Video ads fast forward past banners despite concerns

The IPA and ISBA may be growing increasingly dissatisfied with online video ad standards, but, as usual, marketers appear reluctant to unfollow the herd, with new figures revealing that for the first time ever advertisers are spending more on the medium than banner ads, shelling out nearly £700m in the first half of 2017 alone.
According to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau UK / PwC Digital Adspend report, spend on video ads has risen 46% to £699m in H1, while spend on banner ads increased by just under 2% to £685m.
Video is now the fastest-growing ad format and accounts for 35% of all spend going on display advertising. And with online video viewing trebling from 51 minutes to 2 hrs 21 minutes per week since 2014, it is easy to see why.
However, the IPA is calling on both Facebook and Google – the biggest players in the market – to work with it and ISBA sort out issues over safety, measurement and viewability, claiming that “progress is neither fast, nor significant, enough”.
IAB chief executive Jon Mew said: “The time people spend watching online video has grown tremendously over the last few years, so it’s little wonder that video is now the fastest-growing ad format as advertisers look to tap into the changing way people consume content.”
Within video advertising, spend on outstream/social in-feed nearly doubled and is now the most popular format, accounting for 52% of video spend (£363m), overtaking pre-and post-roll ads which account for 44% (£309m).
And 7stars digital trading director Dave Counsell believes improvements in measurement, quality of placements, targeting and creativity have already been made. He said: “There’s no doubt that video is digital’s most important and powerful format, [and it has] unrivalled effectiveness. It’s an extremely exciting time to witness the strong results video is providing for advertisers.”
Display advertising as a whole grew 18% to £2bn, while search grew 15% to £2.8bn and classifieds remained flat at £692m. Overall, digital ad spend grew 13.8% to £5.56bn in the first half of 2017.
And despite claims that the likes of Facebook and Twitter wil soon feel the pinch, spend on social media sites grew 42% to £1.05bn, accounting for over half (53%) of the display ad market.
With half of UK internet time now being spent on smartphones, mobile’s share of digital ad spend has risen from 35% to 43%, or £2.37bn. Mobile’s year-on-year growth was 38% and now accounts for 57% of all display ad spend, 70% of video spend and 83% of social media spend.
Mew concluded: “Historically, growth has been the major and constant theme about digital ad spend. However, that’s only one indicator of the industry’s success, and as the IAB UK enters its 21st year, it’s about shifting focus to initiatives that will ensure the long-term sustainable health of the industry as it enters adulthood, and provide advertisers with the best possible environment.”