Thanks to its incredible ability to connect information to audiences, video growth continues to rise. Today, it seemingly consumes every second of our day as it continues to proliferate new verticals, channels, platforms, and places and provide advertisers with more ways than ever to connect with people.
While video opportunities seem to be infinite, there is a limit on audience attention. We’ve pulled together a series of tips for advertisers looking to create an agile video strategy that not only connects with their audience but can also withstand the test of time.
Video is Versatile & Complex: Find Focus
Today, the IAB landscape outlines the variety of video options – content forms, distribution methods, devices and delivery platforms, and ad types. It shows the wide breadth of video but also proves the overwhelming complexity for advertisers, with over 1,000 possible buying combinations to choose from.
As more innovation is introduced, it’s important to focus your video strategy around your goal rather than a specific outlet. Consistent optimization of what available video options perform best for you will help create a focused video strategy.
Tip: Finding a partner who can do those optimizations for you will save time and money.
TripleLift continuously monitors and optimizes your campaigns. You share your goals and we’ll provide curated deals based on specific KPIs and filters, removing wasted budget, minimizing manual effort, and delivering better performance.
New Frontiers Leave Opportunity for Bad Actors: Address Fraud
As new outlets continue to emerge, bad actors responsible for fraudulent activity are likely to be found. New product areas where ad tech is relatively immature have seen an increase in fraudulent activity. Juniper Research estimates that buyers will end up losing $44 Billion a year to fraud, by 2022.
Gaming is a particularly lucrative opportunity for fraudsters, given the highly engaged & sought-after young audience that is known to spend 7+ hours a day playing.
Based on a MOAT study, there has been uncovering of bots spoofing gamers and collecting on virtual currencies and ad spend, unbeknownst to the gaming publishers.
You might be wondering why, if the industry knows that this is an issue, it is still happening. For video, where fraud is particularly tricky, buyers are known to demand more impressions than can be supplied by premium publishers, according to eMarketer, providing a delta for bad actors to prey on by creating illegitimate traffic advertisers will pay for.
Tip: A direct supply path will not only help ensure that the traffic that you are buying is legitimate, but it will also help maximize your budget by limiting the tech tax. More importantly, ask your partners what they are doing to remove fraud before you bid on it. Working with partners that have a solution that validates every impression as human, ensures you’re only delivering your message to your desired audience.
Stomping out fraud with TripleLift is easy. With a no-reseller guarantee and a partnership with WhiteOps that verifies every single impression you bid on, you know exactly what you’re getting at no extra cost. We’ll even guarantee new opportunities like gaming and OTT where we continue to build our supply, providing you with new and unique inventory that is safe.
Audience Habits Are Shifting Faster Than Budgets: Be Flexible
Audience behaviors are changing even faster than expected in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All areas of video are seeing increased viewership. Even linear TV, which had its worst quarter in history with over 1.8MM subscribers falling off in Q1’20, has seen a small resurgence. However, TV is estimated to decline post-pandemic as digital and OTT properties continue to encroach on time spent.
In addition, as live events continue to be postponed and canceled, live streaming/digital events are a solution for publishers to engage audiences and provide a revenue source. Live-streamed sports are expected to take off, with over 36.5 Million US viewers already watching sports digitally, according to eMarketer, and expected consistent year over year growth into 2023. However, the sporadic nature of events like this can make it difficult for buyers to plan. In fact, US advertisers reported that before COVID-19 they took 5 to 6 months to plan video campaigns but are now planning in half that.
Tip: To make the most of your campaigns and effectively reach audiences where they are watching at that moment, be flexible and work with partners who can help deliver on multiple video strategies – iIt will make it easier to pivot when needed.
Finding new and innovative ways to reach audiences is at TripleLift’s core. With a growing suite of video products available, advertisers can utilize proprietary or industry-standard formats that perform against a variety of KPIs.
As a buyer, having an agile video strategy will help deliver return on ad spend, drive legitimate conversions, and stay relevant no matter what trends emerge.
To learn how TripleLift can help create a well-rounded and efficient media plan, with a suite of inventive and standard video offerings, download the Programmatic Video Buyers Playbook or contact us.
