Co-viewing Redefines Attention for APAC Marketers, PubMatic Presents New Opportunities in Programmatic Advertising
PubMatic, a leading AI-powered ad-tech company, announced new research focusing on co-viewing as a high-value, underutilized opportunity in programmatic advertising in APAC. The report highlights that co-viewing on CTV offers a highly engaging and converting advertising environment, providing stable and targetable ad opportunities.
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- 📰 Published: May 11, 2026 at 17:00
- 🔍 Collected: May 11, 2026 at 08:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 11, 2026 at 08:41 (9 min after Collected)
May 11, 2026, Tokyo – PubMatic, a leading AI-powered ad tech company delivering digital advertising performance, has announced new research findings focused on "co-viewing," one of the most valuable and underutilized critical opportunities in programmatic advertising in APAC. While mobile drives individual daily viewing, television remains a place where audiences gather and concentrate on watching together. As a result, CTV has evolved from merely a means of achieving reach into an environment that delivers high attention and conversions, offering stable and targetable advertising opportunities.
The report, "Co-viewing for Enhanced Attention: Unlocking the Power of Shared Screens Programmatically," is based on a survey of 3,500 respondents in Australia, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It reveals that co-viewing moments on CTV represent one of the highest-performing advertising environments for APAC marketers today. This data provides a strong rationale for programmatic CTV to hold a greater weight in regional media plans.
### Shared Screens are Where Attention is Most Focused
Co-viewing (the act of watching video content with multiple people) is a routine and recurring habit in APAC households, creating a measurably superior advertising environment compared to individual viewing. When multiple people watch together, the effects are further enhanced:
- 42% higher ad attention compared to individual viewing
- 53% show improved brand recall
- 70% are more likely to take action after ad exposure
- 44% exhibit stronger emotional responses to content and ads
- 43% talk about or react to ads during viewing
These results demonstrate a fundamentally different quality of consumer attention, directly linking to the outcomes and performance increasingly demanded by advertisers.
### CTV is the Primary Screen for Co-viewing and is Underutilized
This survey confirmed that 78% of co-viewing in APAC occurs on CTV. Furthermore, co-viewing concentrates on predictable advertising slots during weekend evenings, particularly Saturday prime time (5 PM to 9 PM) and night (9 PM to 11 PM).
Content categories such as family programs, movies, TV series, and live events are prone to generate co-viewing. These are not hard-to-find opportunities but continuously occurring, brand-safe, and already programmatically exploitable inventory.
### Addressing the Actual Needs of APAC Advertisers
Understanding where attention originates is only part of the equation. Efficiently leveraging it is more critical. PubMatic's programmatic CTV is designed to bridge this gap.
- **Transparency and Cost Efficiency:** Programmatic buying allows advertisers direct insight into delivery destinations, costs, and audiences, eliminating the opacity that previously made premium CTV access difficult for performance-driven buyers. PubMatic's supply path is designed for efficiency, ensuring spending reaches high-quality environments.
- **Performance and Results:** Co-viewing data demonstrates that CTV is more than just a branding measure. With 70% of co-viewers more likely to take action after ad exposure and significantly higher brand recall than individual viewing, the performance value of CTV is no longer theoretical. PubMatic's tools and proprietary data enable the planning, execution, and measurement of outcomes themselves, beyond just impressions.
- **Workflow Efficiency and Access to Advanced Technologies:** To reach co-viewing audiences at the right time, such as during Saturday night live sports broadcasts or content tailored to specific genres, advanced targeting needs to be executed simply. PubMatic's live sports marketplace and CTV solutions provide programmatic access to premium live inventory, allowing campaigns to be flexibly deployed for critical moments.
### Southeast Asia is the Highest-Converting Co-viewing Market in the Region
Audiences in Southeast Asia represent a market that shows particularly strong signals for conversion from co-viewing within APAC. Co-viewing tends to occur more spontaneously in this region (41% vs 40%), forming natural audiences in real-time. This is precisely programmatic.
The report, "Co-viewing for Enhanced Attention: Unlocking the Power of Shared Screens Programmatically," is based on a survey of 3,500 respondents in Australia, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It reveals that co-viewing moments on CTV represent one of the highest-performing advertising environments for APAC marketers today. This data provides a strong rationale for programmatic CTV to hold a greater weight in regional media plans.
### Shared Screens are Where Attention is Most Focused
Co-viewing (the act of watching video content with multiple people) is a routine and recurring habit in APAC households, creating a measurably superior advertising environment compared to individual viewing. When multiple people watch together, the effects are further enhanced:
- 42% higher ad attention compared to individual viewing
- 53% show improved brand recall
- 70% are more likely to take action after ad exposure
- 44% exhibit stronger emotional responses to content and ads
- 43% talk about or react to ads during viewing
These results demonstrate a fundamentally different quality of consumer attention, directly linking to the outcomes and performance increasingly demanded by advertisers.
### CTV is the Primary Screen for Co-viewing and is Underutilized
This survey confirmed that 78% of co-viewing in APAC occurs on CTV. Furthermore, co-viewing concentrates on predictable advertising slots during weekend evenings, particularly Saturday prime time (5 PM to 9 PM) and night (9 PM to 11 PM).
Content categories such as family programs, movies, TV series, and live events are prone to generate co-viewing. These are not hard-to-find opportunities but continuously occurring, brand-safe, and already programmatically exploitable inventory.
### Addressing the Actual Needs of APAC Advertisers
Understanding where attention originates is only part of the equation. Efficiently leveraging it is more critical. PubMatic's programmatic CTV is designed to bridge this gap.
- **Transparency and Cost Efficiency:** Programmatic buying allows advertisers direct insight into delivery destinations, costs, and audiences, eliminating the opacity that previously made premium CTV access difficult for performance-driven buyers. PubMatic's supply path is designed for efficiency, ensuring spending reaches high-quality environments.
- **Performance and Results:** Co-viewing data demonstrates that CTV is more than just a branding measure. With 70% of co-viewers more likely to take action after ad exposure and significantly higher brand recall than individual viewing, the performance value of CTV is no longer theoretical. PubMatic's tools and proprietary data enable the planning, execution, and measurement of outcomes themselves, beyond just impressions.
- **Workflow Efficiency and Access to Advanced Technologies:** To reach co-viewing audiences at the right time, such as during Saturday night live sports broadcasts or content tailored to specific genres, advanced targeting needs to be executed simply. PubMatic's live sports marketplace and CTV solutions provide programmatic access to premium live inventory, allowing campaigns to be flexibly deployed for critical moments.
### Southeast Asia is the Highest-Converting Co-viewing Market in the Region
Audiences in Southeast Asia represent a market that shows particularly strong signals for conversion from co-viewing within APAC. Co-viewing tends to occur more spontaneously in this region (41% vs 40%), forming natural audiences in real-time. This is precisely programmatic.