It is widely accepted that online video should be a critical piece of any advertiser’s plan. There is no shortage of studies that point to the importance of online video as a medium for delivering both long term brand-building and short-term sales effects. Widely respected industry academic duo, Les Binet and Peter Field, who advocate the 60:40 rule – that 60% of a media budget should be spent on long term brand building, and 40% on short-term sales activation to achieve long term brand growth, describe online video as ‘the most powerful medium for long-term success.’ But it is important to remember that not all online video is created equal.
As online video consumption continues to grow, there is pressure on advertisers to engage with consumers on a specific platform. User generated content (UGC) has exploded in recent years and social media has traditionally been the go-to for advertisers looking for scale for their video campaigns. However, thinking about platform, rather than thinking about video as medium and focusing on quality content in which an ad is placed, can limit the performance of video campaigns.
Critical measures of success for video campaigns are:
- Viewability – the opportunity to view an ad
- Completion rate – was the ad watched right through to the end to allow for full delivery of brand message?
Advertisers need to think about video spend in relation to these metrics. What was the effective cost of running the campaign? What was the cost to have the video ad completed?
Premium video inventory available on the open web, outside of traditional walled gardens, can offer media buyers a range of benefits including improved viewer engagement at a lower cost.
PubMatic recently published a report that found that premium instream inventory available on the open web significantly outperformed video inventory delivered by a leading global UGC platform across six English speaking markets – the US, UK, Australia, Singapore, India, and the Philippines. In some cases, delivering video completion rates (VCR) that were up to 12 x higher, at a fraction of the cost. Some highlights from the report include:
- In the US, premium online video on the open web delivered an average effective cost per completed view (eCPCV) that was 13x lower than that of a leading UGC platform, while also delivering a VCR that was 4x higher.
- In the UK, premium online video on the open web delivered an average eCPCV that was 27x lower, and a VCR that was 5.5x higher.
- In Australia, premium online video on the open web delivered an average eCPCV that was 60x lower, and a VCR that was 12x higher.
These results highlight the importance of diversifying media budgets to achieve better performance for video campaigns, and the risk of over-exposure to just one platform. So don’t think platform, think about the specific needs of each campaign and identify the best way to access the video inventory that will help deliver that campaign KPI.
To find out more, check out the full report here.