 14% on AVOD and 86% on linear. In past months they’ve consistently dedicated just under 3% to the former. 

Meanwhile, State Farm smashed the record for the greatest contribution toward AVOD in a monthly AVOD/linear split. The competing insurance provider went for 62%-38%. 

We last caught State Farm in our top 20 AVOD/linear spenders in March—when they invested about 29% in AVOD. 

We also captured seven pharmaceutical companies in these ranks—a curious development as overall pharmaceutical industry AVOD spend shrunk by nearly $6M from July to August.  

Of the bunch, Pfizer placed the greatest emphasis on streaming—about 21% of their combined AVOD/linear spend. 

• Progressive’s AVOD spend increased by 440% from July to August 
• State Farm’s AVOD/linear split was 62%-38% 
• Seven pharmaceutical companies ranked in the top 20 

August 2023: Top 20 brands with highest combined streaming and linear spend (ranked from most to least in AVOD spend)

Source: Vivvix

Where's the white space? 

Tubi spend increased by a thin margin from July to August, financial and insurance accounting for much of it. But a thick stack of dollars made the difference between food and beverage spend—from $3M down to $830K in a month’s time. 

Pharmaceuticals scaled back on MAX. Despite the platform's overall rebound in spend, platform spend by industry advertisers shrunk by 76%—from just about $1.1M in July to a mere $260K in August.

Finally, restaurant spend on Pluto TV declined by a colossal $12M between July and August, begging the question: Which advertisers will return to seize the space?

We’ll check back in when we delve into September’s numbers. 

CTV/STREAMING INTEL 

Each month, we’ll share the latest insights including spend, trends, and creative in one of the most competitive landscapes to date. Stay tuned as we #FreeTheData.

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