[This is a sponsored post for Xandr, written by Daniel Clayman, Xandr’s VP Northern Europe]
As the boundaries between traditional broadcasting and online viewing blur, households are awash with devices for consuming video content.
Back in 2014, people watched under 40 minutes a day of digital video and over three hours a day of traditional TV, according to research by eMarketer. By 2019, online video consumption doubled to one hour and 17 minutes, with TV slipping to two and a half hours.
A second, parallel trend is the increase in consumer devices used to watch online content. Xandr research shows that mobile is now the dominant device for watching video, accounting for over 70 percent of viewing time spent. In the UK specifically, 57 percent of consumers are viewing content on their smartphones, compared to 51 percent viewing on smart TVs, 41 percent on laptops, 34 percent on tablets and 9 percent on gaming consoles.
As traditional “linear” TV’s viewership declines, advertising buyers will be tasked with effectively communicating brand messages to individual consumers across multiple devices. This concept of developing “cross-screen” strategies will apply from the tools used to partnerships formed, in order to achieve reach across intended audiences wherever, whenever and however they are watching.
While the increasing number of consumer touchpoints can be viewed as a challenge, it also offers exciting new opportunities to engage with consumers. When done right, cross-screen campaigns maximise audience reach and gather advanced insights into user pathways.
When Santander needed to increase loan submissions, they deployed an ad campaign targeting a specific audience who were most likely to convert upon seeing an ad. At the same time, their media agency (Xaxis Denmark) wanted to ensure reach, conversions, and insights were maximised. In order to do this, they leveraged Xandr’s strategic buying platform, Xandr Invest.
Xandr Invest’s Cross Device with Tapad Graph provides buyers with a global, privacy-safe and verified solution combining probabilistic and deterministic signals to connect consumers across billions of devices. Leveraging Cross Device with Tapad Graph enabled Xaxis Denmark and Santander to buy more efficiently through more accurately managing the number of exposures within their target audience across devices, and ultimately reach more unique users. The three-month campaign produced some great results: Santander saw a 67 percent increase in conversion rates and a 34 percent decrease in cost per acquisition. Santander was also able to more accurately visualise the incremental lift between devices while gleaning valuable user pathway insights for their target group.
With cross-screen targeting also comes the need to accurately measure and report conversions, after multiple engagements across different devices. With these insights, marketers can tailor messaging to consumer interests and behaviour, including the devices they use, while better managing ad frequency. In doing so, they maximise working media dollars while improving the consumer experience.
As digital video and advanced TV, which encompasses the likes of addressable TV, OTT, CTV and data-driven linear, continue to grow, we expect new tools and solutions to emerge, meeting the growing needs of both advertisers and publishers in this new landscape. Indeed, publishers now need to invest in selling platforms that allow them to expand the ways in which they package, sell, and measure the performance of their inventory across all screens and devices.
It’s just the start but cross-screen capabilities will soon become table stakes in advertising buying and selling platforms. While the fragmentation of viewer attention and supply across channels undoubtedly forces advertisers to evolve their strategies, the change presents more opportunities for high-quality consumer engagement than ever before.
