OTT ad spend hit $1.3 billion in 2021

According to MediaRadar’s OTT Ad Insights report, total ad spend in OTT reached approximately $1.3 billion in 2021, representing only 3% of total digital spend per month.

Per the report, five streaming services – HBO Max, Discovery+, Hulu, Paramount and Peacock – accounted for 65% of OTT ad spend last year.

The top five categories which represented 57% of all 2021 category spend, were Retail, Media, Tech, Finance and Auto. Four out of the top 10 categories (Retail, Media, Tech and Finance) each accounted for 13% of overall 2021 spend.

In 2021, MediaRadar observed 5,530 total advertisers running across 5 top OTT channels: Discovery+, HBO Max, Hulu, Paramount+ & Peacock. Across this set of advertisers, it found them serving almost 500 thousand ads in the second half of 2021.

Most of these 500k advertisements can be categorized across five major categories: Media & Entertainment, Retail, Technology, Financial & Real Estate and Pharma. 60-72% of advertisements placed on 5 of the top OTT channels fall within these categories. 

Media advertising—movies, video games, television, and streaming—is the largest ad segment within OTT across every channel. It makes up between 19% – 33% of total ads running on any given channel.

Most video ads on these platforms are either 15 seconds or 30 seconds.