It is clear that brands have not realised the full potential of mobile video advertising. Why is this so when mobile video advertising has many of the same benefits of TV advertising, if not more? TV advertising is still the place where the majority of advertising budget is spent. Brands should now be focusing their attention to mobile video ads in addition to TV advertising, and using both mediums in combination with one another to optimise brand awareness.
A 2014 study by eMarketer has shown that people now spend more time on their digital devices such as smartphones and tablets than they spend time watching TV, which is the medium where most advertising budget is spent. eMarketer estimated that people will spend on average 3 hours 15 minutes per day watching TV compared to 3 hours 41 minutes per day on their mobile and tablet devices. However, despite this disparity in dwell times, many brands are still failing to recognise the potential of mobile video advertising – the faster growing sector of the advertising industry.
Video advertising can be seen to be one of the most powerful forms of modern advertising and is one of the fastest growing channels across digital ad spend. Mobile devices are obviously a big reason for this, as more consumers have adopted smartphones, tablets and other devices as their main screen and are more willing to watch videos on these devices. Furthermore, the majority of people across the globe are now spending more time watching video. Youtube has approximately 4 billion views per day and is the second largest search engine… after Google (Ragan.com, May 2012). It is also estimated that at least 78% of people watch a video every day (Ragan.com, 2013). Online video accounts for 50% of all mobile traffic and 30 second video clips have an estimated 88% completion rate. So, how can you create an online mobile video ad that is engaging and compelling to your target audience?
When watching a video on your handheld device, the last thing you want is to be viewing a really long video ad. This is where short-form video ads come into play. These ads need to be simple and portray your brand’s message in, ideally, 15 seconds or less, and at the same time be both consumer and commercial friendly by being engaging, relevant and of a high quality.
There are a variety of methods in which you can reach your audience. For example, videos can be posted on Youtube and be distributed through social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (Vine). These sites were amongst the first to realise the true benefits of mobile video advertising and have utilised video to its full potential. Using social networking, videos can be distributed to millions of consumers in an instance. More than 150 million people are subscribed to Instagram and over 40 million use Twitter-owned Vine (Ad Age, 2014). These sites enable videos to be shared or retweeted, allowing more consumers to engage with your brand.
Brands also need to realise that creating an online mobile video is considerably cheaper than alternative forms of advertising, especially TV. Creating a short video clip costs a lot less than producing and creating a TV advertisement. It also stays online, meaning it is a much more cost-effective and long-standing means of advertising. The use of the mobile video advert also means that a brand can engage with the consumer there and then, and can use a Call to Action (CTA) within the first few seconds of the video to hit the user with the brand straight away. This is a massive advantage over TV advertising, where you cannot simply click a ‘buy now’ button and be navigated to the brand’s web page and generate instant consumer interaction and potential revenue.
It cannot be ignored that TV advertising is still a huge way to reach consumers and is successful; however, it also needs to be acknowledged by brands that using online mobile videos to raise brand awareness is more effective in the way in which it can generate instant awareness and interaction from consumers, is more cost-effective and can go viral with little effort!
