Social Media Has Become a Video Powerhouse, but Do TV Advertisers Care?

Big question #1: How much time do we spend watching social video?

Daily time spent in minutes with social video according to eMarketer:
1) 2017 - 13m
2) 2018 - 16m (↑ 23%)
3) 2019 - 20m (↑ 25%)
4) 2020 - 28m (↑ 40%)
5) 2021 - 36m (↑ 29%)
6) 2022 - 43m (↑ 19%)
7) 2023 - 48m (↑ 12%)
8) 2024P - 52m (↑ 8%)
9) 2025P - 53m (↑ 2%)
10) 2026P - 54m (↑ 2%)

Why this matters #1: Time spent with total TV (linear and streaming) is only up 1% over the past 15 years. Streaming is taking time directly from linear TV rather than growing the pie.

Why this matters #2: Social video is growing the attention pie.  Since 2010, the time we spend watching video has grown 39% (↑ 1h 54m).  97% of that growth has come from mobile/desktop and social video.

Big question #2: What share of social media time is with video?

Share of time spent with social that is video, according to eMarketer:
1) 2017 - 24%
2) 2018 - 29%
3) 2019 - 34%
4) 2020 - 40%
5) 2021 - 48%
6) 2022 - 54%
7) 2023 - 57%
8) 2024P - 60%
9) 2025P - 61%
10) 2026P - 62%

Big question #3: Do more people watch linear TV or social video?

Quick answer: For now, it's linear TV, but eMarketer predicts that social video will surpass linear TV in terms of reach in 2025

Monthly reach in 2025, according to eMarketer:
1) YouTube - 246M
2) Social video - 236M
3) Linear TV - 229M

Big question #4: How large is the social video ad market?

Social video ad spending (YoY growth) according to eMarketer:
1) 2019 - $11.3B (↑ 33%)
2) 2020 - $15.3B (↑ 36%)
3) 2021 - $24.1B (↑ 58%)
4) 2022 - $31.1B (↑ 29%)
5) 2023 - $39.2B (↑ 26%)
6) 2024P - $48.9B (↑ 25%)
7) 2025P - $56.6B (↑ 16%)
8) 2026P - $64.3B (↑ 14%)
9) 2027P - $73.0B (↑ 13%)
10) 2028P - $82.7B (↑ 13%)

Video ad spend by platform (% of total):
1) Linear TV - $59B (35%)
2) Social - $49B (29%)
3) Mobile/Desktop - $31B (18%)
4) Streaming TV - $29B (17%)
5) Total video - $168B

Bottom line: Getting the mix right between all video ad types is hard.  Looking at a weighted average above is more confusing when you factor in that the majority of advertisers who buy social video (29% of all video) buy $0 of TV advertising.  Less than 1% of all video advertisers in the U.S. buy TV advertising.

Big question #5: What forms of video have the highest revenue per hour?

Ad revenue per viewing hour by platform:
1) Social media - $0.62
2) Linear TV - $0.26
3) Streaming TV - $0.24

Wow: Social media generates 2X more advertising revenue per hour than either linear TV or streaming despite having $0 in content costs.

Ad revenue per viewing hour by content type:
1) NFL regular season (2021) - $2.95
2) Broadcast primetime (2021) - $2.46
3) Facebook - $1.04
4) Instagram - $0.95
5) Peacock - $0.42
6) WarnerBros Discovery- $0.36
7) Hulu - $0.31
8) Disney+ - $0.28
9) Netflix - $0.27
10) TikTok - $0.17

Flashback: Who Has the Best Economics in Convergent TV?

Big question #6: Which social platforms deliver the most time with video?

Daily time spent per user with video according to MIDG:
1) TikTok - 2.5 hours
2) Instagram - 2.5
3) Facebook - 2.3
4) YouTube 2.1
5) Discord - 0.9