Google Advertisers

Americans who watched video ads in May seemed to have watched a whole lot of them, according to the latest Video Metrix figures from comScore. The data reveals that about 53% of the US population watched online video ads in May, relatively unchanged from April's 52.6%. But in May, those Americans watched an average of 96.5 ads each, up significantly from 81.6 the prior month. Back in January, the US population reached by online video ads viewed them slightly more than 58 times during the month. Read more »

About 2 in 3 in-stream video ad impressions come from 4 advertiser categories, according to [pdf] a new study from Google DoubleClick. Looking at video ads served on DoubleClick for Advertisers (DFA) and the Ad Exchange between March 2012 and March 2013, Google reveals that automotive (19%), retail (18%), technology (17%) and CPG (14%) brands led all others, with these categories chiefly the realm of large advertisers seeking branding opportunities. And it looks like that trend isn't going away: 2 in 5 video ad impressions in Q1 came from advertisers new to digital video, with the majority of those being large brand advertisers. Read more »

Around the world, consumers and marketers alike believe that traditional media such as newspapers and TV are better advertising sources than digital platforms such as websites, social media pages and blogs, finds Adobe in new data from its "Click Here: The State of Online Advertising" report. The new data builds on previous research conducted within the US (results covered here), by expanding into the UK, Japan, Australia, Germany, France, and South Korea and offering a global average from all the countries. But while consumers and marketers are in agreement that traditional media sources are better for advertising and more credible sources of information, consumers tended to rate traditional media higher, while marketers were comparably more favorable to digital sources. Read more »

ZenithOptimedia has released a list of the largest media companies around the world, ranked by media revenue, which it describes as "all revenues deriving from businesses that support advertising, not just the advertising revenue itself." While only 4 online media owners made the top 30 list, it's important to note - as the researchers do - that the figures pertain to the 2011 financial year, the most recent one that could be used for consistency's sake. Since then, online advertising has been growing by leaps and bounds. And yet, even in 2011, one digital company ruled them all: Google. Read more »

Online video ads bested their March record of 13.2 billion views by about 70 million or so views in April, according to the latest Video Metrix data from comScore. The increase wasn't related to frequency of ads served to the average viewer, which remained relatively steady at roughly 82. Instead, video ads reached at greater percentage of the US population, up about a point to 53%. During the month, video ads accounted for 25.5% of all online videos viewed, and 2.3% of all minutes spent viewing online video, both up slightly from March. Read more »

Google has released a customer journey to online purchase benchmark tool, providing insights as to where different marketing channels impact the customer journey. Based on transactional data collected from Google Analytics accounts with e-commerce tracking enabled, the tool reveals that in the US, display, social and email each act more as an assist interaction, while paid search acts almost equally as an assist and last interaction. Read more »

Online video ad views jumped to a record high of 13.2 billion in March, up about 33% month-over-month, details comScore in its latest Video Metrix data release. To put that 13.2 billion figure in context, it means that video ads accounted for one-quarter of all videos viewed. Video ad reach extended to 52% of all Americans an average of 82 times during the month. In February, video ads had a similar reach, though frequency was almost 25% less (63 times on average). Read more »

The latest report on paid search trends has been released, this one from Kenshoo. As with previous reports from RKG, The Search Agency, and IgnitionOne, the Kenshoo study notes that mobile devices are playing a strong role in the search advertising market. Separately, though, the report illustrates that on a global basis, paid search click volume (+21%) and click-through rates (+62%) each saw strong growth, with spending up 15%.  Read more »

The Search Agency has released an analysis of paid search trends in the US in Q1 2013 across devices and verticals. Looking at the B2B vertical, the study finds that impressions rose 27.2% year-over-year, while clicks stayed flat. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, impressions were up 35.5% and clicks up 15.6%. The data also reveals that while click-through rates grew by 16% year-over-year on average for all industries (to 3.15%), B2B companies saw a 21.6% drop (to 2.07%). Read more »

Tablets and smartphones combined accounted for roughly 24% of organic search visits in Q1, according to [download page] the latest quarterly report from RKG. Android devices contributed about 7% of visits, far behind the 17% combined share delivered by iOS devices (iPad: 9%; iPhone: 8%). As has been the case for several quarters now, Google took the lead in share of visits from mobile devices (at about 27%), followed by Yahoo (23%) and Bing (8%). The Google share includes estimated visits from iOS 6. Read more »