Over 43% of agency buyers say that mobile video (20.8%) and online video (22.6%) will see the greatest increases in spending in 2013, according to BrightRoll, a video advertising platform, who have released the findings from its 2012 UK Video Advertising Report (worth noting that 31.1% thought mobile display would see the largest increase). Less than one percent thought TV would see that type of growth, although it seems likely that broadcasters who are fully participating in online video will also benefit from that growth.
This was Brightroll’s second annual survey which gathers insights from ‘more than 100 top decision makers and media buyers’ at UK advertising agencies. Other findings from the study include:
- As UK budgets shift to mobile and online, advertisers are clear about the need for stronger success metrics – 29 percent want better campaign measurement tools, 22 percent would like to see research around the GRP comparison to TV, and 17 percent want research on proven ROI.
- When it comes to digital video ad spend, 44 percent of advertisers cite CPV as the most important metric, compared to just 17 percent in 2011.
- More than 90 percent of UK advertisers believe research around the efficacy of digital video provides value to the client, even though only 30 percent have conducted research.
Video’s targeting capabilities are an obvious draw for advertisers. In the UK, more than half of all survey respondents (53 percent) said targeting was the most valuable aspect of online video for clients. Interestingly, demographic targeting (35 percent) is the preferred technique among UK advertisers, followed by behavioural targeting (25 percent). However, in the US and Canada the majority of respondents prefer behavioural targeting, quite possibly because of the fact that the US is ahead of the Europe when it comes to the use of data.
Perhaps surprisingly, one of the more interesting parts of the report is answers to the question ‘Where are you most inclined to buy video from?’, with answers from respondents in the UK, USA, Canada and Germany. The striking thing is how different markets are in terms of how they operate. For instance, in the UK, 41% of video buyers said they were most likely to buy video from a broadcasters. The Canadians were a little higher, with 49.6% opting for broadcast first, but in the USA just 6.7% and in Germany that drops again to 4.9%.
There were similarly wide disparities when it came to buying directly from publishers. In Germany, 63.6% of video buyers said they were most likely to buy from publishers, in USA that drops to a respectable 34.3%, but in the UK only 10.5% said they were likely to go directly to the publishers.
So are UK publishers missing a trick here? Possibly, although another possible explanation is market size. Smaller UK publishers sometimes find it difficult to scale video and are therefore more likely over their inventory to ad networks and exchanges if they do it at all. This isn’t a problem for publishers in the US of course, nor in Germany. Another contributing factor might be the German sales houses who often represent various types of inventory, from premium right down to remnant, meaning that less inventory is likely to be handed over to the ad networks and exchanges.
When asked what was holding video back most, the top answer (36%) was that the price is too high, reflecting in all likelihood the shortage of supply at the premium end of the market. Seventeen percent said that poor inventory quality was an issue, while 15 percent pointed to the lack of targeting capabilities.
