Unruly / News / Video Ad Tech Company Unruly Launches New Algorithmic Tool To Predict Emotional Impact Of Japanese Ads

Video Ad Tech Company Unruly Launches New Algorithmic Tool To Predict Emotional Impact Of Japanese Ads

Unruly ShareRank™ predicts virality of online video ads before they’re launched and helps marketers plan their distribution strategies to maximize engagement

TOKYO – November 11, 2015: Video ad tech company Unruly today launches a new tool to help Japanese advertisers predict the social potential of their video ads before they are released online.

Using Unruly ShareRank’s predictive technology, Japanese marketers will be able to identify the emotional, social and behavioral triggers that drive the viral success of their video content. They will also know the earned media potential of their videos before they have spent a dollar on media and will be able to distribute them using Unruly Activate™, the company’s proprietary ad platform, with a potential reach of 45 million unique visitors across Japan (comScore, July 2015).

Unruly first launched the Unruly ShareRank algorithm in January 2013 to help U.S. and U.K. brands identify and evaluate the elements of a video that drive engagement with consumers. Following the launch of its Tokyo office last month, the video ad tech company has now trained the proprietary algorithm specifically for the Japanese market, so it can predict consumers’ psychological responses to branded video content across the country.

Unruly co-CEO and co-founder Scott Button said: “The video advertising market in Japan is poised for explosive growth and presents an enormous opportunity for marketers. Unruly is looking forward to working with brands and agencies who are keen to invest in creating and distributing quality video content. Brands and creative agencies in Japan understand there is life beyond the 15 to 30-second TV commercial and that making more emotional digital content drives deeper connections with consumers who will go on to share and buy their products or services.”

There are now 15 localised versions of the Unruly ShareRank algorithm worldwide, including Germany, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and Brazil.

Button added: “When it comes to predicting video success around the world there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach. Our local-market algorithms reveal marked cultural differences in video consumption, with video content that works in the U.K. or the U.S. unlikely to resonate as strongly among Japanese audiences. For example, while humour is a common driver of video sharing in the UK and U.S. , Japanese viewers are much more likely to share a video that elicits strong feelings of warmth.”

The Unruly ShareRank algorithm – which will be officially launched by Unruly co-founder Button at an exclusive event held at the British Consulate General in Tokyo today – has been trained using video consumption data across 2 trillion video views, combined with over 400,000 consumer data points. When adapting the algorithm for the Japanese market, Unruly found the following:

  • There has been a 57.1% year-on-year increase in the number of videos released by brands in Japan over the last 12 months (source: Unruly Analytics);  
  • The speed of video sharing is slightly slower in Japan than the rest of the world, with the average Japanese ad attracting 30.3% of its total shares in the first three days compared with the global average of 40.2%. The viral decay is also slower in Japan. By the end of week one, Japanese videos have achieved 75.9% of their total shares versus 71.4% world wide;
  • Warmth is the most common emotional sharing trigger for Japanese video campaigns, followed by inspiration and happiness. In the U.K. and U.S., the most common emotional triggers are happiness and hilarity;
  • The most common social motivation to share a video online in Japan is to seek other people’s opinions. In the U.K. it’s to recommend a product or service, while in Germany it’s to start a conversation.

Hikaru Yamamoto, Associate Professor of Keio Business School, who will be speaking at today’s launch event, said: “Unruly offers a uniquely scientific approach to video marketing, leveraging its proprietary data and relationship with academics to build their Unruly ShareRank algorithm. Using Unruly ShareRank, Unruly can help brands identify the key emotional elements in their video content and also target certain audiences using these emotional elements.”

Panasonic used the global version of the Unruly ShareRank algorithm in its recent ‘Beautiful Japan 2020’ campaign.

Japanese Country Manager, Haruyo Kagawa, added: “Using Unruly ShareRank, brands can identify not only what kind of content Japanese consumers are engaging with but also where they are engaging, why they are engaging and in what way they are engaging, helping marketers to create a smarter, more efficient media plan.”

About Unruly ShareRank

Unruly ShareRank has identified the 100+ viral variables that contribute to social video success. It is used by global brand advertisers to evaluate and optimize their content for social and digital success. The algorithm has been built using:

  • Proprietary technology: Unruly Analytics™, which tracks 5,000 brands in real time and offers 15 billion customizable data points;
  • Academic research: Research findings from leading academics, particularly Dr Karen Nelson-Field, at the University of South Australia, on the key variables that drive video sharing;
  • Consumer data: Analysis of hundreds of thousands of consumer panel responses, measuring their emotional reactions and the sociographic motivations to share video content.  

With Nielsen finding that 92% of consumers trust peer to peer recommendations (Global Trust in Advertising Survey) and research from McKinsey stating that “a high-impact recommendation from a trusted friend conveying a relevant message is up to 50 times more likely to trigger a purchase than a low recommendation”, Unruly ShareRank is a vital indicator of sales as well as word-of-mouth potential.

For more information about Unruly ShareRank, click here.

UNRULY, UNRULY SHARERANK, UNRULY ANALYTICS, UNRULY ACTIVATE and logos and associated marks are trademarks of Unruly Group. Other marks are owned by their respective owners.

About Unruly

Unruly is the ad tech company that gets videos watched, tracked and shared across the Open Web. Positioned at the intersect of video, social, native & mobile, Unruly uses emotional audience data and user-friendly video formats to massively increase viewer engagement, brand performance & publisher revenues.

With 3 out of every 4 video views now taking place outside of YouTube, 90% of Ad Age 100 brands have already used Unruly to connect with audiences at speed and scale across the Open Web.

Differentiated by a unique data set of 2 trillion video views and powered by a full tech stack, Unruly adds value by algorithmically evaluating content shareability and programmatically targeting custom audiences. Viewability is 100% guaranteed to an audience of 1.35 billion monthly unique users across mobile, tablet and desktop devices.

UnrulyX is the first supply side platform (SSP) for mobile video to offer scaled delivery of native ad formats and guarantee the viewability of premium video impressions bought via RTB.

Unruly employs 200 people across 15 offices, with regional HQs in London, New York and Singapore.

Its super power is emotional ad tech. Its secret weapon is passionate people on a mission to #DeliverWow. Unruly was acquired by News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) in September 2015.

 

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