Dive Brief:
- A survey of 358 marketing and media buying professionals reveals that advertiser investment in original digital programming has nearly doubled over the past two years, according to a press release from IAB.
- Eighty percent of executives said they plan to spend more on original digital video this year, with original digital video's share of total digital video ad budgets reaching 47% this year, up from 45% a year ago.
- The survey also found that native advertising is playing a bigger role in original digital video buys, accounting for 42% of investment, up from 32% a year ago.
Dive Insight:
IAB's findings suggest that with the introduction of VR and 360-video, marketers are embracing new opportunities to develop original digital video programming as a way to deliver inventive and engrossing engagement strategies. The challenge for marketers in developing original video content is quality, with advertisers telling IAB this is their top obstacle.
One way marketers are addressing the need for quality original video content is by working with well-known professional content developers. Dove, for example, recently announced a partnership with Shonda Rhimes, of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal" fame, to bring stories from its customers to life.
Mobile marketing and the willingness of an audience — particularly younger demographics — to watch video on mobile devices has turned the content type into a must-have for any marketing program. Among social media platforms, both Instagram and Snapchat have a video-centric user experience. And Facebook has taken a number of steps to emphasize video content on its main platform including tweaking the algorithm to highlight video and rolling out new technologies such as 360-degree video and Facebook Live streaming along with numerous video ad formats.
The focus on original video content comes as marketers are increasing their overall budgets for digital video advertising, with 60% telling the IAB they will increase spending in the next 12 months.
