Dive Brief:
- The average amount of time consumers spent watching video ads increased by 19% in Q2 2017 compared to the same period last year, according to a study by cloud tech platform Extreme Reach made available to Marketing Dive. Both viewability and completion rates are also up 20%, while premium publishers saw a 36% jump in completion rates since Q2 2016.
- The study found that media aggregators, which run most of their impressions on desktop, saw a 54% rise in clickthrough rates, while premium publishers that ran ads on mobile, tablets and smart TV saw a 37% drop over the past year.
- General invalid traffic (GIVT), or bad inventory, is down 33%, and in-banner video ads are down 17%. Small video players saw a jump in usage and a similar rise in mobile views, Extreme Reach said.
Dive Insight:
While it's understood that mobile video is playing a growing role in brands' marketing strategies — major digital advertising platforms like Facebook have championed the power of mobile video content lately — Extreme Reach's findings suggest desktop video might be a sturdier way to deliver on KPIs like clickthrough rates. One possible reason for desktop ads getting a 54% lift in CTRs while mobile ads saw a 37% drop is the difficulty brands have in optimizing a seamless user experience to fit smaller screens.
On mobile devices, ad landing pages can have extremely limited real estate and sometimes wonky orientation that causes viewers to quickly leave. Mobile marketers face a serious challenge in creating engaging video ads for smartphones while avoiding the tendency to repurpose video made for other platforms like TV and desktop, according to a study by YouAppi. The group found 96% of respondents claimed they face challenges with implementing mobile video.
With that in mind, marketers should test video ads based on the targeted device to determine whether mobile video ads are the most effective tool for brand awareness campaigns that don't require too much action by the user. Desktop might be a better fit for video ads that require an action like filling out a lead generation form or visiting a specific product page.
