Digital video to become “as important as TV,” creative best practices emerging

According to a new video ad spending study conducted by Advertiser Perceptions on behalf of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), 68 percent of marketers and agency executives think that digital video will be as important than TV programming in the next three to five years. In parallel, Yahoo released a digital video report that explores video advertising best practices.

Source: Yahoo: Creative Best Practices Video Ads report, 4/16

According to Nielsen data cited in the Yahoo report, the greatest growth in digital video consumption is coming on mobile devices, while traditional TV viewing time has declined slightly. Indeed, mobile video is one of the key growth areas in the IAB report, as well.

The IAB found that marketers and advertisers anticipate spending more than $10 billion on digital video in 2016. This was based on a survey of 360 advertisers and marketing professionals.

Source: 2016 IAB Video Ad Spend Study

Despite the importance of mobile video, data in the Yahoo report argue that cross-platform digital video ads are more effective for brands than PC or mobile-only video campaigns. This is consistent with earlier research documenting the impact of cross-device campaigns on in-store conversions.

Source: Yahoo: Creative Best Practices Video Ads report, 4/16

The Yahoo report goes on to document a number of video creative best practices. Below is an abridged summary of those recommendations:

• Brand logos should be “large and clearly visible.”
• Include calls to action in video ads.
• The brand can be introduced at any point in the ad without impact on metrics.
• Use various “ad tones” (e.g., funny, dramatic) “to drive Millennials down the purchase funnel.”
• Ads “must be optimized for screen alignment” — Horizontal Landscape and Vertical Portrait alignments perform best.
• 15-second native video ads “drive greater recall and purchase intent than longer video units.”
• Use auto-start ads when it comes to native video.

The full Yahoo video report, with further discussion of these findings, is available here.