We’re a performance agency. We do video. We’ve had a dedicated team working on it for several years. And there’s a pretty good reason why.
Whilst it’s true that video has traditionally been seen as a ‘higher funnel’ format/channel, 13-24 year olds are now watching more YouTube than they are TV, and YouTube videos appear for 45% of all Google searches. And just as with mobile, video will increasingly become the default rather than the bolt-on: data suggests that in just three years 84% of all internet traffic will be video content.
That innocently single notion of “video” already has a range of meanings for marketers – from ads on Facebook or Twitter, to Video On Demand (VOD), to branded content or partnerships. This will continue to diversify: again following mobile, video media will be accelerated by behavioural shift until the delineations between format and purpose start to collapse. Indeed, by next Christmas, the idea of ‘video’ as a single format/channel may already be starting to look rather quaint.
Marketers have of course already been looking for ways to extract revenue from all that viewing time, and they’re not alone. YouTube in particular is making strides to prove video’s power as a DR format. With new shoppable ad formats, we can direct customers to a one-click purchase on a brand’s website – early trials here with our retail clients have seen positive results. And when cross-device tracking arrives next year, brands will really be able to begin quantifying ROI from their video activity.
In the immediate future, the smart money is already pouring into video as amongst the best ways of reaching a youth audience. From this Christmas onwards, expect online video to gain ground not only as an ever-greater proportion of brands’ broadcast budgets, but also to be an increasingly critical presence even on performance-focused plans.
To find out how you can drive digital performance over the Christmas period read our POV on ‘Digital Mastery For A Multi-Channel Christmas’.
