Video ads designed specifically for digital boost purchase intent by 25%
by Hamish McPharlin (Dr.), New Media Age - Feb 9th, 2012
Video advertising designed specifically for online, rather than using TV ads on the internet, can increase consumer purchase intent by 25%, according to a survey by Specific Media and Decipher.
Of the 2,400 consumers questioned for the study, 13% are more likely to view the brand in a favourable light after watching an ad created for digital, while 12% said it would improve brand association. Additionally, purchase intent increased by 23% among those that were exposed to relevant video advertising compared with those that were not.
Chris Worrell, Specific Media’s director of insight, said, “We are now reaching critical mass, both in terms of brands treating it seriously and consumers accepting and embracing it as the norm.”
But he advised that the quality of video content needs to keep up with the speed at which the platform is evolving because it is now regarded as a mainstream activity.
John Baylon, Starcom Mediavest group digital trading director, said, “The industry is not taking advantage of such a great platform and all the benefits it can offer, such as more efficient targeting, optimised design and interactivity.”
To illustrate this point he said, “Channel 4 once told me that 95% of all investment in video online is on 30-second repurposed TV ads.”
The advice he gives to clients is: “Think video, not TV, so it can be applied in a more strategic way.”
Graeme Hutcheson, MediaCom associate director, agrees that merely repeating ads made for TV is far less effective than creating an online-specific creative. “The main hurdle now is engaging creative agencies and making them aware of this fact,” he said. “The holy grail is to have a piece of copy for every platform that tells a narrative story. Further down the line, it will be about having multiple copy for each platform so that different ads can be served to different consumers based on age, sex and where they are based.”
As content can be viewed on an increasing number of devices, consumers are more likely to adopt non-linear viewing habits as they are not as tied to rigid broadcast schedules. As such, content length is key and brands need to work harder to attract and keep consumer attention.
Baylon highlighted that people consume content in different ways at different times, so a person watching a two-minute news clip on their PC during their lunch break is going to be in a different position and have a different frame of mind to someone catching up on a hour-long episode of The Wire on Tevo.
“The engagement level is going to be very different, so advertisers need to think about a number of things: the time, the day, whether a viewer is at work or at home and whether it’s short- or long-form content,” he said. “If it’s short form, 12 seconds is the optimum, but if it’s an hour-long episode, consumers will have a higher propensity to watch a 30-second ad. It will also depend what platform consumers are watching video content on.”
Worrell thinks consumption patterns have changed brands and advertisers need to strike a balance between engagement and disruption. “Staying on the right side of this line with be a key challenge for brands and advertisers in the year ahead,” he said.
He reckons marketers also need to deploy softer, brand-led metrics that more established advertising platforms use, rather that relying solely on clicks. “We need to measure the impact video advertising has on the brand, against relevant target audiences,” he said.
Baylon highlighted The Pool research by Publicis’s strategic arm Vivaki, which found that its three-slate ad selector format ASq was the best format for engaging the online industry.
Channel 4, YouTube and Microsoft were the first UK publishers to launch trials of the ad format, which allows viewers to pick which ad they want to watch ahead of video-on-demand content.
Specific Media’s research was based on four key consumer groups: young men, young women, ABC1 adults and full-time mums. It forms the latest installment of its video testing and measurement insights (VITAMIN) study, which is being conducted in association with digital media consultancy Decipher.
The first VITAMIN research project showed that original content relating to and featuring advertisers’ brands has the highest brand recall levels and brand favourability among consumers.
» About Decipher Media Research
« Return to media coverage