Over the past few years, we’ve seen digital video gain popularity at a steady rate. This year, there are about 229.9 million digital video viewers in the U.S. By 2022, there will be a projected 250 million. If that’s not enough to convince you, here’s another big stat: by 2020, people in the U.S. will spend on average 91.57 minutes per day with digital video. So, how do you get a piece of the pie? And more importantly, how do you find YOUR unique audience among literally millions of users?

The answer is simple – precise targeting!

This may seem a bit daunting, but the key is determining your core audience. Think of it this way, you’re not going to want to target Baby Boomers the same way you target a Millennial. For example, Baby Boomers are significantly more likely to be engaged on social networks, such as Facebook, than with a connected TV device, while the opposite is often true for Millennials. Your core audience’s demographics can help inform what platform is ideal for your video.

Once the demographic is determined, it’s time to narrow down a bit further. Are you looking to reach users across the nation, state, or city? There are a variety of geo-targeting options that can open up or narrow down your audience depending on how localized you’d like your message to be.

From there, targeting can go any which way advertisers want! Behavioral targeting can include household income, education level, political views, and more. Targeting can even get down as granular as specific interests like sports, travel, gaming, auto and cooking.

So, the moral of this story is – if you have an audience, it can be reached with digital video and refined to meet your unique scale and budget parameters. Video is a relevant tool for all advertisers, big or small!

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Did somebody say VCR?!

No, we’re not talking about that dusty dinosaur that you feed VHS tapes into after snagging the last copy of new release from Blockbuster (don’t forget to rewind!). VCR, or Video Completion Rate, is a measurement of the rate at which your digital video impressions play to 100%. Simply put, it’s square one for understanding the efficiency and effectiveness of your video campaign. High VCRs result in more time spent with your message and a lower cost-per-view, while low VCRs indicate room for improvement.

How can I set myself up for VCR success?

Glad you asked, because there are a bunch of things you can do!

First, understand your platform and device. CTV devices typically drive the highest completion rates (90%+), followed by Desktop (65%+), and finally Mobile (50%+)*. Choosing to run on devices or platforms with naturally high completion rates – like CTVs and OTT – may be more expensive compared to Desktop/Mobile, but the overall completion efficiency can be substantially superior.

Next, let’s talk about creative. Attention spans are shrinking and co-viewing (interacting with multiple devices simultaneously) is on the rise. That means advertisers need to get their message across quicker than ever before. We see the best completion performance with :6 and :15 second creatives, and recommend front-loading your message to grab the viewer’s attention. 30-second creatives are great for Broadcast, but they don’t translate well into a digital environment, so we’d recommend avoiding them when possible.

Finally, we need to understand what kind of inventory we’re evaluating. Non-skippable In-Stream video inventory naturally drives higher completion rates than out-stream or in-banner video, so make sure you know what you’re buying. (All of Fusion92 Advanced TV and In-Stream in non-skippable.) Keep in mind that even if the inventory is non-skippable, that doesn’t guarantee a completion. Users can choose to abandon the content, click-through, or the ad can fail to load fully… all of which can result in less than a 100% completion.

What about clicks?

Clicks are video advertising’s worst enemy! Here’s why:

• We know that the majority of clicks, especially on mobile, are accidental!** That means they likely result in frustration instead of a conversion or on-site action.
• When a user clicks on your video, it interrupts the stream, preventing the ad impression from completing at 100% and thus hurting your VCR.
• Most importantly, your ad is already an “interruption” to the user’s browsing experience. Expecting the user to abandon the show or clip they’re trying to watch is lofty demand. You’re better off trying to keep them engaged with your brand for the 6-15 seconds of content in your ad.

What should I be measuring instead of clicks?

While VCR is a great starting point, there are a handful of other ways we can measure video advertising success instead of clicks. We recommend:

View-Through Conversions:

View-Through Conversion tracking allows us to track a user following their exposure to a video ad impression to determine if they take a future action on your website. It’s a great way to measure the success of your video impression because it assumes that the user is completing the spot at 100% (driving up your VCR), spending time with your message, and then being driven to act on your site without a direct interruption to their browsing experience.

Viewability:

For the more sophisticated advertiser, we also recommend evaluating Video Viewability. This measures an impression’s opportunity to be viewed on a screen. Video Viewability is generally high since the average video player takes up all or most of the screen, but it’s still worth monitoring. The higher the in-view rate, the more quality time spent with your brand’s message.

Want to learn more? Don’t hesitate to reach out or visit Managed Media Services.

*MOAT Q2 2018 Benchmarks
**MediaPost, 2016

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2016 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness. 

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What is Video Completion Retargeting? A great way to re-engage users who have viewed an advertiser’s in-stream creative!

By pooling users based on length of time they watched a video creative, marketers have the opportunity to drive high click-through-rates and on-site conversions by targeting those same users with unique, related creative.

With quick and easy setup, we can pixel advertisers’ in-stream creative, grouping users into new audiences to retarget. Unlike Remarketing, there is no need to go through the steps of adding code to the advertiser site, making setup very easy and eliminating any work on the advertiser’s end.

To implement Video Completion Retargeting, advertisers choose a second creative to serve these pools of users based on advertising goals. For instance – a brand retargeting an audience that viewed 100% of a in-stream creative may want to serve a static ad with an offer to drive engaged users to convert on-site. If the advertiser’s goal is to engage users with a line of new products, they may decide to serve another in-stream video featuring product #2 in the same line as the product in video #1. Mixing and matching creative type with audiences who have shown various levels of engagement is at the crux of Video Completion Retargeting.

Now that you know what Video Completion Retargeting is, next time your brand is running a video campaign, don’t forget to incorporate this tactic into the mix: no placement of pixels on site required for setup and consistently delivers results in line with Remarketing.

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