Video advertising is where it’s at for any marketer or brand that wants hit their business goals. Recent research by Zenith reveals that global internet advertising expenditure will reach US$205bn in 2017 and will hit a significant milestone by surpassing TV ads.

And if internet advertising is key, then mobile is bigger than ever. This is confirmed by the latest IAB and PwC report, which states that spending on mobile display ads will overtake desktop display this year and social media ads will play a key role. This data is backed up by the Zenith forecast on social media advertising spend, which found it will reach US$55bn in 2019. 

With this in mind, Google, Facebook, & co. must think carefully about their ad offer and work strategically to ensure brands continue to trust their platforms (we all remember what happened in the  recent YouTube crisis when brands lost confidence).

The rise and importance of mobile is also clearly highlighted in the AOL “State of Industry Video” report: it’s a fact that 80% of consumers check constantly their mobile phone and are watching more and more online video (a total of 5 minutes daily). Mobile overtakes desktop for checking news and watching video content.

The popularity of online video is driving marketers’ choices and making them conscious of the best way to engage their audiences.

Video ads strengthen relationships with the brand and give consumers a strong call to action. This is demonstrated by research by Teads and Global Web Index on “The Millennial Fragrance Shopper”. This research provides a nice case study on the behaviour of the wanted most demographic any marketing campaign: millennials.

The marketing industry is our course affected by online video and needs to quickly adapt to it. Marketers are shifting more and more of their ad budget to mobile, meaning they are expecting much from video content and valuing branded video as key to strategy this year.

What’s next then? VR and AR will play a strategic role in the future of online video ads. Some of the first steps towards this were seen at WMC earlier this year, where Adobe presented advertising solutions for virtual reality. Marketers are particularly moving towards VR and AR in video ads because of promises these formats are more engaging, increase brand awareness, and, last but not least, because they can’t be stopped by ad blockers. (You can read more on this subject in this study by Vibrant media.)

Underlining the importance of video ads, is how strongly FB & Co are pushing advertisers to use the format on their platforms. These channels know that video content helps engage brands’ audiences. A very interesting infographic from Hubspot perfectly describes the importance of this data. And this is particularly important if we consider that brands like Adidas just announced they are stopping TV based ads to focus on digital channels only.

It’s also no surprise that the Interpublic Group’s Magna forecast predicts that digital advertising will grow by double-digits in 2017, with social video as a key driver and social platforms competing to offer new video ad formats to help marketers reach and engage better with their audience.

A challenging but exciting time out there for all of us! What’s your video ad strategy? Tweet me @agostinellialdo.
If you liked this post, you should read “Mobile advertising: innovate or lose out”