More Canadian businesses are starting to use online video as part of their advertising strategies.
Recent figures from the Interactive Advertising Bureau show that onlinevideo is the fastest growing ad category in Canada, according to oursource story from the Globeand Mail.
YouTube screenshot of a BMW Canadaonline video ad.
No wonder. Online video ads are much less expensive; there’s just thecost of production but distribution is free (thanks, YouTube). Plusonline videos can be shared easily, spreading the advertising messageeven further. And as noted in the Globestory, it seems that onlinevideo ads are starting to resonate with older, wealthier consumersrather than just young Canadians.
There’s no arguing with how strongly Canadians have embraced online video. Our views of online video in general rose 58 per centlast year and our YouTube viewing jumped by 170 per cent.
Some Canadian businesses still aren’t entirely sold on using Web videosfor advertising, however. Although TV commercials have always run the risk ofviewers changing the channel, at least advertisers can strategicallyplace those ads to target certain types of viewers at specific timesduring chosen TV shows. With millions orbillions of videos on YouTube today – and everyone’s online attentionspan so short – it may be even harder for video ads to grab consumer eyeballson the vast Internet landscape than on TV.