IAB Europe study reveals European preferences when it comes of digital video ads’ formats

Cristina Blanaru Business, Digital & Media, Marketing, Studies

Advertisers, agencies and publishers are looking for options for delivering brand advertising campaigns via digital video ad formats, the first IAB Europe Video Ad Formats survey reveals. Based on a survey of approximately 700 advertisers, agencies and publishers from across 31 markets, the study provides insight into the video ad formats landscape across Europe, including the current usage for brand advertising campaigns, trends and technological specifications.

The research reveals that there are three dominant formats across all devices in the European video advertising market which are the in-stream pre-roll format, out-stream in-article / in-page format and broadcast 30 second spot. These formats lead in terms of current usage, trends and ROI across the industry with little variation between advertisers, agencies and publishers.

Video advertising is a key topic within the IAB Europe’s 2017 annual plan and is driven by the Video Ad Formats Task Force. The topic will also be explored further at the annual IAB Europe Interact Conference on the 23-24 May in Amsterdam.

Mark Melling, Director of Video EMEA AOL:

When we look at the most popular video formats being used across Europe it’s no surprise that 30 second pre-roll ads are so high on advertisers’ lists given it’s the easiest way to put TV ads into digital. But we as an industry need to be careful of simply taking the “easy route” at the expense of user experience​, we need to ensure creativity and custom experiences are at the forefront of what we do. Our own video creative research shows that where 30 second ads drive highest recall amongst consumers, it is actually 15 second ads that drive highest affinity and purchase intent. This means that if completion rates are advertisers’ KPI then the shorter the length of the video the higher the completion rate. It is great to see the ​ ​rise of​ native advertising ​ formats such as out-stream which enable advertisers to provide a consumer experience that doesn’t disrupt or interrupt their ​content experience What will be exciting will be looking at the new formats that we can create as an industry for immersive environments such as 360 degree video, VR and even AR: where video will continue to have a huge role in brand communications but where things like interactivity and creativity could become the make-or-break for whether a consumer will allow you to interact with them or not.

James Palmer, Global Investment Manager Mediacom:

Online video continues to provide advertisers with growing and varying opportunities to deliver brand messages. Understanding these different formats and how each can serve different campaign and brand objectives is very important in order to get the most out of online video. In an age of ad-blocking, advertisers need to be more mindful than ever of user experience in order to guarantee impact.

Dana Ghazzi, Video Product Manager Improve Digital:

This report from IAB Europe is in line with what we see in the market with our content providers and buying partners. Out-stream adoption in particular is increasing, proving to be a valuable and attractive format for advertisers, whilst enabling content providers to expand their video inventory offering in a user-friendly way. This report shows that the video advertising industry is fast-moving, and thinking beyond pre-roll on a single device.

 

 

Key findings of the report:

  • Out-stream formats are more popular than in-stream in some regions, for example respondents in Western Europe have increased their use of the out-stream in-article / in-page format more than pre-roll.
  • The results suggest that the buy-side is executing cross-media video advertising campaigns as more than two thirds of agencies are using the broadcast 30 second format across all devices and the 30 second ad duration is the most popular across all video ad formats.
  • PC / Desktop is the dominant device for video advertising as all formats are used frequently on this device but stakeholders are looking to expand across devices as the increase of video ad formats usage was strong on both PC / desktop and mobile. The buy-side is particularly looking to extend their video advertising messages across devices, for example over 80% increased their use of pre-roll on mobile devices in the last 12 months.
  • Advertisers and agencies are also not only looking to expand across devices but also across formats and are turning to out-stream formats to do so; more than half of buy-side respondents are using the in-feed format across devices.
  • On the sell-side, publishers are also looking to out-stream for further choice suggesting they are aiming to update and improve the layout of their content and pages; more than half are using the in-article / in-page format across all devices.
  • As stakeholders seek more choice they also aim to eradicate their use of more intrusive formats; overlay and interstitial formats are said to have decreased by the highest number of respondents.