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Friday 21st November, 2008 - 11:24am

Online Video Advertising (OVA)

I recently spoke with Utarget who are a specialist online advertising network. The following are some interesting facts and figures that they have published:

Online Video Advertising (OVA) is a fantastic new opportunity for marketeers. It combines the audio-visual impact and volume reach of TV with the targeting, interactivity and measurability of online.

The OVA market is rapidly expanding. The latest forecast by Forrester is that it will be worth $7.1 billion in the US by 2012 (a 72% p.a. compound growth rate!). The UK is estimated to currently be about one year behind the US, but growth of OVA in the UK, where online ad spend is already 15% of total ad spend, compared to 7% in the US, could be even more explosive. The average British internet user now spends 164 minutes online each day for personal use, compared to 148 minutes spent watching TV.

Previously online users were bound by their desk-top and dial-up, mainly in task mode. Now, liberated by broadband and wifi, they are more likely lounging with their laptop in the living room. They are more "laid back" than "leaning forward" in their net usage. These laid-back users are consuming more and more video.

by Max

Pre-roll advertising - In terms of an industry standard, nearly all UK pre-roll suppliers have settled upon 15 seconds as a maximum over the last 12 months. Pre-rolls offer TV-style advertising and so are attracting increasing numbers of major brand advertisers. A YouGov research  study in Jan 2007, commissioned by Utarget, found that 93% of users are amenable to viewing pre-roll TV advertising online if the ads were 15 seconds or under.

Pre-roll ads are often delivering five to 20 times the click-through rate of comparable banner or sponsorship units and a number of studies have demonstrated that pre-roll scores very strongly in measurements of brand recall and brand lift.

The Mobile Phone will become one of the fastest rising advertising platforms. The Jack Myers Media Business Report, published in September 2007, believes that advertisers will increase their mobile ad-spend by 120 percent in 2008 to reach $1.1 billion. The mobile phone is becoming an entertainment channel in its own right; as indicated by services offered now by handset manufactures and operators.

Trade bodies such as the IAB and IPA are collaborating to agree common planning metrics across both off and online media to assist planners and buyers. The measurement of video ad campaign effectiveness, especially for branding, is rapidly developing.