If you’re trying to figure out where to allocate those scarce advertising dollars, here’s a tip: Go digital — especially if you’re doing video advertising.
Think about it. Do you really watch commercials on television yourself? No. On those rare occasions when we do watch TV, it is usually recorded on DVR, and we fast-forward through all the pesky commercials anyway.
That’s not the case when we’re on our phones or tablets, and we are forced to wait 30 seconds before we can watch that cool cat video our friends shared on Facebook. You can’t really fast-forward through that one, can you?
Social-media platforms are catching on, too. Just last week, Facebook launched a new advertising targeting tool just for video that surfaces ads to those to watch video on the platform.
There once was a time when our mothers told us that television would hurt our eyes. Now, we’ve replaced 52-inch screens for tiny smartphone screens. So if you’re looking for a place to invest, it would be wise to jump on the small-screen bandwagon earlier rather than later.
Forbes shows online advertising surpassing broadcast television advertising. The main reason? Mobile video.
Chart from Forbes.com
According to the Pew Research Center, digital video ads accounted for $4.15 billion in sales in 2013. A separate study of YouTube showed that in 2013 advertisers spent $5.6 billion on YouTube alone, and that number is expected to increase significantly as mobile video viewership grows. Again, think about where you typically watch video — probably not at home on the couch.
As the Wall Street Journal’s Trever Fellow told eMarketer in a recent interview:
At the moment, there is significantly more demand for video space than there is inventory.
You know what they say about supply and demand, right? That video advertising space isn’t going to lowest bidder, so you better plan those budgets accordingly. A Business Insider study found that video advertising space is being sold at two times the amount of a banner ad on the same Web site.
Also, if you invest ad dollars overseas, take note that the trend isn’t limited to just the United States. Europe saw a sharp rise in online video advertising in 2013. The top five European countries benefiting from this trend were:
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- France
- Russia
- Italy
Of course, you don’t have to take our word for it. You can keep investing those smaller and smaller advertising budgets in mainstream media or you can go where the viewers are: the small screen.