Whether it’s viewed on desktops or mobile devices, there’s no question the popularity of online video will continue to grow. According to Nielsen, YouTube reaches more US adults ages 18-34 than any cable network. Watching video online has gone from a niche activity to mainstream. With new devices, video everywhere has become a reality. To be more attractive to the ad community, ComScore and Yahoo this week announced a partnership supposed to help increase digital advertising accountability. However, online video advertising has long been a premium buy. So how can we make it more affordable and include it as part of your overall media plan?
Programmatic buying has been the hot topic in the advertising industry recently because of its lower CPMs. We are seeing more whitepapers, blogs and articles with a focus on how Programmatic Buying is taking a significant portion of Display budgets. A November 2013 eMarketer article titled, “Advertisers Continue Rapid Adoption of Programmatic Buying,” estimates RTB Digital Display Ad Spending will reach $9 billion in 2017. (If you need a primer, check out this post.)
Efficiency for All.
Advertisers both big & small are seeing the advantages and benefits of automation in display media buying. Due to the amount of display inventory available, programmatic buying makes purchasing media more efficient. With advanced targeting capabilities and the variety of third party data available, we can now purchase the lowest CPM and hyper-target your audience without working with an ad network or going direct to the publisher. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe that buying through ad networks and direct to publishers still has its unique advantages, dependent on client goals and strategy.
So what about video ad buying? Will programmatic dominate video as well? With DSPs partnering more and more with video suppliers such as Brightroll, LiveRail, Adap TV, etc., I assume that we will see a shift in how video budgets are spent this year. Let’s examine both benefits and challenges of programmatic video buying.
Why Programmatic for Video?
Programmatic video buying offers the same advanced targeting technology of display, transparency in reporting, optimization in real time, ability to target your audience across multiple devices, and opportunity for lower cost video inventory. All these advantages may have you thinking it’s time you to start your video campaign!
Are There Any Challenges?
Some marketing directors are content with what they are familiar with. Altering their perspective to test something different can be difficult to say the least. They may opt for the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
It takes a certain amount of resources and coordination to effectively execute programmatic strategies. Before ever launching a campaign, you have to make sure that your internal (first party) data is in order, figure out how to segment your audience, develop creative material and offers (especially if you want varying messages at different points of the conversion funnel), determine how much budget to dedicate, etc. And then you have to optimize your campaigns. It’s enough to make a marketer’s head spin. That’s where our media planner/buyers come in. We have the foundation and resources necessary in order to launch and optimize online video ad campaigns quickly and effectively.
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee.
As technology continues to advance, we will see advertisers adapting and constantly finding more efficient and effective ways to get their message across. Video has always delivered great results and that won’t change anytime soon. With that being said, key players in the marketplace will continue to have a strong hold in both inventory and audience. Programmatic buying has made its mark and is already affecting how we purchase video inventory at TEC Direct Media. We customize plans based on our clients’ goals and purchase video through various channels. We will only recommend what we think will deliver results; accountability is one of our values.
Want to learn more about adding programmatic buying for your video strategy? Let’s have a conversation and see if it is the best fit for your product.
