“With all the ad-supported viewership gains we’re seeing, why does our inventory still underperform?”
— Head of Product, Anonymous
Let’s start here: ad-supported content dominates TV. According to Roku and Nielsen, give or take 90% of Roku users see video ads, and something like 80% of all TV time is ad-supported.
That should be great news for your business.
But then you look at your inventory metrics. Or worse, your ad sales forecast. And suddenly, all that viewership starts to feel like empty calories.
So why are viewers still tuning out? Why is engagement flat? Why isn’t the inventory driving demand the way it should?
You can’t fix a weak ad product with more impressions. You need better ones.
Here’s the hard truth: most publishers don’t think of their ad product as a product at all. It’s an afterthought. A container. An interruptive unit. It gets outsourced, tacked on, buried between titles. But an actual ad product, one that earns attention and revenue, has to deliver real value for both the viewer and the buyer.
You’ve got all this audience. But do you know what the ad experience actually feels like on your platform? Have you watched your own midrolls? Have you sat through the breaks? Do you know what creative’s getting slotted where?
Does anyone? I can tell you that many don’t.
Because here’s what the best platforms are doing right now:
- Packaging inventory with context, not just volume
- Giving buyers better signals, not just more scale
- Building native formats that drive outcomes
- Designing ad breaks for attention, not just impressions
It’s not about stuffing more ads into more hours. It’s about making the ones you have actually count.
Skip Says
Just because everyone sees ads now doesn’t mean they want yours. If your platform’s built for convenience but your ad product isn’t, you’re leaking value. And if you don’t treat the ad experience like it’s part of the product, your viewers won’t treat it like it belongs. Fix that.
Ask Me Anything
Whether you’re fed up, fired up, or just want the truth behind the trends, send me your questions using this form. Anonymity guaranteed. Bullshit not included.
The Streaming Wars is intentionally ad-free
We don’t run display ads. Not because we can’t, but because we don’t believe in them.
They interrupt the reading experience. They cheapen the work. And they burn advertisers’ money on impressions nobody actually wants.
So we chose a different model.
We say the things people in this industry are already thinking but don’t say out loud. We connect the dots beyond the headline and focus on explaining why things matter to the people working in this business.
If you believe industry coverage can exist without clutter and interruption, you can support it here → SUPPORT TSW.
Support is optional. But it directly funds research and continued coverage — and helps prove this model can work.
Support TSW →
