Intel, NYT pilot SimpleReach's video measurement platform to standardize engagement metrics

Dive Brief:

Content data cloud SimpleReach announced via news release that it is launching a video measurement platform that lets brands track owned, publisher partner and influencer video performance in one place. The New York Times and Intel piloted the solution, per details shared in an email with Marketing Dive.
The platform intends to allow marketers to make video marketing decisions based on data and improve outcomes of their campaigns across websites, mobile apps, social media and over-the-top (OTT) platforms. Video performance data can be accessed from SimpleReach's branded content partners.
Marketers and their influencer partners can authenticate their social media accounts in the platform. The video data aims to provide insights that marketers can use to personalize their content and distribution channels.

Dive Insight:

Marketers continue to invest heavily in digital video, but measuring the effectiveness and ROI of campaigns has been a struggle. SimpleReach's new platform looks to simply the often-complicated process by collecting video data from across platforms in one place and letting marketers create their own metrics to target content and compare performance.

"As we've moved into video with our branded content efforts, we've found it much more difficult to track real-time performance," Luke Kintigh, the head of Intel iQ, said in a statement. "People watch digital video on infinitely more platforms and social networks than copy-based content, and nearly every single one of those platforms reports on audience engagement differently.

SimpleReach's solution should not only allow us to improve our measurement and reporting on video performance, but we'll also be able to make quicker decisions on things such as what video assets we should be putting paid spend behind," he added.

Personalized video content tailored to specific platforms often proves engaging with consumers. Ads served to consumers via content targeting on YouTube were less likely to be skipped, especially on mobile, and had a 34% higher completion rate, according to a study by IPG's Magna unit commissioned by the content marketing firm Zefr. Those ads were considered 33% less intrusive than other types of ad targeting, including via channel or demographics, the study found.

Ninety-five percent of marketers plan to increase their digital video investment in 2018, with more than half boosting spend by 25%, according to a CMO Council report. However, poor campaign measurement and lack of transparency continue to be a top concern.