Dive Brief:
- P&G, one of the largest advertising spenders, has embraced video spots that are significantly shorter than the typical 30- or 60- second ads, as reported by the Cincinnati Business Courier.
- The consumer packaged goods giant is airing ads as short as six seconds or less.
- Marc Pritchard, P&G’s chief brand building officer, told analysts, “We’re … increasingly using five-second to six-second formats that quickly convey the brand and the benefit, given the ad-skipping behavior that we know happens quite frequently.”
Dive Insight:
A trend toward shorter video spots has been emerging in response to the growth of mobile content consumption, with users typically looking for quick snippets of content that won't bog down their phones.
Some brands have repurposed content from traditional 30-second spots while others such as Toyota are experimenting with using automation technology to build personalized short ads by reconfiguring a selection of different headlines, copy and creative on the fly. Despite these early experiments, many marketers have been holding out on adopting shorter ads over concern that longer content is necessary to make a meaningful connection. As one of the biggest ad spenders, P&G's move towards shorter ads could have a trickle down effect with more brands creating shorter TV and digital video ads.
“On social media, we make ads work in literally two seconds to three seconds, recognizing that people are whipping through their news feeds," Pritchard said. "We are optimizing medium mix by following consumer behavior to advertise based on when, where and how much time consumers spend engaging with ads on various media platforms.”
Over the 2015-2016 fiscal year P&G spent $7.2 billion on advertising.
