Wurl’s CTV Trends Report: Advertiser Edition

Introduction

Ad-supported streaming TV is quickly becoming one of the most effective ways for advertisers to reach and connect with audiences. Importantly, viewership is still climbing, driven in large part by the increasing availability of premium free content and affinity for “new-to-you” TV classics. But what’s also exciting is how people are watching — sampling more channels, spending more time per channel, and showing consistent demand across a variety of genres.

Wurl’s aggregated viewership data from thousands of free streaming TV channels, sometimes labeled as FAST, reveals three big takeaways for advertisers:

• Free streaming channels have solidified their position as a core part of household media consumption.

• Growth in viewing hours on free streaming channels is fueled by a combination of more households tuning in as well as increasing time spent per household.

• The sticky nature of streaming content, combined with the broad range of genres available on free channels, allows marketers to engage everyone from mass audiences to niche communities with tailored messaging.

Free Streaming TV has gained ground in homes and viewing time

Streaming continues to cement its role as a key way people watch television — and the latest data points to streaming’s growth on two fronts: household reach and total hours of viewing.

Over the past 12 months, the number of monthly active households watching free, ad-supported streaming channels has grown by 12%, reflecting sustained momentum in adoption. This upward trend in reach underscores that free streaming channels are still attracting new audiences, even as the market matures.

But reach tells only part of the story. Another compelling trend is what happens after viewers arrive: they stay. Average daily Hours of Viewing (HOV) per household have increased by nearly 16% year over year, indicating that free streaming TV is not just increasingly popular, but sticky.

Average daily viewing hours per household is rising

Taken together, the lift in average daily households and HOV per household produced a nearly 29% increase in total HOV across ad-supported streaming channels over the past twelve months, charted below.

Steady growth in total hours of viewing

Viewer Behavior is evolving: more time, more channels, more exploration

Over the past year, the average channel session duration — the amount of time viewers spend watching a single channel before switching — has grown 25%.

This number adds weight to the argument that audiences are increasingly finding quality, engaging content that they enjoy enjoy on free ad supported streaming channels.

Additionally, our latest data shows important insights into how households engage with free streaming channels as they become more familiar and dependent on the content available:

• Loyalty to core channels is strong. Most households spend the majority of their time with a small set of favorites — typically 3 to 4 channels, depending on the platform.

• Households are watching more channels than they were a year ago.  Across streaming platforms, we consistently measured year-over-year increases in the average number of channels viewed per household. Depending on the platform, channel exploration was up from 10% on the low end to 50% on the high end.

Why it matters:

• As households spend more time and engage with a wider range of channels, viewers are discovering the extensive library of premium content available through free streaming TV.

• Growth in unique households and increased engagement per household empowers advertisers to run campaigns on streaming channels that can deliver on both reach and scalable impact.

• For marketing teams at streaming companies, these stats highlight the ongoing challenge of dispersed audiences and fragmentation. The average number of streaming channels viewed per household still trails linear TV, emphasizing the need to invest in advertising in order to ensure content discovery.

Genre trends highlight audience diversity and reach hotspots

For our genre share analysis, our findings show that free streaming TV mirrors the breadth of traditional TV, with strong viewership for both scripted and unscripted programming.

Reality continues to provide the greatest household reach among streaming TV genres

Reality (10.9%), Drama (9.4%), and Documentary (7.6%) continue to be the top-performing genres by household reach, underscoring their consistent audience demand and importance in shaping free streaming TV inventory. Together, these genres account for a significant share of overall viewing.

More broadly, if you look at what viewership genres must be added together to reach approximately 90% households, the list would have to include the top 30 genres. This highlights both the diversity of available content and the expansive opportunities for advertisers to engage audiences across a wide spectrum of programming.

It’s also worth noting News’ important role in the free ad-supported streaming landscape. Over the past year, news accounted for an average of 8.5% of viewing hours (even though it represents 5.6% household reach) — a steady, meaningful share that reflects consistent demand even outside major breaking events. In November 2024, coverage of the U.S. presidential election lifted news viewership to 9.5% of total viewing, showing how live events can spark sharp spikes while underscoring the enduring role of news as a core pillar of free streaming TV.

Why it matters:

• For advertisers, these genre trends underscore the scale and diversity of audiences available on free streaming TV. High-reach genres can provide significant advertiser scale, while the wide distribution of viewing across 30 genres creates opportunities to fine-tune contextual targeting strategies. Marketers can, and should, adopt different strategies for aligning messages with mass-market or niche audiences.

• News remains an important part of streaming viewers’ media consumption. Any worries that audiences would shy away from news after the election seem unfounded – at least in free streaming channels.

• New scene-level targeting on free streaming TV can take advertisers a step further, pinpointing brand-safe, emotionally relevant moments — for example, placing an ad alongside a feel-good news story instead of a crime report — to boost both safety and message impact.

Lower fill rates signal opportunity for advertisers

The ad fill rate—measuring the percentage of available ad inventory that is actually filled witw paid impressions—offers a direct view into the health of the streaming ad economy. Last year, fill rates trended lower than in previous years, reflecting a key dynamic in the current CTV landscape: explosive growth in content supply and viewership has outpaced advertiser demand.

A closer look at the data reveals a consistent seasonal pattern: every quarter starts off with lower fill rates than the quarter before, with January regularly representing the lowest point of the year. The annual trends mirror budget seasonality, where advertiser spend ramps up toward the end of quarters as well as in the later months of the year as the winter holidays approach. Interestingly, October 2024 was a standout month, with fill rates briefly spiking ahead of the U.S. national elections—but even that uptick didn’t reach the highs seen in earlier years.

2025 continues the trend of lower fill rates, due to increased supply

Why it matters:

• For advertisers, the decline in ad fill rates highlights a market where content supply is expanding faster than demand, creating untapped opportunities to reach engaged viewers at scale and signalling that advertisers may need to adjust their media mix more rapidly to keep pace with consumption.

• This environment also benefits buyers who adopt smarter, more targeted strategies. As streaming platforms prioritize metadata, contextual segmentation, and innovative ad formats to facilitate more demand for their inventory, advertisers can align creative with content in ways that enhance attention and lift.

Key Takeways

Free, ad-supported streaming channels are now a core component of the media landscape

Viewership is growing, channel session lengths are increasing, and channel exploration is rising. Advertisers should treat ad-supported channels as a key part of any streaming media buy.

Loyalists and explorers shape viewing patterns

Many households still watch just 3–4 core channels, but more are branching out and sampling content more widely. For advertisers, this means the dual advantage of consistent frequency plus a w