Live streaming has gone mainstream in New Zealand, evolving beyond sport to become a multi-genre viewing environment, according to research from programmatic advertising company Magnite.
Magnite's Inside the Live Experience study surveyed 900 New Zealanders and found more than half of live viewers stream live sports and news, while nearly one-third watch live events and TV shows.
Connected TV has emerged as the dominant screen for this behaviour, with 80% of viewers using CTV to stream live content and 56% doing so at least once a week.
Live streaming on CTV is also increasingly a shared experience.
Some 64% of viewers stream live content in shared home spaces and 63% regularly watch with an average of three other people.
Nick Henderson, commercial lead for New Zealand at Magnite, said the findings should prompt advertisers to rethink how they approached live streaming as a channel.
"Live streaming should no longer be treated as a single-event buy or a sports-only opportunity," said Henderson.
"For advertisers, the opportunity is to plan beyond the main event, use live streaming as a premium brand-building environment, and extend campaigns across pre-event, live and post-event content to reach highly engaged audiences when they are most receptive."
The research supports that approach, finding audiences remain engaged well beyond the main event.
Twenty-nine per cent of viewers regularly consume pre-event coverage and 32% remain tuned in for post-event coverage.
New Zealand viewers are also receptive to advertising in live environments, with 73% open to the same or more ads per hour in live content compared to on-demand.
In the study viewers reported accepting an average of 7.6 minutes of ads per hour during live content.
Second-screen behaviour is adding another layer of opportunity.
More than half of viewers regularly use a second screen while live streaming on TV, with 22% using it to shop online.
65% of actions taken after seeing a live stream ad occur either during or immediately after the live stream, while 30% of viewers said they were likely to engage with shoppable ads during live streams.
Live sport remains the strongest environment for advertiser impact within the live streaming mix, with more than a third of viewers identifying it as the content type where brands get the most attention.
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