We are excited to announce that we have joined the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Video Advertising Council.
The council, first formed In 2014, includes leaders from the likes of MCN, News Corp, Fairfax and Yahoo!7. Representatives from these organisations meet every two months to drive industry-wide projects in relation to advertising standards, measurement, best practices, and research into video ad expenditure and playback experience across different consumer platforms.
As the newest member of the council, we believe we can provide important expertise and global insight in online video from working with thousands of brands and companies around the world, to help Australian publishers and agencies to improve their online video advertising strategy.
We think it comes at an important time in the industry — consumer behaviours have changed significantly and what worked a couple of years ago, might not work today. Click-through rates on banner ads have decreased dramatically, and so has the individual cost for these forms of advertisement.
Video is now taking a leading role in the advertiser’s tool box. In fact, it now accounts for almost a quarter of all digital display ad spend, with advertisers investing $600 million in FY16 just on video ads alone. That’s an increase of 55 percent compared to the year prior. And it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, with reports all pointing to consumers watching even more videos in the years to come.
While more brands are placing a bigger focus on video advertising, ensuring these campaigns are successful and measuring the results of video ad campaigns isn’t always easy. Viewability is a hot topic for brands and agencies at the moment and for obvious reason. Without the same strict industry standards as the like of broadcast ads, many digital marketers have been left stung paying for video ads that may never be seen by consumers.
With our experience having worked with some of the biggest ad-funded publishers in Australia and around the world, we hope to help address key issues and challenges faced by the advertising industry. In particular, we’re hoping to help advertisers transition through key technology challenges, such as the death of Flash, evolving industry standards like viewability measurements and ensuring that online video advertising grows as an effective and engaging medium in the future.
While the industry is undergoing substantial changes, it is an exciting time for advertisers. We’re seeing more advertisers experiment with the likes of 360 video and virtual reality and video is undoubtedly becoming a bigger part of marketing campaigns. We are confident that the IAB will help positively influence the future of digital advertising in Australia, and we’re glad to be a part of it.