Although budgets for search and social continue to grow, when it comes to accomplishing advertising goals and KPIs, US advertisers have put their confidence in a different media type. A recent report from Advertiser Perceptions indicates that video is considered the most valuable media type to achieving advertising goals.
Half of the 250 US advertisers — the majority (63%) of whom represent agencies — ranked video (including TV, digital video, out of home video and cinema) at the top of the list of the most valuable media types in achieving goals and KPIs. This is a far higher share than those who ranked search (16%) or social (13%) as the #1 media type in achieving goals.
TV and Digital Video Neck and Neck in Value
A closer look at video reveals that TV continues to be considered the most valuable channel for video, although digital video is right on its heels. Some 47% of respondents ranked TV — including linear, addressable, CTV/OTT, etc. — as the most valuable at accomplishing advertising goals, while 46% ranked digital video (digital or mobile) as their top choice for accomplishing goals.
This is quite the change from last year when only a little more than one-third (36%) of US advertisers ranked TV as the #1 video platform for accomplishing goals. Instead, digital video was the clear winner in this area, with more than half (53%) of advertising ranking it as #1.
The change could be due to survey demographics (which weighted heavily to agencies over marketers this year), as there is a disparity in this area when examining the responses from agencies and marketers. While more than half (54%) of agencies surveyed cited TV as the most valuable video type in accomplishing goals, only 34% of marketers agreed. On the other hand, about 6 in 10 (61% of) marketers see digital video as the top video type for meeting goals, versus 37% who say the same about linear TV. This divergence in opinion is backed up by previous research from Advertiser Perceptions which shows that agencies were more likely than marketers to say that they believe TV is more important than digital video.
Video Budgets Rise
Advertisers will be putting their money where their mouths are this year, with half saying they will invest more in video advertising in 2022. Some 4 in 10 advertisers plan to increase their budget for CTV/OTT streaming services, while about one-third (32%) will increase their vMVPD budgets.
While only about one-quarter (24%) of US advertisers plan to increase their linear TV spend in the next 12 months, those increasing their spend will do so by an average of 19%. This is compared to the average increase of 16% for those who plan to increase spending on CTV/OTT. That said, eMarketer estimates that by 2024, ad spending on CTV will have doubled from what it was in 2021.
Programmatic Video Buys Increase
Per the report, more than half of advertisers purchased video ads programmatically in the past 12 months. Indeed, there was an increase in those who purchased ads programmatically on social media sites and video sites over the year before. Additionally, perhaps due to the noted advantages of buying OTT/CTV ads programmatically, some 52% of advertisers have done so in the past 12 months.
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About the Data: Findings are based on an October 2021 survey of 250 US advertisers (63% agency, 37% marketer).
