Canoe Says 3Q VOD Ad Impressions Rose 48%

The number of ad impressions in video-on-demand programming from cable operators working with Canoe jumped again in the third quarter.

Ads served in VOD programming generated 5.668 billion impressions in the third quarter, up 48% from 3.812 billion a year ago, the company said.

Canoe ran a total of 3,208 campaigns in the quarter, up 51% from 2,123 a year ago.

Related: Canoe Marks 100 Billion Spots Inserted in VOD Programming

VOD ads are becoming increasingly popular as viewing increases and as more networks enable dyanmic ad insertion technology, which allows advertisers to better target their commercials. Last year's totals were impacted by the election, which soaked up viewer attention.

About 24% of the Q3 campaigns were network tune-in campaigns. The others were for clients in a wide range of categories. The breakdown was similar last year.

So far this year, Canoe’s ads have generated 17.9 billion impressions, up from 12.8 billion at this point a year ago.

Canoe said that 99% of the time consumers watch mid-roll ads to completion. In pre-roll the completion rate is 99.18% and it is 91.35% in post-roll breaks.

The bulk of Canoe’s ad impressions are created by mid-roll ads. Mid-roll ads generated 4.684 billion impressions, compared with 896.7 million pre-roll impressions. and 87.2 million post-roll impressions. A year ago, there were 3.111 billion mid-roll impressions, 635.2 million during pre-roll and 66 million in post-roll.

Mid-roll breaks averaged 3.82 ads. Pre-roll averaged 1.09 ads and post-roll averaged 1.26 ads, similar to last year. Campaigns that utilize frequency capping, to prevent commercial from running over and over during VOD programming, aim for an average maximum of two impressions per episode.

The weekend remains the busiest time for Canoe. It served 946.2 million impressions on Saturdays and 896.6 million on Sundays during Q3, more than any of the weekdays.

Canoe serves 36 million households that subscribe to Charter, Comcast and Cox.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.