All Video Is Not Created Equal – What To Know Before Placing Your Programmatic Video Buy
It’s no surprise that video spend is continuously rising. According to eMarketer, growth in video ad spending is at 28.5% year on year. Meanwhile, programmatic ad spending is leaping upwards and has more than doubled since 2014.
As a result of this growth, trading desks have a crucial (and busy) part to play in the success or failure of video campaigns. Thankfully, they are often presented with a campaign-ready creative and KPIs to hit, most likely around viewability and VTRs. It means programmatic buyers often do a fantastic job of delivering the right volumes on the client’s favorite sites and balancing the KPIs.
But there are some some well-kept secrets out there that you may not know.
There’s a huge leap from making a fantastic brand creative to distributing a video online with a focus on these micro-KPIs. At every stage of the distribution chain, you can be the video MVP if you remember these thoughts:
1. All video is not created equal.
Most video bought programmatically is pre-roll, yet it often annoys consumers . In fact, 62% of users feel put off a brand when they’re forced to watch their pre-roll ad, according to Unruly’s Future Video Survey. Outstream is a relatively new video format, a less disruptive option than pre-roll. eMarketer and Nielsen found last year that 60% of video viewers thought outstream was less intrusive than pre-roll;
2. Your KPIs can compete with each other.
If you’re gunning for high completion rates as well as viewability, it’s a balancing act. So could you be dropping your viewability standards so the completion rate goes up? If so, you might just be paying for more out-of-view completions;
3. Never fear! You’re probably already getting the benefits of outstream, even if you didn’t mean to.
A lot of outstream that’s available programmatically is bundled together with or mistaken for pre-roll! However, given the increased viewability rates (we’re seeing 26% higher viewability rates than the Moat benchmark), increased user attention and premium publishers associated with the format, you’d be wise to ask for it by name.
And, if that doesn’t make you enough of a video rockstar, then you could always cheat… Unruly is now offering KPI-lifting PMPs that are stuffed full of the highest-performing titles in UnrulyX’s hand-selected premium publisher base.
Not all video buys are the same. Finding the right viewability rate for your video campaign means one thing: People saw some of your video. And that’s assuming your brand safety measures are kicking out all signs of non-human traffic. It’s important to think beyond the basis to ensure your KPIs are through the roof.
