IAB report finds use of digital video advertising for brand building escalates

IAB

• 74% of buyers are continuing or increasing investment in digital video ad formats

IAB Australia has released new research that has found that brand building is one of the key drivers of the rapidly expanding digital video market.

The 2022 IAB Australian Video State of the Nation Report also found that 74% of buyers are continuing to invest or increasing their investment in digital video ad formats as a way of expanding the reach of their TV campaigns. 

According to the IAB Online Advertising Expenditure Report produced by PWC, Australian advertisers spent nearly $2.9 billion on digital video advertising in 2021 with expenditure increasing 48% on the prior year, a growth rate not seen since 2016.

As well as the overall trend toward increased investment, the Report found that the breadth of video ad formats and environments being embraced by buyers is expanding, with more than half of the respondents using the most popular eleven formats. 

The Report noted that agencies are expanding their measurement toolkit and moving towards sustainable measurement techniques.

These include the increased use of market mix modelling which has increased significantly since last survey (from 32% to 47%) and brand lift studies.

There has been a decrease in the use of multi-touch attribution modelling due to the increasing challenges to the accuracy of this technique from the reduction in signals including from third party cookies. 

IAB

Despite these advances, the Report found that the number of marketers yet to take steps towards people-based marketing remains unchanged since 2021 at 36%, despite it enabling planning, activating, and measuring interactions across the media when third party cookies are no long available to be used. 

Cross screen measurement for both media planning and campaign delivery was identified as a key issue challenging the industry.

In Australia the launch of the IAB endorsed Ipsos iris content ratings which will measure video audiences across computer, smartphone, and tablet along with integration of OzTam CTV audience data, will be a significant step forward for cross-screen media planning. 

Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia, said: “The video landscape continues to grow and blossom. The increasing number of opportunities from short form video, CTV ad formats, shoppable formats, video ads in gaming environments and more offers marketers a smorgasbord of options.

“This along with changes to tracking and privacy is resulting in a wider range of measurement techniques being introduced which is positive news. However, the wider range of formats and environments being used is making the development of fit for purpose creative challenging,” she added.

Creative was identified in the report as a critical contributor to campaign success, yet 46% of agencies rarely or never develop digital video advertising creative for a specific media environment. 

The 2022 IAB Australian Video State of the Nation Report was conducted by independent research company, Hoop Research Group.  Fieldwork was conducted during March and April 2022 with 187 advertising decision makers from agencies including trading desks and DSPs participated. The first Australian Video State of the Nation Report was issued in 2021. 

Top image: Gai Le Roy

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