Advertisers shifting spend from broadcast to video, Adap.tv European marketplace report finds

Next year, agencies expect online video budgets to increase by a third, the report found.

Meanwhile, ad viewability was considered by more than two thirds of agencies (67 per cent) as the most pressing concern in the space, while 57 per cent of agencies identified ad verification and ad fraud as their biggest worries.

However, most of the agencies surveyed said they wanted to know more about ad fraud, although they were confident nonetheless that technology would solve the problem.

“With the advent of new data-driven practices – including the rapid adoption of private marketplaces and the growth of programmatic TV – there are new opportunities (and obstacles) that advertisers, agencies and publishers must understood in order to continue to capitalise on consumer demand for video,” the report said.

While publishers surveyed in the study said selling directly to brands was still the most common way of selling video advertising, the report predicted that likely to change in the year ahead. While 57 per cent of agencies are currently buying from a private video ad marketplace, the report predicted that figure will rise by 71 per cent within 12 months. Similarly, 42 per cent of publishers are currently running a private video ad marketplace and the figure is expected to increase to 76 per cent.

“DSPs may dominate as a buying channel for European ad agencies, but private marketplaces came in a surprising second,” the report said. “One possible reason is rapid agency adoption, with 57 per cent of respondents reporting that they are currently buying video in this type of environment.

“This also explains why European agencies aren’t going publisher direct with the same frequency as other programmatic channels.

“Similarly, publishers are seeing a huge opportunity by selling through private marketplaces, offering them increased control and visibility over which buyers have access to their inventory. More than 40 per cent operate a private marketplace today, and that number will jump to 76 per cent in 2015.”

The report identified data as key in video ad buying across Europe, with 90 per cent of agencies saying they apply targeting to their video ad buys, and 89 per cent using 3rd-party data.

“They appear to enjoy a close working relationship with their brand clients to facilitate targeting as well, as 68 per cent of them use first-party data to target,” the report said. “Because only a quarter of agencies (26 per cent) are using second-party data to target their advertising, client data sharing is more common than is sharing user data with media partners.”

The report also predicted that “all but a few” cross-media buys will be programmatic by 2015. Two thirds (67 per cent) of agencies already use programmatic in cross-screen planning and buying, including on campaigns across mobile and linear TV. The figure is expected to rise to 86 per cent by this time next year.

Programmatic video platform Adap.tv was acquired by AOL last year.