Mobile video is about more than views — it is about the viewers
In the three years that we have been contributing to Mobile Opinions in Marketing Week, there has been phenomenal growth in mobile video consumption. The number of viewers in the UK alone will increase 29% by 2016 to more than 22 million viewers, according to eMarketer.
Furthermore, according to the IAB UK’s recent report ‘Mobile video 2015: A global perspective’ mobile video is not only a short-form channel. More than a third (36%) of smartphone video viewers surveyed state that they watch long-form videos (five minutes or longer) daily or more frequently.
As screen sizes of mobile devices continue to increase — particularly smartphones, which are the most popular device for accessing the internet in the UK according to Ofcom — and connectivity improves with increased take-up of 4G services, the delivery and consumption of mobile video is hugely accessible to a wide and varied audience.
As such, it is a necessity for marketers to think about mobile video when engaging target audiences.
Know how and where consumers view
Thanks to a wealth of rich data generated by mobile, it is relatively straightforward for brands to build a picture of their audiences and how they want to consume and interact with video content.
By linking into an advertiser SDK (software development kit), marketers can capitalise on rich first-party publisher and developer data to build a more complete picture of target audiences. Mobile is unique here because it provides hundreds of data signals across a myriad of factors that can be considered in real time each time an ad call is executed, helping to make video highly relevant to a specific moment.
Marketers must also consider the type of the device on which consumers are engaging with video. Smartphone interactions are generally used more frequently across the day but for shorter periods of time, and are as likely out of the home as in. On the other hand, tablets are lean-back devices, used less frequently in a day but for longer periods of time, and most commonly when at home. Based on the time of day and the location where you are delivering video experiences, marketers should tailor their mobile video ad strategies accordingly.
New premium inventory
With increased opportunity comes increased demand. The market is responding to help meet advertisers’ needs for new premium mobile video advertising inventory accordingly.
Traditionally, most video inventory on mobile has been served as pre-roll or by games developers, as loading between levels provides a natural break in the user experience for a video ad to run.
It is worth noting that the IAB classes mobile pre-roll as video coming before video or before textual content. This is a nuance worth understanding when buying mobile video campaigns as, depending on your objectives, you may want to check which is being provided by your mobile media owner.
To address the apparent lack of premium mobile video supply, new technologies are helping a wider variety of publishers to offer premium video for the first time. For example, publishers that haven’t previously had a suitable placement in which to run mobile video, such as traditional news or information apps, are now able to roll out user-initiated video hosted via companion banner ads.
Marketers also need to consider if the inventory they are buying is incentivised, rewarding a user for completing a video ad view, typically with a game item, virtual currency or discount. With video, non-incentivised video ad traffic provides higher quality engagement, as consumers are choosing to engage with your brand simply because they are interested and are demonstrating intent.
Emerging formats and rich media opportunities
One exciting area of opportunity we see for mobile video in 2016 comes from the emergence of new ad formats, in particular vertical video, and the continued adoption by marketers of made-for-mobile rich media tools being layered on top of video ads.
There is an increasing acceptance of ‘vertical’ video, shot in portrait to fit a mobile screen, as a result of the popularity of social media apps such as Snapchat, Periscope and Vine. According to the digitally omnipotent venture capitalist Mary Meeker, vertical video viewing now accounts for 29% of total time spend on screens.
One of the perceived challenges for brands looking to make a foray into vertical is that they must create made-for-mobile content, or work with a partner who can retrospectively re-edit and retrofit TV commercials in this new aspect ratio. Personally, I don’t see that as a challenge but an opportunity to find new ways to engage and capitalise on new mobile video inventory.
As mobile video opportunities continue to grow, more marketers are also looking at how they can combine video with other native mobile features to create even more compelling experiences.
Many brands are taking their content further by layering video content with rich media to have consumers physically interact with their ad beyond the act of viewing.
A nice campaign we have recently been involved in for a major national drinks brand did just this when it layered video with location-finder pull-outs, using the viewer’s location to show them the location of their nearest pub. It also used social sharing features within the ad unit to encourage engagement beyond the mobile device.
Evolving mobile video
Marketers have previously stated that view-through rate is their dominant objective for video campaigns – a legacy of the online video view counter. If this is the most important metric, then buying your campaigns on a cost per completed view (CPCV) basis may make sense.
However, as mobile video strategies evolve, there is an increased need for marketers to place more emphasis on the end consumer and audience for their video campaigns. This can be achieved by considering where they are and what they are doing when they are being targeted; the dimensions of the screen; and the interactive elements that can be added to move the experience beyond a passive one, helping brands to delight target audiences and move them down the funnel, from viewing to doing.
As our industry continues to evolve, so too will mobile video as part of a changing digital landscape, delivering value for the ecosystem by ensuring a rich experience for consumers, providing greater engagement to advertisers, and driving revenue gains for publishers and developers.