While TV continues to be one of the best reach vehicles for advertisers, we’ve found that since 2010 the linear TV audience has drifted to other viewing experiences. Some of these media properties give advertisers a place to promote effectively, but others don’t – and in many cases, execution is significantly different from traditional 30-second spots. So advertisers who in the past have built their media plans around TV’s big buys – to reach the biggest audience possible – are finding they now have to supplement those buys with alternative video vehicles.
All of this is creating a moment for media sellers who are willing to put some time into educating their clients on the myriad of video advertising opportunities paired with the content providers consumers are using. Because the first thing we can agree on is that the opportunities are vast but complicated – and confusing to someone who doesn’t spend all of their time paying attention to this ever-evolving space. If an advertiser starts exploring vMVPDs, SVOD, AVOD and even DSPs – what’s it all mean, and how do they know if they’re reaching the audience they wants?
Here’s how a proactive media seller might approach video advertising for their advertisers:
- Understand the old landscape your advertiser is used to. What was their TV buy – who did it target, how much, when, what types of programming, and other trends. And did that accomplish their goals?
- Help them get to know the new video ecosystem. Help them understand where your company’s content can be found and how you can help them target audiences and build incremental reach within your owned and operated environments. And personalize them for your advertiser, based on how they approached linear TV.
- Work across the video ecosystem to put together a plan that meets your advertisers’ needs from a targeting standpoint. This is where things get more complicated, but patchwork quilts can be both beautiful and functional. Just like your media plan that dives across the entire video ecosystem.
Finally, have a plan for metric reporting. Since their buy is across different platforms, the data will be in different formats and will reveal different truths. Find a way to consolidate this for your client so you can remove doubt and concern about consistency. They’re going to do their due diligence on your reporting so be transparent on your methodology.
Video advertising is a moving target that’s also on fire. We’re keeping our finger on the pulse of this channel with our latest annual Video Report – AVAILABLE NOW.
