Advertisers: “We need better video ad experience”
May 16, 2017
Most digital video advertisers say they need a better viewer advertising experience to improve their returns, according to a study by Advertiser Perceptions.
While the majority put responsibility for the ad experience on agency creative departments – saying they need to create more ad executions to overcome viewer fatigue – they also call for media to serve ads that match the content viewers watch and limit the number of times viewers see the same ad.
Asked about the biggest challenges facing video advertising, advertisers cited improving the ad experience first and creating adequate cross-screen measurement second. Fully 83 per cent say the viewer experience significantly affects ad results, while 78 per cent say they are prioritising the improvement of the ad experience.
“The viewer ad experience is holding back video advertising, and improving it involves a systemic approach,” said Randy Cohen, president of Advertiser Perceptions. “It’s not one problem that can be handled by one constituency. Advertisers, agencies and media all need to play bigger, more collaborative roles throughout the campaign cycle.”
Advertisers are principally looking at engagement – viewability and viewing time – to determine positive viewing experience, and are most concerned with ad fatigue. From their perspective, fatigue comes primarily from lack of creative diversity, leading to too many pods filled with too many of the same ads mismatched to the media environment and the viewer.
According to the report, only 30 per cent of creative departments currently repurpose TV ads for online video, whereas more than 60 per cent of advertisers overall still do it. And of those, one in four simply use the TV spot without editing it for online viewing. Roughly three out of four advertisers agree that additional resources to help repurpose TV commercials would significantly improve the ad experience.
Advertisers note several things media can do to improve the experience and effectiveness of video advertising. Three in four advertisers believe media brands can improve the viewer experience by decluttering their sites, applying enhanced ad tagging, and allowing a wider range of creative formats.
In addition, advertisers say ad experience needs to be prioritised earlier in the decision-making process, with 23 per cent saying the beginning (ideation/strategy) is the most important, and 45 per cent calling creative development/execution the most critical juncture.
Advertiser Perceptions did online interviews with 242 online video advertisers (45 per cent marketer, 55 per cent agency, ranging from media planners to creative directors and CMOs) spending more than $1 million in digital/mobile video, from October 24th to November 4th 2016.