Dive Brief:

• Videology conducted research in November on video advertising and found that 64% of reporting agencies and marketers use behavioral-based targeting followed closely by demographic targeting at 62%, as reported by eMarketer.
• Breaking down the results further, agencies use both targeting methods equally at 67%, but marketers lean more on behavioral targeting (59%) than demographic targeting (55%).
• The remaining targeting categories covered by the report include contextual (51%), sales-based (43%) and other (3%).

Dive Insight:

Demographics have long been the standard starting place for ad targeting, but as first and third party data increases and includes more personalized data points such as individual activities, behavioral targeting is becoming more attractive. The trend supports how marketers are looking toward more personalized messaging that goes beyond broad targeting categories such as age and location demographics.

One big picture finding from Videology’s research is that targeting overall isn’t seen as a critical tactic. Separate research by TubeMogul found only behavioral targeting was cited as “effective” by a majority of respondents at 58%, and demographic targeting was considered “effective” by only 46% of respondents.  It’s interesting that agencies and marketers aren’t finding video ad targeting particularly effective, especially since video ads are becoming the go-to format for mobile campaigns where marketers tend to have a variety of targeting options available from precise geo-targeting to in-app behaviors.

With targeting accuracy on mobile, previously a challenge, only recently reaching parity with desktop according to Nielsen, marketers may start to put a bigger emphasis on targeting in 2017. The trick will be not going too narrow, a move that could result in fewer new customer acquisitions, something P&G discovered last year with its tightly focused approach on Facebook, a strategy the company has since readjusted to include more broad appeals.