We all know that “A picture is worth a thousand words”. So, how many words does a moving picture worth? Millions?
Thanks to the global penetration rate of the broadband internet, video advertising became one of the hottest advertising formats. Agencies, publishers, and naturally advertisers are looking to make of most of the digital video advertising.
The Demand for Digital Video Advertising
The demand for digital video advertising is rising. The first proof of that statement is the share of video advertising in the publishers’ ad space inventory. In 2018, video advertising accounted for only 20% of the ad inventory of 20% of publishers. In 2020, 32% of publishers made 29% of their advertising revenue from video ads.
Mobile video was the key driver behind the rise of digital video advertising. In 2018/2019, advertisers spent 50% of their digital video ad budget to mobile. This figure rose to 73% in 2020.
Video Formats
The most popular video ad format in 2020 was in-stream ads. At least 60% of advertisers published pre-, mid-, or post-roll ads on video platforms and social media. And a remarkable majority of these ads were short. Most of the video ads were less than 30 seconds.
Drives
To be honest, when it comes to advertisers’ and advertising agencies’ motivations for video ads, there is not something new. Brand building (58%), competitive advantage (50%), and better targeting/personalization of video advertising (50%) are the top three drivers for the digital video advertising investment amongst advertisers. It’s fair to say that most of the advertisers consider digital video advertising as digitized TV ads.
New Formats
The main drive behind the rise of digital video advertising in 2020 was the shift of media buying strategies. But real change will come with the change in creative approaches.
New formats like shoppable video ads were introduced in 2020. We are still in its early days, but we can say that these new ad formats can change advertisers’ and advertising agencies’ creative mindsets.
Measurement
Like most of the new advertising forms, measurement is the main barrier to digital video advertising. 35% of publishers noted campaign measurement and reporting as a key challenge. Also, most of the advertisers are unclear about the role of digital advertising in their total revenue.
There is no doubt that digital video advertising will be one of the hottest topics in the upcoming years, not only in 2020. In 2020, the shift started with the change in media plans in favor of video ads. But there is still a long way to go.
