LinkedIn mounts belated push into video advertising
Professional network LinkedIn is mounting a belated push into video advertising having arrived late to the video sharing party, only offering members the ability to upload videos as recently as August.
Linkedin video / LinkedIn
As a distant speck on the rear mirror of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and the like LinkedIn has plenty of catching-up to do if it wants to persuade advertisers that it is a serious competitor in the autoplay video ad market.
Now owned by Microsoft the platform is doubling down on efforts to monetise its offering, with video content being particularly effective in this regard, being some 20 times more popular than other types of post and correspondingly lucrative.
Marci Dobrow, SVP of advertising at digital agency HYFN commented: “LinkedIn is the outlet for B2B and luxury brands to hit a very targeted audience, which can be a great strategy for any applicable client. And LinkedIn, specifically, is ripe for video— today’s audiences, whether they are B2B or in the market for a luxury car or technology, want something more tactile than just a static image.
"We, as the consumer, all make better and quicker decisions, big and small, when we feel like we are seeing, touching, feeling...that thing we want and/or need. Consumers in general want more brand storytelling, when making a decision to purchase a product or service, we want to know the narrative. That is what gives consumers confidence that they are making the right choices.”
Unusually for a social network advertising accounts for just 18% of LinkedIn’s revenue with the lion’s share of income derived from subscriptions and recruitment.
Last month LinkedIn rolled out native video functionality for the first time.