Mobile video advertising has a huge future

2014 was an amazing year for mobile video ads, with more companies using them as an effective way to reach and engage a wider audience. According to a new eMarketer report, mobile video ads doubled last year, making it the fastest growing area in the whole advertising space.

2015 will surely be the year that mobile video advertising takes off, as a way for brands to get their message across, as well as a means to monetise mobile apps.

Here are some thoughts on why mobile video will explode in 2015.

Video ads make a huge impact on users.

In the mobile apps space, as freemium titles make up the vast majority of apps in the main stores, rewarded ads – i.e. those that sponsor premium content or currency – have become increasingly popular, and allow developers the ability to track how the ads increased user engagement. This type of ad is becoming almost a guaranteed approach to engage users, especially important for apps with a large freemium user base.

Although most rewarded adverts have a similar impact, it’s videos which remain the most popular, as they are entertaining for the target audiences, and represent a win-win for advertisers, consumers and developers alike.

Developers are learning how and when to integrate video ads

Video is arguably a more user-friendly format than all other ad types. As developers learn how to integrate video ads into their apps, it’s also becoming more directly relevant to in-app experiences too. Video ads are most effective when they’re integrated into apps in a way which allows developers to deliver videos at specific moments that fit into the context of what their user is doing.

As far as games are concerned, this might mean providing ways to extend gameplay by watching a video in order to gain more points or continues. Other users may desire premium features but don’t really want to pay for it, so again they could be given the chance to watch a selection of videos to access the locked content. These kind of experiences can be achieved now, allowing developers to deliver the right rewarded-video ads at the right time and in the right context. It’s also beneficial for brands, who can be seen as providing top tier entertainment content without users having to pay hard cash.

Ad dollars move from TV to mobile

It has long been predicted that advertising would eventually become more important on mobile devices than in traditional mediums such as television. Today, consumers spend more time on their mobile devices than watching TV, and brands are starting to move their advertising focus and budgets to meet the new challenges that mobile presents. The IAB found that 75% of advertising executives planned to shift their budget from TV to video ads, whilst eMarketer predicts that by 2018, digital video ad spending will exceed that of television for the first time – and half of that spending will be on mobile.

App trailer video ads are leading to more app installs

Video trailers, such as those available on Apple’s App Store, are an extremely effective way to drive the highest value users to purchase or download those apps. It’s these users which are more valuable to the publishers, as they tend to engage more and monetise more effectively. Game trailers in particular are a very effective way to show off gameplay, in a way that text or banner ads could never do. This also allows the user to make better decisions about whether the app is suitable. How many times have you wondered whether to download a game, only to be persuaded (or not) by the app store videos?

With increasing numbers of developers turning to mobile video trailers, the revenue for app publishers promoting trailer placements is on the increase.

4G (LTE) is being rolled out everywhere

Mobile operators the world over (such as the UK’s Everything Everywhere (EE) in the UK) are rolling out 4G LTE networks at an increasingly rapid pace. There are now reported to be approaching 300 million 4G subscribers and more than 350 commercial networks in 111+ countries. Why is 4G so important to mobile video ads? Simply because the improved download speeds make it much more viable to deliver video ads that play at the click of a button, rather than having to download them or suffer from ‘rebuffering’ during streaming.

Mobile video ads are useless if the user has to wait in order to watch – they are more likely to navigate away to something else, but 4G streaming (and the smooth streaming technologies that go along with it) are making mobile video advertising a reality.

Targeting of video ads is becoming more effective

Mobile video ad platforms are including more features for developers and offering increasing sophistication – which in turns leads to better monetisation and conversation rates. It’s easier than ever to target your video ads to relevant users who may actually be interested in the content. There are also new techniques that enable ad publishers to ensure users view the ads an optimal number of times, and sophisticated tracking and analytics tools so that developers can understand their audience and show video ads only to the users who are likely to engage.

Final words

Mobile video ads are finally coming into their own, with powerful and rich features for publishers and developers. By targeting videos to specific user profiles and interests, it’s becoming easier than ever to target the right users at the right time, and with the right message.