Home Digital TV and Video Zenith: Advertisers Will Pay Big Bucks For Premium Video, But Screen Size Matters

Zenith: Advertisers Will Pay Big Bucks For Premium Video, But Screen Size Matters

SHARE:

PayPlayAdvertisers are willing to pay a “substantial premium” on nonmobile video ads, according to a ZenithOptimedia video ad spend forecast issued Monday.

Despite the fact that more consumers watch video on their mobile devices, video ad spend hasn’t grown with quite the same gusto.

“Mobile is the dominant platform for consumption, but it won’t become the dominant advertising platform for another two years,” predicted Jonathan Barnard, head of forecasting for Zenith.

“Even though it’s pretty obvious an audiovisual ad will have more impact on a larger screen, [we’ve found] advertisers are willing to pay a continued premium for advertising on the larger screen.”

While consumers average 19.7 minutes per day viewing videos on smartphones and tablets, compared to the 16 minutes each day on desktop or smart TVs, the majority of video ad dollars are still spent on these “fixed” devices.

Nonmobile video ads, according to Zenith, account for 68% of all online video ads in 2016, which is down from 75% share in 2015. But by 2018, mobile and nonmobile video ad spend will be split closer to 50/50.

One reason for the current disparity is that marketers want to invest in a specific format type (no autoplay, muted, or below-the-fold video, in some cases), audience and ensure they have good screen real estate. 

For instance, when buying Hulu, an advertiser knows they’re getting a slightly older millennial cord-cutter who has more discretionary spend.

Other advertisers want a certain threshold of completion as well as proven effectiveness around brand lift, which a video format like YouTube’s TrueView promises, Barnard said.

But since more of these impressions are happening on mobile, it should help even out the split between mobile and nonmobile video investments.

Digital video still dominant

Subscribe

AdExchanger Daily

Get our editors’ roundup delivered to your inbox every weekday.

Over-the-top TV may attract marketers in search of a full-screen experience, but Zenith projects digital video all around (including desktop) to continue to accelerate.

In most major markets, Zenith has found that advertisers continue to view their digital video investments as an incremental buy or complement to TV, rather than a replacement.

But in some cases, marketers simply repurpose 30-second TV spots for social platforms like Snapchat or YouTube, which isn’t as effective as tailoring short-form videos for each individual channel.

“[Original] video content requires more advertiser and agency resources, [and] there are innovations in technology to bring down the cost of production,” Barnard said. “You’re seeing automated personalization and the like, which is making it easier for brands to make use of the unique attributes of each platform.”

Must Read

Comic: Off-Platform Media

How RMNs Use MFA And Cheap Inventory To Game Attribution Rules

Retail media is built on its attribution quality, but real purchases can be gamed by programmatic metrics and create perverse incentives for RMNs to serve ads across low-quality inventory.

There’s A Lot Wrong With Google’s And Meta’s Non-Transparent ‘Refund’ Practices

Google and Meta are playing with fire. Their opaque refund practices have already exposed them to customer blowback – and could lead to class-action lawsuits by disgruntled advertisers.

Comic: The Great Online Privacy Battle

How US Intelligence Agencies Buy And Use Programmatic Data For Surveillance

Mike Yeagley, an independent contractor who has scouted and acquired commercial data and technology on behalf of intelligence agencies, is one of the earliest evangelists of using ad tech tracking information to identify and surveil government targets.

Privacy! Commerce! Connected TV! Read all about it. Subscribe to AdExchanger Newsletters

Comic: The MFA Cafe

Adalytics Report Torches Ad Tech For Touting MFA Prevention While Scarfing MFA Supply

Practically every ad tech vendor has put out a press release in recent months full of bluster about cutting out made for advertising sites – and yet supply sources remain oversaturated with garbage inventory.

Cloud-Based Collaboration Is Ad Tech’s Post-Cookie Lifeline – But Will It Last?

Cross-cloud data collaboration technology is the best bet for a post-cookie solution. But it’s vulnerable to similar privacy concerns.

Topsort Raises $20 Million To Seize The Post-Cookie Market Opportunity This Year

Topsort raised $20 million, with plans to seize the 2024 opportunity for post-cookie ad tech.