Advertising with online video in Canada is finally catching up with the amount of content consumed by Canadians, and it’s being bought programmatically more often, according to a study from BrightRoll and the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada.
A poll of 100 advertising agency executives revealed that about one-third of agency’s request-for-proposals (RFPs) included an online video ad. Compare that to just 21.3 per cent in 2012 and you can see there’s a nearly 50 per cent growth in just two years.
BrightRoll and IAB Canada surveyed more than 100 executives at top advertising agencies in Canada over a three week period in February and March. The results show that advertising dollars are in step with recent trends showing that Canadians are voracious online video watchers. Canadians are also watching videos on more platforms than ever, accessing video with smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, videogaming consoles, and PCs.
A real sign that online video is catching on in the advertising world is the confidence that many agencies expressed in it. According to the survey, 21 per cent say online video is more effective than TV, while 46 per cent say is about the same as TV. Still, some aren’t convinced, and 23 per cent think online video is less effective than TV.
More often this video advertising is being bought programmatically. That means that an algorithm is making the decision about where and when to insert an ad in order for it to reach its target audience in the most budget-efficient way possible.
More than 18 per cent of agencies dedicated a majority of their video advertising budget to programmatic in 2014. The previous year, it was only 7.5 per cent. Another 25.8 per cent plan to spend “around half” of their budgets on programmatic for video.