Fubo inked a new partnership with EDO to measure connected TV ad engagement across all campaigns on the sports-centric live streaming TV service and compare performance against traditional linear TV and other streaming services.
Announced Tuesday, Fubo said the partnership means it can deliver brand and agencies with CTV engagement data that enables them to attribute direct outcomes to ad campaigns, as well as trends that detail viewer demographics that are most engaged with ads on the virtual MVPD.
EDO measures ad engagement based on consumer behavioral outcomes, like online search activity, in the minutes after a TV ad airs. Engagement is key as, a company spokesperson noted, it’s a leading indicator of market share, as well as consumer discovery, interest and intent. Meaning that when viewers see an ad that piques their interest, they often pick up a second device to get more information.
“EDO captures this consumer response to TV advertising by measuring these engagements in real-time, analyzing the granular data that precisely attribute consumers’ online behavior and content consumption to individual TV ad exposures,” the company explained.
In a statement, Fubo SVP of Global Ad Sales Dina Roman pointed to the EDO partnership as helping to show advertisers value of Fubo’s premium sports lineup and engaged audience.
“One of the strengths of CTV is its data-driven nature and the ability to measure ad campaigns more deliberately and accurately than on traditional linear TV,” said Roman in a statement. “Brands and agencies today are seeking clear insights into the outcomes of their advertising campaigns and that is why we are tapping measurement partners like EDO to reinforce the value of Fubo’s premium content and audience.”
EDO earlier this year also inked partnerships with Hallmark Media and an expanded relationship with Disney. Fubo over the summer also enlisted vendor iSpot to measure connected TV ads and quantify incremental reach for advertisers on the vMVPD.
And the latest EDO partnership has already delivered some findings about ad engagement on Fubo. Initial findings indicate that consumers are 16% more likely to engage with ads seen on Fubo compared with ads on traditional linear TV and competitive streaming platforms, while sports fans in particular are 29% more likely to engage with ads seen on sports networks on the streaming platform than ads during live sports on a typical linear network. Fubo said this speaks to the service’s aggregation prowess, as it streams over 55,000 sporting events each year and more than 40,000 TV shows and movies on-demand each month.
During its most recent quarterly earnings call Fubo executives cited a desire for the service – amid a fragmented sports and viewing ecosystem - to become a “super aggregator” with a focus on “must-have” features via a single app that provides a customized and personalized user experience – as its value proposition evolves from price more towards ease of use.
EDO data has also provided insights on the viewers that are most engaged on Fubo. For example, EDO data shows that men ages 25-54 were 35% more likely to engage with ads on Fubo compared to competitive streaming services and linear TV. This was particularly true in the automotive and telecom categories where they were 37% and 72% more likely to engage, respectively, with ads on the vMVPD than other platforms. Women, meanwhile, ages 18-34 were 18% more likely to engage with financial services ads on Fubo than on linear or competitive streaming platforms.
“Modern marketers know that investing in campaigns on Fubo means advertising to a highly engaged audience,” said Kevin Krim, president and CEO at EDO, in a statement. “By combining Fubo’s streaming expertise with EDO’s robust experience measuring live sports and entertainment events across linear and streaming TV, we’re empowering advertisers to go beyond basic reach metrics and begin measuring the outcomes-based, proof-of-performance insights that determine whether a brand achieves its most important business goals.”
Fubo’s platforms offers a cable-like live streaming TV service, with more than 300 sports, news and entertainment networks. In the vMPVD space Fubo competes against the likes of YouTube TV, Hulu+ Live TV and Sling TV. Fubo marked strong Q3 subscriber growth, adding around 310,000 in the period for a total base of 1.47 million.
And in Q3 Fubo cited favorable trends in the direction of ad market reacceleration and delivered $30 million in North American ad revenue - up 34% over the prior year period. At the time executives noted growth was helped by its desirable sports-centric audience and an expanded focus on building out direct sales operations alongside its programmatic ad business.
The addition of free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels also played a role, where Fubo CEO David Gandler said “revenue coming in from those channels has been quite strong” in Q3.
On the FAST channel front, most recently in November Fubo launched “Fubo Radio” in partnership with Super Hi-Fi, featuring 10 fully branded, AI-powered audio-only radio channels with a variety of music programming.