Programmatic advertising now accounts for almost $60 billion worth of ad spend. That number is growing. Many marketers use programmatic to achieve higher accuracy and efficiency in their campaigns. Keep reading to get the full picture when it comes to your programmatic marketing strategy!
Yet many marketers still think of programmatic ads as banners and display ads. Fewer have added videos to their programmatic marketing strategy.
How will programmatic video ads benefit your campaigns and take them to the next level? You might be surprised by some of the answers.
The Boom in Video Content
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that video marketing has seen a surge in growth over the last few years. Experts predict more than 80 percent of all IP traffic will be video content in the next 12 months. Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms have spurred the trend toward video.
Video marketing is popular for the simple reason that it works. People like videos and they’re more likely to pay attention to them.
They’re also much more likely to retain the information they see in a video. Humans are visual creatures, and video allows them to process information more efficiently. What’s more, is that the combination of audio and visual content makes information “stickier.”
Given that, it’s little wonder that marketers have found people want video content. Video has the power to:
- Increase landing page conversions
- Build trust with your audience
- Garner more shares
- Engage your audience
- Convert people to regular customers
Video content can even help your SEO efforts. It’s little wonder marketers want to include video content in their strategies.
Why Video Will Continue to Rise
The engaging aspects of video are the best predictors of why content is going to continue to trend this way. People like it, and it works better than other forms of marketing.
Improving technologies have supported the switch thus far. They’ll likely continue to support the push toward more video in the future as well.
Consider the capabilities of enhanced WiFi standards and the 5G network. With faster speeds, people will be able to stream more video. Higher-quality video will load as fast, and watching will become a seamless experience.
Adding Video to Your Programmatic Marketing Strategy
Despite how popular video has been, some marketers haven’t added it to their programmatic strategy. This is a serious oversight.
One of the reasons may be a focus on text-based or static-image placements.
These placements are often less expensive. They’ve also been the dominant type of ad space on the Internet for quite some time.
With the video takeover well underway, though, more video ad placements are available. That’s likely to continue since video ads benefit almost everyone involved.
Advertisers get the obvious benefits of more effective marketing. Publishers can usually charge more for video placement versus text or static images. Individual website visitors benefit from more engaging and interesting ads.
Of these placements, most are programmatic. That means if you’re not already using programmatic video ads, you’re missing out on plenty of placements.
Specific Benefits of Programmatic Video Ads
As noted, video marketing can deliver supercharged results for your campaigns. Programmatic video ads take those benefits and give you access to the benefits of programmatic marketing.
Control Costs
One of the biggest benefits of using any kind of programmatic advertising is cost control. Since the systems use real-time bidding and AI, you can get better placements for less.
This works with your video marketing as well as any other kind of ads you want to run. You add your campaign parameters, then let the AI take over.
When ad placements become available, the DSP analyzes them against your campaign. If it’s a good fit, the AI will make a bid. If it’s not, the system won’t place a bid.
The better the match, the higher the AI will bid to win you the spot. If the match isn’t so good, the AI can lower the bid. If you win the placement, you’ll pay less than you might have otherwise.
This dynamic bidding ability allows the AI to make better bids all the way around. You don’t end up spending too much on placements that won’t perform. You also put in bids that will help you get the spaces most likely to perform.
Improved Campaign Effectiveness
Increased campaign effectiveness is another benefit of programmatic advertising. Since the AI evaluates different placements, you can bid on ad spaces that suit your campaign.
The AI makes these assessments in nanoseconds, deciding if the placement is likely to convert. This way, the AI will bid on placements that make sense for you.
AI is using data to inform these decisions. It’s looking at a comparison of the user, the placement, and your campaign parameters. It’s also learning with each media buy, so it can also compare against previous placements.
This leads to higher effectiveness. Your ads are in the right place to reach the right people. What’s more is that you’re reaching them for the right price, which improves ROI.
The targeting offered by most DSPs also ensures your ads reach specific audiences. In turn, you can design ads for each niche of your market.
Cross-channel placements can also improve the effectiveness of your campaign. As someone sees your ad in a few different places, they’ll have better brand awareness. They may even become curious and give you a click.
Retargeting also improves the performance of campaigns. This helps you switch up the ads shown to people who have already checked out your brand. They then move further along the funnel.
Access to More Placements
As noted, the majority of video ad spaces are programmatic. Video content is also becoming more popular. Its likely publishers will continue to add more video spaces.
When you add programmatic video ads to your strategy, you’ll get access to more of these placements. If you’re only using programmatic ads for text or static images, you may not be able to access these additional ad placements.
Similarly, if you’re relying on older media buying tactics for your video placements, you could be missing out.
An example might be Spotify ads. Spotify deals largely in audio ads, but it also allows for video placement. It even has text and banner display ads.
If you’re not using programmatic video ads, you’re not able to access the video placements Spotify has.
You may not be able to reach some video placements, such as Facebook videos or in-app advertisements. As the trend toward video continues, these placements will likely replace many text and static-image ads.
Pairing Video with Other Types of Ads
Your marketing strategy should definitely include video ads. That doesn’t mean you should abandon other types of campaigns.
In fact, adding video to your campaign can enhance your other ads. Think again of Spotify here. The platform offers video, audio, and banner ads.
Running a video is just one option. Audio ads are another. They can be an excellent choice on a platform where not everyone is looking at their screen.
Banner ads can support the video or audio ad someone just watched. They watch the video or hear the ad. The next time they pop into the interface to switch their song, they see the banner ad and decide to give it a click.
You’ll often see this strategy used on webpages as well. The company will buy a roll-over video or an in-line placement. Even when the user closes it or scrolls by, there are still banner ads with the company’s logo and product.
Even apps use this tactic. A video ad might interrupt your free game of Candy Crush. Once you skip back to the game, you may see text ads around the gaming area, advertising the same company or product.
Video Improves Brand Awareness
Programmatic video advertising can be used to reach a variety of goals. One of the best is actually brand awareness. This again helps justify why you need to up your game and start including a programmatic marketing strategy today!
Around 80 percent of people say they can remember the name of a brand they saw a video ad for within the last month. Clearly, video marketing is “sticky.” People see the ad and retain the information.
That can be helpful in terms of moving them through the funnel. They may see your ad on YouTube or Facebook, then keep on scrolling.
The next day, an ad for your company might pop up during a Google search. Since the name is familiar, the customer might click on the ad. If your website comes up in the search results, they might click.
This can even work with real-life advertising as well. The next time they’re out, they see a billboard for your company. Maybe they’re on their way to the store or decide to sit down and place an order once they get home.
They may even decide to Google your company or your products. If they happen to see a post from you on social media, they may give you a follow or a share.
In this way, video can support almost every other marketing initiative you take on.
Video Is Versatile
Another way video can benefit your strategy is by being versatile. Videos can be repackaged into a wide variety of different ad formats.
You may take video from a how-to or a short clip from a longer video. This can be turned into ads of different lengths. You can use shorter and longer clips to bid on different ad placements.
You can also cut the video into different clips to create several different ads with ease. You may even be able to take the audio and turn it into an audio ad.
An image from the video could become part of a static image campaign. You could even use the video as the basis for a blog post.
Video Is Affordable
One reason people hesitate to add video to any marketing strategy is the perceived cost. It used to be that producing high-quality video was expensive. Then the only place you could put it was on TV.
Both of those stories have changed. Video production costs have fallen a lot in recent years. Almost everyone has a high-quality camera in their pocket these days.
Even if you want to get a little bit more professional than filming on your iPhone, the cost of video is still approachable.
What’s more, is that you can put your video in so many more places than on TV. Over-the-top advertising may be even more lucrative than traditional TV advertising these days.
These spots are also much lower in cost, and they’re part of a solid programmatic advertising strategy.
Tips for Effective Programmatic Video Ads
Programmatic video ads can be a smart addition to any marketing strategy. Like any other ad, you’ll need to craft them with care to get the most out of them.
Remember that less is often more with video ads. Ad spots are often short, so you’ll need to get your message across in short order.
Video ads should also be entertaining. If they’re just a static image with some text over top, they may not be all that engaging. Think about what you can do to make a video ad more exciting for your audience.
Finally, be sure to plan for multiple videos. Consider the type of ad placement you want to target. An in-stream video ad may not perform the same way if you put it in out-stream placements.
By sticking to these principles, you’ll make more effective ads. With them, you can take advantage of everything programmatic marketing has to offer you.
Add Video to Your Campaign Today
If you haven’t adopted video ads for your programmatic marketing strategy yet, you might be missing out.
Luckily, there’s no time like the present to get started. Discover how you can easily add programmatic video ads to your marketing mix. More effective campaigns might be just a few clicks away.
