Report: Mobile Video Ads 5X More Engaging Than Standard Banners

Engagement on video was 5x that of standard banners on average, according to a new study from Millennial Media. Advertisers in the technology and business services vertical saw 822 percent higher engagement from mobile video ads, and retail campaigns topped 628 percent higher engagement.

Adoption of mobile video escalated faster in some vertical than in others. Just 10 percent of automotive campaigns used mobile video ads, for example, compared to 27 percent of entertainment campaigns and 22 percent of consumer goods campaigns in 2014.

Looking at the goals of mobile campaigns generally, the most frequent objective was brand awareness and engagement (37 percent in 2014, up from 22 percent in 2013). Advertisers used video and retargeting ads primarily in their awareness and engagement campaigns.

Driving site or app traffic was the second most popular objective, yet this goal appears to have fallen out of favor somewhat this year with 24 percent of campaigns in 2104 having traffic as a goal compared to 30 percent in 2013. Product launch promotions also fell from 5 percent in 2013 to just 3 percent in 2014.

Retailers Use Mobile Ads To Drive In-Store Traffic & Mobile Commerce

Retail ran more mobile campaigns with the goal of driving in-store traffic this year (16 percent in 2014 versus 10 percent in 2013). This trend is certain to continue as online to offline attribution keeps improving.

Advertisers were more likely to include retail promotions actions in their mobile ads, in which advertisers promoted a sale or discount on a product or service, in 2014 than in 2013 (15 percent versus 10 percent).

Yet, isolating retailer campaigns, location and mobile commerce actions were more prevalent in retailers’ mobile campaigns than promotions. More than half (53 percent) of retail campaigns included a location action and 44 percent include a mobile commerce action in the ads.

The full report is available for download here.