100% video viewability is plausible if taken up seriously by the publishers. Find out how
Video marketing have assumed strategic importance in marketing strategy of most digital campaigns. As predicted by IAB, 2015 is a year of transition in terms of viewability with advertisers seeking out nearly 100% viewability, which is slightly difficult on account of the existence of various forms of content. Nevertheless with better ad quality and inventory and a high accountability factor, 100% viewability is plausible if taken up seriously by the publishers. At the same time, marketers have predicted conversions through video will be much higher as compared all other channels.
In fact, videos will serve the infotainment purpose of the viewers and hence have to be concentrated upon in every possible manner. Videos on demand are likely to enjoy unprecedented viewership. Garnering this sea of change, ads viewability within videos has been initiated on a large scale. This video viewability does assume new planes of dimensions – viewable impressions, viewed impressions, cost per view, viewability factor and so on.
Recently, there has been a surge of display ads across videos, which enhances the ROI. The measure of ad viewability can now be distinguished between viewable and non-viewable impressions. In fact the term ‘viewable impression’ has been coined to give a more concrete shape to this initiative.
Explaining, viewable impressions further – an ad across the video is considered viewed when 50% of its pixels are visible on the screen for at least 2 seconds. This measure has been arrived at by a mutual discussion between Media Rating Council (MRC) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
This measure is undertaken through Google’s Active View measurable technology that is integrated across all advertising platforms of Google at no extra cost. Through Google Active View, an advertiser can record an impression by impression and ascertain whether the ad was viewable by user or not. By referring and studying the viewability report, you get a better understanding into the advertising campaign and can tweak it further for bettering its performance.
In fact as per statistics published in DoubleClick blog, 5 factors of prime importance have emerged viz.
- Ad Viewability – Irrespective of the device, video ads enjoyed 54% of average viewability across the web. On the other hand, ad viewability through YouTube was considerably higher at 91%. Also the recall factor of viewers stood at 33% especially those who had just heard the ads and not seen them.
- Device – The device has emerged to be an important factor as majority of the view i.e. to the tune of 835 have been recorded through mobile while 81% have been done through the tablet and a mere 53% have been done through the tablet. These figures do not include YouTube viewing.
Speaking of YouTube alone which has recorded 94% of viewing with more than 50% of its view through the mobile and app. This tremendous shift has to be borne in mind each time when planning a digital marketing strategy.
- Suitability quotient – It is necessary to check whether the ad is suitable or compatible to view on screen. With nearly 74% of now viewable ads pushed on to the background tab or not highly visible, it naturally affected the viewability quotient.
- Size of the Player – If an ad has to be viewed, its display size is quite important. Google’s Active View recorded a high percentage of views of on ads of view size 848×477 while ads of size 300×250 recorded just 20% viewability.
- Location of the Ad – For enjoying a better viewing quotient, ads need to be placed in horizontal position at the centre of the page top of the page while a vertical ad is viewing most when it is placed at the top of the page.
With the viewability metrics in place, digital marketing specialists can bring about cohesion between the quality of videos (content), advertising and marketability and improve the performance of the campaign. The symbiosis of the content and display is very much integral to digital ecosystem. The ad content has to be not only intuitive but engaging as well to convert to a higher percentage of viewability and thus define its purpose well.
LogicSpeak – With video content gaining a strong footing amongst the viewers, it has to be quickly adapted in the digital marketing strategy. As predicted by top digital marketers, video viewability is likely to emerge as a top contender for embarking on highly successful marketing strategies online.
