Dive Brief:
- TeamDom, an influence marketing firm founded by internet celebrity and Disney Channel actor Jake Paul, has partnered with ad-tech firm Virool to create vertical videos for ads, according to a Virool blog post.
- OnePlus, a smartphone manufacturer, hired the two companies for an ad campaign featuring Paul in an unboxing video. Paul’s company of influencers has a collective cross-platform following of about 80 million people, most of whom are ages 15 to 25.
- Last month, San Francisco-based Virool created a vertical video marketplace for programmatic ads that lets brands and agencies buy ad space from publishers.
Dive Insight:
Demand for vertical video is growing with the popularity of Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and Twitter on smartphones, which people tend to hold in a vertical position instead of horizontally. Since user-based content is being seen more frequently in this format, brands need to adapt to it to engage a mobile audience.
That’s particularly important for brands seeking the millennial demographic and younger people who have driven the popularity of apps like Snapchat and Instagram, in particular. Just like other mobile videos, the vertical format can include interactive features for consumers to swipe, tap, double-click or watch. Engaging video can also drive a direct response with a call to action.
Social media platforms like Facebook are rapidly evolving into major purveyors of mobile video. Last year, 85% of videos that appeared on Facebook were originally posted on its platform, compared with only 10% of videos that first appeared on YouTube, according to Quintly, a social media analytics firm based in Germany. Mobile video advertising will continue to develop as the technology improves and high-speed bandwidth allows for better connectivity with customers.