We’re willing to bet you have a connected TV in your home – you probably have two (or more).
By 2027, they’re projected to be in 83% of U.S. TV households, up from 55% in 2017. Shifting viewing habits have increased demand for premium, high-quality and engaging content, solidifying connected TVs as standard in the American home.
Advertisers are taking notice. 70% plan to boost their CTV ad investment by an average of 17% in 2026, aiming to reach these audiences and capitalize on advances in targeting, personalization and programmatic buying.
As CTV investment grows, marketers need to ensure every dollar counts by prioritizing hard-working impressions.
Where do hard-working impressions live? Premium Video Platforms.
Let’s Talk About Hard-Working Impressions
A hard-working impression captivates viewers, keeping their eyes on screen longer. In other words, it’s when viewers are focused on the TV rather than on their phone, tablet or another device.
Premium video platforms deliver these types of impressions by leading in these three key metrics:
- Co-Viewing
- Attention
- Session length
To measure these metrics, VAB partnered with TVision, which provided custom eye-tracking data over a one-year period. They captured how audiences consume CTV content across 21 Premium Video Platforms, including AVOD/SVOD, vMVPD & FAST channels vs. YouTube. Here’s what our analysis found...
Premium Video Platforms beat YouTube in Co-Viewing
First, what is co-viewing? It’s the proportion of viewing where two or more viewers have overlapping active viewing sessions for at least five minutes.
Co-viewing creates unique opportunities to reach audiences by sparking engagement and conversations – and 43% of consumers say they are likely to discuss ads with others when they’re co-viewing.
Vikrant Mathur, Co-Founder of Future Today explains the impact of co-viewing, “It leads to deeper engagement with ads and, as a result, higher performance…ultimately, when family members are in a room watching together, it increases their attention, not just for programming, but for advertising, as well.”
What did our analysis find? YouTube ranked 18 out of 21 in co-viewing.
Premium Video Platforms beat YouTube in Attention
Why does attention matter to advertisers? It provides a reliable signal for advertising effectiveness, which makes advertising campaigns more predictable.
Our study focused on a metric called ‘Presence to Active’, which is the percentage of time a viewer is in the room out of the total active viewing session indexed to the CTV viewing norm.
“Attention gives us a unifier across the different channels that we operate in”, says WPP Media’s Jason Jutla, Head of Practice, EMEA & UK.
What did our analysis find? YouTube ranked 14 out of 19 in keeping audiences present during viewing sessions.
Premium Video Platforms beat YouTube in Session Length
James Rooke, President of Comcast Advertising, stated, “Ads viewed in the long-form, lean-back TV environments have greater unaided recall and purchase intent.”
Our analysis looked to see if this was true, by measuring four buckets of session length:
- Super Short: 0 - 20 minutes
- Short: 20 - 84 minutes
- Medium: 84 minutes - 3 hours
- Long: 3+ hours
What did our analysis find? YouTube ranked last in average session length, with 75% of impressions falling within super short and short viewing sessions.
The Formula for CTV Ad Success
By prioritizing hard-working impressions found on Premium Video Platforms like AVOD/SVOD, vMVPD or FAST, marketers tap into environments where viewers are watching with their family or friends, focused on the TV screen and tuned in for longer periods of time.
This results in lifts across metrics throughout the funnel like brand awareness, consideration and intent.
Want to learn more? Download the full report, which is packed with stats and charts comparing CTV platforms.
About VAB
VAB plays a dual role in the video advertising industry. We are leading the change to bring about a more innovative and transparent marketplace. We also provide insights and thought leadership that enable marketers to develop business-driving marketing strategies.
We are proud to offer VAB members, brand marketers and agencies complimentary access to our continuously growing Insights Library. Get immediate access at thevab.com.
