Benefits of IMDb TV audience to OTT advertising

December 29, 2020

By Maggie Zhang
Head of Measurement Success

Behind the Streams: In this blog series, we’ll help you to gain insights and learn about the latest trends that are shaping OTT (over-the-top) video advertising, also known as streaming TV ads.

The OTT (over-the-top) landscape continues to evolve rapidly, especially as more viewers cut the cord and turn to OTT streaming or streaming TV as their primary way to watch long-form, premium video content. eMarketer forecasted that Connected TV penetration would reach 81% of US households in 2020,1 and Nielsen-measured time spent on video streaming accounted for 25% of total TV usage in Q2 2020, up from 19% in Q4 2019.2

IMDb TV’s growth in audience scale and engagement

IMDb TV, Amazon’s free, ad-supported streaming service, enables customers to watch popular TV shows and top Hollywood hits via the IMDb app, IMDb website, Prime Video app and Fire TV devices, without purchasing a subscription. The streaming service also offers an intuitive and interactive user experience, making it easy to find what you want to watch. Together, this contributed to IMDb TV’s weekly streaming viewership growing 387% between Q1 2019 and Q3 2020, and total weekly streaming hours increasing 519% during the same time period.3

Three key insights about IMDb TV’s unique audience

Gfk Simmons recently surveyed US consumers on their TV/video viewing behaviors, and uncovered interesting insights regarding IMDb TV’s audience from respondents who reported using the service. Here are three key takeaways that can help brands better understand the benefits of IMDb TV’s audience to Amazon Streaming TV ads.

1. IMDb TV can help advertisers reach cord-cutters and cord-nevers.

43%, or almost half, of IMDb TV viewers do not subscribe to a pay TV service, which is 25% more than the US general population. Among them, 26% are cord-cutters and 17% are cord-nevers.4 With IMDb TV, advertisers can effectively extend their reach beyond linear TV, given its high concentration of non-pay TV audiences.

2. IMDb TV can help advertisers reach young, male audiences.

62% of IMDb TV viewers fall in the 18-49 age cohort. In addition, 64% of IMDb TV’s audience is male, which is +32% higher than the US general population. IMDb TV can help brands engage the highly coveted male audience cohorts. 36% of IMDb TV audience is M18-49, which is +33% higher than the US general population. 19% of the IMDb TV audience is Male 18-34, which is +18% higher than the US general population.5

3. IMDb TV can help advertisers reach family audiences.

46%, or nearly half, of IMDb TV viewers are family audiences, which is 23% higher than the US general population.6 For CPG, toys, and household products advertisers, IMDb TV can provide an effective way to reach a heavily family-oriented audience that align with their brands. This is especially beneficial to advertisers, as we’ve also found that IMDb TV viewers are more likely to purchase learning and technology toys, outdoor and sports toys, arts and crafts toys, pet grooming supplies, painting supplies and plumbing fixtures than an average Amazon customer.7

Looking ahead with IMDb TV

IMDb TV is focused on delivering great content―including original, exclusive and live programming―at a steady cadence to help grow its audience and keep customers tuned in and engaged. In November 2020, IMDb TV released its first original show, the spy series Alex Rider. And you can expect to see more IMDb TV Originals premiering throughout 2021, including the Untitled Judge Judy Sheindlin Project, the streaming debut for no-nonsense, expeditious Judge Sheindlin and her signature adjudication style, a reimagining of the crime drama Leverage, the true crime docu series Moment of Truth and the second season of Alex Rider.

With a growing base of loyal viewers and slate of new premium content on the way, there’s a lot to be excited about with IMDb TV. Amazon Ads is committed to helping brands leverage all that this streaming service has to offer through Streaming TV ads and compelling advertising experiences, including branded entertainment and new interactive ad formats. We look forward to helping advertisers achieve their goals by incorporating IMDb TV into their strategies.

Want to learn more about Amazon Streaming TV ads? Check out our video advertising page.

Sources

1 eMarketer, 2020
2 Nielsen, August 2020
3,7 Amazon Internal Data, 2020
4-6 GfK Simmons, 2020