Video Soars as Display Declines for UK Publishers

Vincent Flood 29 February, 2016 

AOPIn spite of the headwinds created by ad-blocking and the surging sucess of the  UK publishers saw video revenues rise by 43.1 percent in Q4 2015 when compared to the Q4 2014, according to new figures published by Deloitte and the Association of Online Publishers (AOP). The Publishers Revenue Index report (DPRI). The growth in video advertising can partly be attributed to the widespread adoption of outstream formats, which have greatly boosted supply, while many publishers have also started to see their video content strategies come to fruition over the last year or so.

Video’s growth however, comes at a cost to other digital formats: display advertising in Q4 2015 was down 2.3 percent when compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Overall, UK publishers experienced overall revenue growth of 5.2 percent in 2015.

UK Digital Publisher Advertising Revenue Growth
Q4 2015 vs. Q4 2014
AOP & Deloitte DPRI report
Digital advertising Format % Change*
Total 4.2%
Desktop Video 43.1%
Recruitment -2.2%
Sponsorship 19.9%
Display -2.3%
Classified 42.8%
Mobile -3.2%

In spite of the early fears about monetising mobile inventory, mobile continues to perform reasonably well for publishers. Advertising revenue has seen growth of 11 percent, largely driven by smartphone display advertising (43 percent increase), as well as the introduction of larger-screen smartphones that have successfully competed for tablet revenue (11 percent decline). mobile advertising revenue now accounts for 10.2 percent of total revenue, up from 9.6 percent in 2014.

UK Digital Publisher Advertising Growth
2015 (Year on year growth)
AOP & Deloitte DPRI Report, Q4 2015
  % Growth
Year Mobile** Video***
Q1 2015 80.0% 17.1%
Q2 2015 21.5% 15.1%
Q3 2015 21.9% 23.8%
Q4 2015 -3.2% 43.1%

“Sustained growth over a seven year period demonstrates how online publishers have continued to adapt to a rapidly changing online environment ­ this can be seen from the rise of video ad formats in 2015,” said Richard Reeves, Managing Director at AOP. In addition, the sharp increase in sponsorship revenue demonstrates publishers desire to introduce more dynamic and meaningful formats, in response to advertiser demands.”

Howard Davies, media partner at Deloitte, said, “New third party distribution platforms, as well as the emergence of mobile ad-blockers, were just some of the challenges faced by online publishers in 2015. Yet, on average, mobile device revenues demonstrated double-digit growth each month throughout 2015. This is a clear indication that the UK’s online publishers are adjusting their business models in order to develop mobile-optimised content.”

 

2016-02-29T13:14:31+01:00

About the Author:

Vincent Flood is the Founder & Editor-in-Chief at VideoWeek.
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