Pluto TV will surpass $1 billion in US ad revenues in 2022

In December, we published our first forecast for Pluto TV ad revenues. Pluto TV, a free streaming service operated by ViacomCBS, will receive $786.7 million in net US ad revenues in 2021, a 77.7% increase over the previous year. In 2022, Pluto TV’s net US ad revenues will surpass $1 billion annually for the first time.

The growth of Pluto TV’s ad business is reflective of how advertisers are funneling more money toward streaming video. In a December 2020 survey from Advertiser Perceptions cited by Next TV, 42% of US agency and marketing professionals said they would increase ad spending directed to OTT streaming services over the next 12 months, while just 2% planned to decrease it. Most respondents, 56%, said their OTT ad spending would remain about the same as last year.

Nonetheless, more respondents expected to increase their spending on OTT (42%) than on any other advanced TV option, including virtual multichannel video programming distributors (36%), data-driven linear TV (28%), and addressable linear TV (25%).

Fully 60% of OTT and connected TV (CTV) ad dollars will come from linear TV budgets this year, according to a November 2020 poll by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) of US agencies and brand marketers with digital video in their 2021 media budgets. Digital display will be the second-largest source, accounting for 37% of OTT and CTV ad spending.

Remaining OTT and CTV ad dollars will pull from a mix of sources including out-of-home, print, and audio.