Beyond the 30-Second Spot: How Ads Are Evolving

Beyond the 30-Second Spot: How Ads Are Evolving to Match The Ways How People Actually Watch

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Think back to the TV viewing experience 20 years ago. People still tuned in Thursday nights to watch The Office on NBC. If they had to miss it and planned ahead, they could “DVR” it and watch later. YouTube was launched that same year, and was considered a novelty. In this linear TV-centric world, the 30 second spot was the primary ad format and advertisers paid big sums to reach broad audiences with mass messaging.

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Today, the TV viewing experience is completely different - almost everything has changed. People binge watch The Office on Peacock whenever they want. They watch movies on their phones and watch YouTube videos on their TV screens. It’s a highly personalized viewing experience with a mash-up of long form, live and short form content. And all of those experiences are quickly shifting to streaming channels. 

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The only thing that hasn’t evolved about the TV viewing experience is the 30 second spot. But, that, too, is about to change.

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New Audience Expectations

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Millennials and Gen Z consumers are now adults, and they’ve had social media and cell phones for most, if not all of their lives. They’re used to a huge variety of ads, from influencer video clips on TikTok to personalized billboards in a game. These ads are targeted and interactive.

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Adults under 40 are also ecommerce natives - buying clothing, groceries and even cars with the touch of a button on an app. They use their phones for everything and expect every company they interact with to know everything about them and as a result, want personalized offers. 

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These expectations are starting to extend to the TV viewing experience. People don’t want to be forced to sit through a commercial that interrupts their show and might not have anything to do with what they care about. People think there are too many ads and 78% say they don’t actively watch them. Often they switch to their phone until the ads are over. 

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New Ad Formats Emerge

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Old habits die hard. Media companies make a lot of money selling commercials and brands have decades of muscle memory to deal with. Their creative process is often built around the 30 second spot.

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Streaming is digital - so it’s entirely possible to reinvent TV advertising. The hard part is getting legacy brands and publishers to change their old habits. 

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The time is now and the clock is ticking. People are shifting to streaming, they expect less interruptive, more relevant ad experiences, and there are plenty of creative brands and emerging media companies ready to flip the script on the old approach.

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The good new is that there are new formats that deliver a win-win. Viewers get the autonomous, non-interruptive experience they want. Brands can still reach a mass audience on the big screen and media companies can actually increase their inventory and deliver stronger results.

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• Pause Ads - The beauty of streaming TV is that it’s on-demand. If someone wants to get a snack, they just pause the show. A pause ad delivers a relevant, targeted ad over the paused screen. Despite the fact that people might be distracted when they pause, the format delivers a major impact because it’s present for an average of a few minutes - giving everyone in the room time to get the message without feeling interrupted. 
• Squeezebacks - Live TV is a major growth opportunity for streaming media companies, especially sports. One innovation that has become popular is to “squeeze” the game or show down to a smaller size and show an adjacent ad. This works well during down time, like when the refs are reviewing a play and there’s not much else to see. Many media companies are also introducing squeezebacks during the ending credits.
• In-content placements - Using AI, brands can put their products and messages directly in a show seamlessly and at scale. Instead of breaking up the viewing experience, in-content placements can actually enhance them - bringing the product directly into a pivotal scene or relevant moment. It’s the ultimate match between advertising and content. 

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These three new formats are just the beginning of what is possible once brands free themselves from the 30 second rut and explore the opportunities available.

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These new formats are proven to deliver better performance.

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• Pause ads deliver incredible performance - 51% of viewers take an action after seeing a pause ad. 
• The MLB used a version of squeezebacks they call “L-bar” ads that delivered high visibility, ROAS and viewer engagement. 
• In-content ads deliver dramatic increases in results. Rembrand and Kantar found a 510% increase in unaided brand awareness compared to benchmark.

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This better performance comes without a cost. While some ads (remember pop-ups?) increase short term metrics by getting in the viewer’s way, these new formats are seamlessly integrated with the viewer’s experience. This increases a sense of control and creates trust between the viewer and the brand, which delivers real value and makes ads unskippable. 

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Brands Getting It Right

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Brands are able to bring a lot of creativity to new TV ad formats, given the digital nature of streaming. 

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With Spaceback’s platform, brands like Dickies are making commercials that include authentic social media content and a QR code to increase engagement and drive purchases. It’s the perfect creative concept for a pause ad placement, when people have time to click and shop before they get back to watching their show.

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Rembrand brings brands right into the content 

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