What advertisers want from online video in 2018
Despite placing great faith in online video as a means of connecting with audiences in the near to mid-term future, marketers are largely unsatisfied with their advertising strategies in the space thus far.
Faacebook and Google currently dominate online video ad spend, but marketers expect to spend increasing amounts on OTT services
A survey released today (November 28) indicates that only 6% of marketers would currently characterize themselves as “innovators” when it comes to their use of online video. Albeit the vast majority want to improve their efforts in the space, with 80% of correspondents reporting that they will increase their video advertising efforts in 2018.
The report, entitled “Where are Brand Marketers Taking Their Video Strategy in 2018?”, was conducted by video adtech outfit Innovid along with Brand Innovators and queried 140 marketers on their attitudes around their own brand’s video advertising strategy. This included: their attitudes around data integration; how they assess their success; as well as their video advertising plans for 2018.
Participants in the survey cited three principal reasons for their comparative company’s lack of leadership in the video advertising space, primarily a lack of: budget; in-house expertise and prioritization across the wider organization.
Marketers cite funding as the gating factor in video advertising volume for the vast majority of marketers, although 79% of participating companies will increase their video advertising efforts in 2018.
Facebook and YouTube currently dominate when it comes to advertisers' video ad spend, while OTT video platforms – such as Hulu and Roku – currently account for 9% of video ad spend. Ad spend on such formats is expected to increase “significantly” in the 12 months to come.
The survey also found that interactive TV ads are currently underutilized because there is a general lack of knowledge about the capabilities that current video advertising technologies provide, according to the findings.
It also found that 90% of marketers understand the value of using digital key performance indicators (KPIs) when it comes to measuring the effectiveness of an online ad campaign, as opposed to using more traditional KPIs.
However, 35% of marketers rely completely on their media agencies when it comes to online video advertising expertise, according to the study. It also suggested that marketers are largely are uninformed about the costs associated with deploying customized video ads, with 45% reporting that they don’t believe that creative can be customized into hundreds of variants for less than $20,000.
Beth-Ann Eason, Innovid, said that brands need to select partners with expertise in video marketing strategies in order for them to solve real business problems through data-driven creative campaigns with concrete measurement and results.
Eason stated: “Many marketers seem to be coming down hard on their own video marketing efforts, but it is also clear that there is so much untapped potential and optimism about video marketing and its impact on consumers to be harnessed in the year to come.”
Also commenting on the study, Marc Sternberg, cofounder of Brand Innovators, added: “The results show the lack of widespread understanding of the current state of video, budgetary barriers and the unmet potential that video advertising has to connect with consumers on a one-to-one basis. The results also demonstrate the optimism of marketers and the huge potential that video marketing has to really explode in the next couple years.”
Download a free version of the study here