Many video marketers have traditionally relied on audience-based segmentation to better understand their consumers. These classifications, however, often have little to do with the constantly changing wants, needs and motivations of an individual at a given time.
A moments-based segmentation approach, on the other hand, considers the fact that a particular piece of content can serve the needs of a wide range of consumers. Segmenting based on behaviour, not just characteristics, can bring brands and agencies closer to understanding a consumer’s propensity to make a purchase.
And, along with a growing amount of available data and marketing automation technology, marketers can make surprising strides towards truly understanding the relationship between content and consumers. But wait, there’s more!
Earlier this year, Yahoo! partnered with Nielsen & Hunter Qualitative to collect strategic insights related to different variables within the pre-roll and native video ad formats. They surveyed 13,600 people (6,400 PC users and 7,200 mobile users), ages 18-54, and 50% males/50% females.
Their research methodology involved surveying people prior to ad exposure, then exposing them to a video ad, and finally surveying people again following ad exposure.
Here are the key findings:
- Optimize for mobile: Video marketers should optimize their video ads for screen alignment. Why? Because Horizontal Landscape and Vertical Portrait alignments generate higher increases in affinity and purchase intent, while Vertical Landscape is less effective at increasing familiarity and purchase intent. So, think long and hard about how your target audience is more likely to hold their smartphones to watch your videos. Hint: More than nine out of 10 mobile users will hold their devices vertically, so Vertical Portrait alignments are more effective.
- Align tone of ads with KPIs to reach Millennials: Brands and agencies should employ different ad tones to drive Millennials down the purchase funnel. For example, use comedic ads to make them familiar with the brand, Dramatic/Emotional ads to appeal to them, and Informational ads to drive the purchase. In other words, one size does not fit all.
- Use traditional ad lengths for pre-roll: Video marketers should continue to use 0:15 and 0:30 ads in pre-roll formats since research found that they drive higher aided recall, affinity, purchase intent, and recommendation than 0:05 ads. Increases for affinity and recommendation are even higher for Millennials on Mobile. By the way, it’s worth knowing that only one out of the four ads in Geico’s “Unskippable” pre-roll campaign generated high levels of engagement. (The one with the dog eating the family’s dinner.)
- Use Calls-to-Action: Whether they are URLs or hashtags, brands and agencies should be sure to include CTA’s in their video ads. Like TVs spots, video pre-rolls can increase awareness. But, including CTA’s in video ads can also generate increases in lower-funnel metrics, such as Purchase Intent and Brand Recommendation.
- Use Bigger logos: Logos in far too many mobile video ads are small and visible for only a short time, but it’s important to make them large and clearly visible. Larger logos deliver higher brand metrics than smaller logos, and this is especially true for Millennials.
- Brand anywhere, anytime: When vide marketers use visual brand imagery or verbal brand mentions, they should feel free to introduce the brand at any point in the video ad. Key brand metrics are not impacted by introducing the brand at the beginning, middle, or end of the video.
In summary, don’t stop using YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. According to Tubular Labs data, these have been the top four video platforms over the last 365 days. But, brands and agencies should take a long look at Verizon’s integration of AOL and Yahoo!
Over the next 365 days, the combination could provide video marketers with a lot more than a ton of new eyeballs. These video platforms could also become a surprising source of strategic insights, critical data, tactical advice, and significant trends in the digital video marketing business
