LOS ANGELES – More than half (52%) of 250 agency and brand leaders surveyed by the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video believe that improving the video ad experience for consumers is the biggest challenge for the industry. The findings underscore the need for creative diversity so that messaging is appropriate across all screens.
Given the 2017 the Upfronts and the attendant conversations about audience buying and cross-screen executions, “One of the most important topics that’s underpinning all of that is ensuring that we’re delivering a really good ad experience to the consumer,” says James Rothwell, VP, Global Agency, Brand & Industry Relations at FreeWheel.
In this interview with Beet.TV at the annual Transformation conference of the 4A’s, where the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video released its survey results, Rothwell explains that the video ad experience was cited above measurement, “which I think gets most of the airtime as the number one challenge.” In all, 59% of respondents indicated that improving consumers’ video ad experience is very important in helping to achieve campaign goals.
Among other survey findings: 46% of respondents cited a lack of creative diversity as one of the leading reasons for a poor ad experience, and there are typically 3.3 ads per screen produced per campaign today. Those surveyed believe that an average of 4.7 ads should be created, while more than one in three said the video ad experience has a direct impact on advertiser ROI.
Despite talk at the Transformation confab of ever-emerging creative formats, Rothwell believes that “it’s more about how do we execute the basics. Making sure we have the right amount of creative to be delivered per screen is really, really important.”
To achieve this, it’s crucial that creative and media teams work closely together “to ensure that process is end to end and is being synchronized in some fashion,” he says.
With 30 members, all on the selling side, the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video operates as an educational and organizing resource to assist marketers reach desired audiences in premium video environments.
Among the survey’s calls to action are industry collaboration to refine the frequency of exposure across channels and ensuring that creative diversity and quality “maps to the context and audience.”
This video is part of series produced in Los Angeles at the 4A’s Transformation ’17. The series is sponsored by Extreme Reach. For more videos from the conference, please visit this page.
