The pendulum seems to be swinging towards social platforms as the most important partners for digital video campaigns, according to a Trusted Media Brands Inc. (TMBI) survey. Some two-thirds (68%) of marketers and advertisers involved in digital and mobile advertising said that social platforms are their most important partners, up from 56% in the prior survey fielded just 10 months earlier.
That jump vaults social ahead of video platforms (60%) as the most trusted platforms for digital video pre-roll campaigns, with fewer looking at full episode players such as Hulu (33%) and video DSPs including Videology and Tremor Video (33%).
Video platforms still maintain the upper hand in one important area, though. When asked to select their most important priorities when planning a pre-roll campaign, respondents pointed first to measurement and reporting. And 44% said video platforms deliver best on that feature, compared to 38% for social platforms.
Nevertheless, social has other strengths. Engagement was close behind measurement as a digital video priority, and it’s clear that this is a big differentiator for social platforms. Indeed, 59% of respondents saw social distribution partners as delivering best on engagement, versus just 36% feeling that way about video platforms such as YouTube and Vevo.
Social platforms were also favored for customer service by a sizable margin, and for ROI in a closer gap.
In other results from the report:
- Brand safe environments didn’t figure high on the list of priorities when placing campaigns, despite recent research from TMBI suggesting the opposite;
- The share of budgets being allocated to video is rising for both agencies and marketers, which is in line with IAB data; and
- Short-form is easily the most popular format for pre-roll investment in the next 6 months (58% definitely to invest), followed by premium formats (38%).
About the Data: The survey was fielded by Advertiser Perceptions among 300 agency and marketer decision-makers from its Omnibus Panel.