Dive Brief:
- 70.8% of marketers plan to run social video ads in the next 12 months, according to a survey by video creation service Animoto reported by eMarketer, and 65.8% of those marketers plan to do so on Facebook.
- Research from programmatic social platform Kinetic Social found that Facebook video ads between 30 and 60 seconds in length outperformed both shorter and longer video ads in completion rates, based on data from Q2 2016.
- 30-60 second video ads on Facebook boasted a completion rate of 44%, while 0-30 second ads were at 26% and 60-120 second ads reached 27%.
Dive Insight:
Video is proving to be an essential content type on mobile and social — and Facebook appears to be winning the battle for video advertisers among the social platforms. The latest research from Kinetic Social also shows that marketers shouldn't shy away from creating video ads on the platform that run longer than 30 seconds, the traditional length for many TV spots.
The challenge for marketers is determining the best video format for different social channels. While Snapchat made vertical video popular because is a perfect fit for smartphone screens, other platforms prefer square or even landscape video formats. Facebook recently launched its own vertical video ads for mobile, with compelling early results for a couple brands.
Another challenge is deciding whether social video ads should autoplay with the sound on or off: On Facebook, users watch video without sound about 80% of the time, while Snapchat reports that two-thirds of its videos are watched with sound.
The lesson for marketers is to make sure you understand what type of video creates the most engagement on the platforms you're using and with the demographics you're targeting.
