Dive Brief:
- Video advertising was a simpler process for marketers when it was limited to linear TV. The rise in digital video brings unique challenges and questions.
- Some of those questions include what platform to advertise on in order to reach the desired audience, what publishers to partner with for campaigns, and what sort of measurement and metrics best provide insight into campaign success.
- Even though digital spending is poised to surpass TV for the first time by next year at the latest, according to multiple forecasts, the Wall Street Journal reported that TV upfronts spending is actually expected to be up as much as 5% after three straight years of declines.
Dive Insight:
Putting the upfronts news on TV spending into context, however, a Forrester report from last fall predicts a 21% annual lift digital video ad spending.
Pointing out where digital video ads create some challenges for marketers, eMarketer’s "Digital Video for Brands in the U.S." report surveyed marketers from a range of industries including automotive, telecom, retail, financial and CPG. Even though an aggregate 77% reported having a solid understanding of digital video options, the lowest reporting industry was CPG at 63%.
According to eMarketer that indicates that even though industries are embracing digital video, groups that traditionally have built brand awareness through TV, such as consumer package goods, still see medium as an effective use of marketing dollars.
The Wall Street Journal article pointed out that advertisers might be spending more on upfronts because those who waited for what is called the “scatter” TV ad market later on were hit with as much as 20% premiums for ad spots.
Jeff Lucas, head of ad sales at Viacom Inc., the parent company of MTV and Nickelodeon, told the Journal, “Anybody who held money back last upfront got burned.”