Better data-driven audience research is enabling deeper
insights into consumer motivations, behaviors and actions for brands.
A good
example is what Oath
is accomplishing through its premium video content and experiences, creating
better understanding of the trends driving video consumption and growth across
new formats. This valuable information can then be used to drive a brand’s strategy.
“We know that successful brands grow by anticipating the needs of consumers in
a constantly changing marketplace”, noted Maya Abinakad, Senior Marketing
Manager, Oath. “The market landscape is evolving at a pace unlike anything we’ve
seen before,” she added, “especially in the areas of AR, VR and 360, for
example.”
As marketers try to keep up, the question on the minds of
many industry leaders is: Do you have your finger on the pulse of the consumer?
Are your current investments in an under-appreciated consumer technology well
placed for future success or destined for a flop? Brands need to understand
consumer expectations and the threshold for advertising or risk wasting valuable
dollars and development time. Parsing the opportunities and pitfalls is the
direction that AOL Video research is taking with their latest State of Video
Industry online study in partnership with InsightsNow.
Abinakad believes that the best research uncovers the human
motivations that drive consumer behavior, maybe even revealing results that
upend the established order. “When you don’t question established order, it can
lead to short-term results,” she stated. “Company leaders may believe and
invest in something that may not be of great interest to consumers. This research
is pivotal to keeping up (and ahead of) quickly changing consumer trends to maximize
business opportunities and plan for the future,” she added.
The study focused on consumers age 16+ and B2B constituents,
including industry buyers (agencies and brands) and sellers (publishers, ad
networks and ad tech providers). The results revealed macro trends in the video
ecosystem and where attitudes between consumers and companies merged and
diverged. But Oath’s main purpose in this study is to deeply understand how and
why consumers are engaging with video online and the importance of acting on
insights as part of one’s video strategies, especially given how quickly the
industry is evolving.
Here are the major takeaways:
1.
Digital
video investments show no signs of slowing down. B2B trends indicate
greater spending on video which is increasing exponentially. 83% of buyers are
expecting to increase their video spending this year.
2.
Dollars
are coming out of television. This investment is coming out of
Broadcast/Cable TV budgets and into predominantly desktop (72%) and mobile
video (71%) platforms.
3.
Social (50%)
and quality creative (46%) are driving video’s growth.
4.
But 44% of advertisers say measurement is still a big challenge, a +14% increase from last
year.
5.
Consumers
want VR, 360 video and AR, especially younger consumers. Across all age
groups, consumers are drawn to live videos as advertisers are increasingly investing
in 360 Video.
6.
Mobile
video is driving much of digital video’s growth as 67% of all consumers
watch videos on their phones everyday with 74% watching live video.
7.
Offering greater competition to linear networks,
news, music and sports content dominate
live video consumption.
8.
VR is
poised to become as common as mobile video among consumers for all types of
programming such as movies, virtual tourism, science and shopping. But hardware
constraints are currently seen as a barrier to fuller roll-out.
9.
Consumers
expect video advertising but the “right” length of the ad is important and
it varies. Of course, who doesn’t prefer shorter ads, but the findings here
indicate that expectations vary according to the length of the ad. The longer
the video, the longer the expected ad. But the ad must be relevant and with
some control still maintained by the viewer such as skipping and fast forward.
10.
Programmatic
spending will continue to rise, but both buyers and sellers are concerned
about system integration and the ability to access premium inventory.
11.
Branded video
spend has reached its peak. Although branded video is still a revenue
driver, the spend is slightly declining because of measurement challenges and
cost.
Oath’s collection of more than global media and technology
brands ranges from AOL and Yahoo to HuffPost
and TechCrunch. Their redoubled focus is on delivering content and ads across
mobile platforms so research necessarily plays a big role in this effort. Understanding
the accelerating trends in media and placing efforts in those trends are
essential for their future success as well as their advertisers.
Since their mission is to “build brands that people love,”
noted Abinakad, “And, marketers are focused on delivering the highest consumer
experience possible, then having and offering relevant, insightful research
results will help Oath reach that goal. All of our products and services are
designed to allow brands to build their brands, and allow agencies to do the
same for client brands.”
This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com
