Last updated on July 13th, 2015 at 04:30 pm
Canadian advertisers are continuing to expand their video strategies at a rapid rate. Advertisers in Canada are using a variety of platforms, including mobile video, which is growing at an immense rate, says a new study.
Last week, Videology, a software provider for converged TV and video advertising, released a report titled “First Quarter Canada Video Market At-A-Glance,” in which it analyzed its platform usage across the country during the first quarter.
Here are the key takeaways:
An Inside Look at Video Advertising
The report revealed that the total number of campaigns delivered on mobile rose 58 percent quarter over quarter. Forty-eight percent of all campaigns consisted of some sort of mobility, up from 28 percent in the same quarter last year.
One important statistic that is turning heads is the fact that 47 percent of advertisers showcased their campaigns on more than one screen in the first quarter of 2015, compared to just 30 percent in the first quarter of 2014. PC only represented 51 percent of campaigns by device, and mobile only had just two percent.
Ninety-three percent of advertisers are still purchasing their digital video ads the same way they do for television: guaranteed cost per impression (CPM).
Although Click Thru Rates (CTR) and View Thru Rates (VTR) are the primary objectives for advertisers, the study found that marketers are seeking out more intricate measures to optimize their campaigns, like inquiring about audience verification, which accounted for 38 percent of all campaigns.
Behavioral targeting (38 percent) was the No. 1 form of advanced targeting in campaigns throughout the first quarter. This was followed by geo-targeting (36 percent) and domain targeting (33 percent).
The length of most ads were minuscule – reflecting the current difficulty of attempting to capture the attentions of consumers. In the first quarter, between 58 and 78 percent of ads were 15 seconds, while 21 to 38 percent were 30 seconds. About one percent of the ads were 60 seconds.
“This current climate of consumer-driven convergence is driving marketers to view planning, buying and executing on TV and digital through a more holistic lens,” said Scott Ferber, Videology Chairman and CEO, in a statement. “As the industry continues to improve standards and work toward achieving more seamless ad experiences, mobile will increasingly play a larger role as part of that cross-screen equation.”
Canada’s Love Affair with Video Advertising
Canadian advertisers have opened their arms to the realm of digital video advertising.
Last year, advertisers spent $255 million on digital video ads. It’s expected that advertisers will increase their annual spending to as much as $488.9 million by the year 2018, according to data from eMarketer.
This makes sense considering that we spend more than 40 percent of our time online watching video, or roughly 4.5 hours each week. Canada has also outpaced the United States and other countries when it comes to both online and digital video consumption. Ostensibly, online video reaches three-quarters of Canadians, compared to just under two-thirds of Americans.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada (IAB Canada) reported in September that Internet advertising budgets have now surpassed television ad budgets.
“Mobile, followed by Online Video have been consistently outpacing overall percent Internet growth rates over the past five years,” said Eric Morris, IAB Canada Board of Directors, Head of Performance Advertising at Google, in a statement.
Companies are quickly realizing that Canada is the place to be for video ads.
Social networks are taking notice too. Facebook announced last year that it would be introducing television-like 15-second spots in their newsfeeds. The ads play automatically with the sound muted. This was first experimented in the U.S. and Facebook noted that it was a successful venture. Other countries quickly followed, including France, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Australia and Great Britain.
Final Thoughts
Industry professionals posit that video ads is a permanent trend because marketing executives are disgruntled by the low ad revenues from newspapers, television, podcasts and radio. Others have likened the digital video realm to an arms race, and whoever wins it will be the king of video advertising.
And why not?
Digital video ads allow advertisers to generate big data and to track their audiences. Digital video ads reach far more people (look at any YouTube video). With nearly everyone owning a smartphone these days, the permanency of video advertising is likely here, and we may have to get accustomed to the concept of ad ubiquity.
