Super Bowl Online Video Ad Shares Down By Almost A Third Y-O-Y
But overall shares up by more than a fifth over last 12 months, says new insight report from marketing technology platform Unruly.
NEW YORK, LONDON — April 24, 2014 — A disappointing performance by ads that aired during the 2014 Super Bowl saw shares of branded videos drop by almost 25% last quarter. This is despite overall sharing rising by a fifth (22%) over the last 12 months.
That’s according to a new report published today by marketing technology company Unruly, which showed that FMCG/CPG and Charities/ Non-Profits were the only verticals to increase their share of voice in the first quarter of 2014. Meanwhile, shares of video ads from Tech and Autos brands decreased by 55.9% and 45.8% respectively.
The main reason for the drop was the lackluster performance of brands during the Super Bowl 2014, which saw shares of ads drop by a third (29%) from the previous year. It’s the first time online shares of advertisements aired during the Super Bowl have decreased year-on-year.
That’s despite Budweiser taking the crown for the most shared Super Bowl ad for the second year in a row. The dominant performance of “Puppy Love”, together with its commercial “A Heroes’ Welcome”, helped the beer brand overtake Volkswagen to become the most shared Super Bowl brand of all time.
Highlights from Unruly’s Q1 2014 Insights report include:
- A lackluster performance from brands at the Super Bowl (29% year-on-year decrease) sees shares drop 24.2% from the previous quarter. This is despite the fact that branded video shares overall were up by 22% over the last 12 months;
- The average share rate (the percentage of people who watched the ad and shared it) dropped from 2.9% last quarter to 2.6%;
- CPG/ FMCG and Charity/ Non-Profits are the only verticals to see quarterly growth in shares. CPG’s growth was largely thanks to Budweiser’s smash “Puppy Love” ad;
- A poor Super Bowl performance by car brands saw Autos decline by 45%, while Tech fell by 55.9%;
- Entertainment was once again the strongest sector, attracting almost half (47.2%) of the total number of shares of branded videos;
- Thinkmodo’s “Devil Baby Attack” ad- a ‘prankvert’ to promote Twentieth Century Fox horror movie, Devil’s Due, was the most shared ad of Q1 2014. The ad attracted 2.05 million shares last quarter, making it the most shared ad of 2014 so far and the 22nd most shared ad of all time. Budweiser’s “Puppy Love” and “Most Shocking Second A Day Video” ads, by UK charity Save The Children, were second and third respectively;
- Videos from UK charity Save The Children and Coordown saw the Charity/ Non-Profit sector enjoy a 326.6%, increase from the previous quarter;
- Auto brands attracted 73.8% of the shares at Super Bowl 2011, and 76.6% at Super Bowl 2012. Fast forward to 2014 and that figure has shrunk to 15.4%.
Unruly’s Insight Director, Ian Forrester, said: “This year’s dip in shares of Super Bowl ads – the first time it has ever happened – shows it’s not enough to focus solely on making quality content. Savvy brands entertain consumers with engaging content but must also focus on optimizing distribution to make the most of their $4 million+ investment in advertising during the Super Bowl. Simply airing an ad during the Super Bowl is not enough to trigger online success.”
These poor results are especially striking given the overall growth in video sharing over the last 12 months. Ian added: “Overall sharing over the last 12 months is up, which shows that more and more people are sharing branded content. Plus, despite only being a few months into 2014, we have already seen some standout campaigns.
“Videos like ‘Devil Baby Attack,’” added Mr. Forrester, “show that movie companies can have a lot of online success by trying something different to the tried-and-trusted movie trailer format, and the success by charities such as Save The Children and Coordown demonstrate what can be achieved by brands large and small with the right social video strategy.”
You can download a copy of the full report here.
About Unruly’s Insights reports
The Unruly Social Video Report Q1 2014 is part of a series of quarterly reports published by marketing technology company Unruly, analyzing current social video advertising trends.
Using data supplied by the Unruly Viral Video Chart™ and Unruly Analytics™ – a cloud-based dashboard that has tracked over 424 billion video views across the social web – the report identifies which products, verticals, brands and video campaigns delivered social impact in the first quarter of 2014.
Methodology
All data in this report is supplied by Unruly Analytics. The data collected is from October 1st 2013 until 31st March 2014. The data used in Unruly Analytics also powers the Unruly Viral Video Chart, which has been trusted since 2006 by advertisers worldwide to track their video content. While many platforms only begin to track content when users have identified it themselves, they want to track. Unruly Analytics provides benchmarking data and real-time competitive intelligence for 2/3rds of the Interbrand 100.
To see find out more about Unruly Analytics, click here.
UNRULY, UNRULY VIRAL VIDEO CHART, UNRULY ANALYTICS and logos and associated marks are trademarks of Unruly Group. Other marks are owned by their respective owners.
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About Unruly
Marketing technology company Unruly is the leading global platform for social video marketing and works with top brands and their agencies to predict the emotional impact of their videos and get them watched, tracked and shared across paid, owned and earned media. We use our proprietary technology to turn target audiences into engaged viewers and engaged viewers into customers and advocates. Our end-to-end solution cracks the code on social video sharing.
Brands can predict shareability with Unruly Labs, engage their audience with Unruly Activate and prove social ROI with Unruly Analytics where we provide real-time competitive benchmarks across 6 billion customizable data points.
The Unruly Viral Video Chart has tracked 424 billion video views since 2006. With an engaged audience of over a billion consumers, across the full range of mobile, tablet and second screen devices, Unruly has delivered, tracked and audited 3.85 billion video views across 3,500+ social video campaigns for over 450 brands including Volkswagen, Dove, Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, Microsoft, Warner Bros and adidas. We’ve worked with 60% of Interbrand’s Top 100 Best Global Brand and our mission is to deliver the most awesome social video advertising campaigns on the planet.
Founded in 2006, Unruly has 12 offices and employs over 140 people globally. In 2012, Unruly secured a $25 million Series A investment led by Amadeus, Van den Ende & Deitmers and Business Growth Fund – the largest ever for a private company in the social video space. The company has won over 15 awards including “Best Content Distribution Service” at the Braves Awards; “Digital Innovator of the Year” at the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100; “International Management Team of the Year” at the BVCA Awards 2013 and #14 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA. Unruly is also featured in Tech City’s Future Fifty.
To find out more visit www.unrulymedia.com
