Fresh data from Parks Associates, however, suggests ad-supported streaming platforms are more palatable -- and probably going to be more profitable -- than most people might think. As it turns out, a bunch of digital video viewers are already clicking on a good number of the TV ads they're seeing.

Consumer-technology market research outfit Parks Associates reports that 23% of ad-supported streaming video watchers "often" click on a video ad they see injected into their programming, with the same proportion indicating they actually buy goods and services being promoted within those advertisements. These figures jibe with a similar report published by TiVo last month, indicating roughly 22% of consumers engaged with a digital video ad during the second quarter of this year, up from roughly 21% in the same quarter a year earlier.

In light of Parks Associates' data on the growing acceptance of -- and clicks on -- streaming ads, the company may well be underestimating the potential of this endeavor. Ditto for its shareholders, as well as Walt Disney shareholders' expectations of ad-supported Disney+.
 

From the article, "Prediction: Ads Could Make Disney and Netflix Investors a Ton of Money" by James Brumley.