Hey, and welcome to the 10th edition (!) of AdExchanger’s connected TV roundup.
This week, I’m continuing my binge through the plethora of AVOD streaming services that will each be vying for ad dollars during the 2023 upfronts.
So far, I’ve given you the inside scoop on Netflix’s ad experience and a deep dive on Disney+ with ads. Now, let’s meet Peacock. 📺
Compete or get beat
With fresh competition at its heels this year, NBCUniversal has been plugging its ID graph and its programmatic tech stack to sell advertisers on Peacock’s targeting skills.
Just last month, the broadcaster added new data attributes to its audience segments, made live events available programmatically and announced that Peacock Ad Manager will go self-service later this year.
For now, though, Peacock has a bit of a frequency problem.
Turn it down
Based on my viewing experience, Peacock’s advertisers are primarily large national brands, including Hilton, TurboTax, H&R Block, Pfizer, Chanel, Dunkin’ Donuts, Target, Chili’s, Boar’s Head, Domino’s, Little Caesars and Sonic.
And every single one of those brands hit me with the same ads more than once in a single binge sesh. I mean, sure, I watched a lot of TV this week – several hours of “Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story” and “Joe vs. Carole,” based on the docuseries “Tiger King” – but still, most of these repeat exposures occurred within just two episodes of each other.
To be fair, Peacock does appear to engage in competitive separation. For example, it didn’t deliver Domino’s and Little Caesars’ pizza ads in the same episode. But, like me, most viewers are binge-watching content, and seeing the same ads multiple times made them feel much closer together than these marketers would likely prefer. (I noticed the same issue with competitive diaper ads on Disney+.)
Ad pharming
Speaking of frequency, I saw a grand total of 15 pharma ads in just a few hours, mostly for drugs that treat arthritis, shingles, osteoporosis and bone loss. (Erm … I’m 24.)
Either Peacock is ingesting signals connected to my IP address, which would show anxious Google searches related to my family’s history of bone loss – or its guess about my age demo is just flat-out wrong.
Regardless, it’s also possible that Peacock is seeing increased demand from the pharma vertical. Fifteen percent of the ads I saw on Peacock in a single day were from pharma brands. (By comparison, I saw just one pharma ad on Disney+ and none on Netflix within the same time frame.)
The pharma ads on Peacock were repetitive, too.
I saw repeat ads from Pfizer brands and for shingles treatment in back-to-back episodes. The first episode of “Joe vs. Carole” alone had no less than three pharma ads. (And the rest of the season had three ads for the same grocery delivery service and one for an antidepressant medication. Seriously, is it me, or is it this show?)
Supply and demand
Frequency problems aside, Peacock also does a lot right.
The streamer keeps to its promise of no more than five minutes of ads per hour of content; plus, the ad breaks are clean, appear at natural stopping points in the content and the pods are never longer than 60 seconds. Peacock also doesn’t seem to advertise on kid-related content (house ads aside).
I couldn’t help it – I rewatched “Shrek” and “Shrek 2.” Both movies had zero ads. I also watched half a season of “Curious George” (yes, really 😅) just to see whether there were ads, and I only saw house ads for other kid-related titles on Peacock.
Peacock overall makes for a very enjoyable viewing experience, and its yearslong head start running ads compared with both Disney+ and Netflix makes me wonder whether the streamer’s frequency problem means advertiser demand for Peacock just isn’t at its peak.
Pretty much every broadcaster is blaming slower ad spend for most of their problems right now.
But what I want to know is: How much demand will Peacock be able to pick up at its upfront presentation?
Let me know what you think. Hit me up at alyssa@adexchanger.com.
