Cross-Screen Advertising an Essential to Reach Viewers: Survey

The shift to online viewing platforms is having a deep impact on the advertising community, which needs to craft multi-platform approaches to reach viewers who might not watch traditional television. Running cross-screen advertising campaigns is now essential, say 80 percent of those questioned in a just-released survey by video ad-serving platform SpotX. Among advertisers, 100 percent said adopting a multi-screen approach is their biggest current strategy change.

SpotX got its data by questioning 41 multichannel video service providers (MVPDs), pure-play OTT providers, content owners, and advertisers. The results show the shift to over-the-top delivery is both a challenge and an opportunity. SpotX commissioned the survey, which was conducted by Kagan.

At the moment, 11 percent of advertisers spend between 21 and 40 percent of their ad budgets on OTT platforms. This will grow to 67 percent in 2 years, the survey forecasts.

Moving to a cross-platform approach, for most advertisers, means buying placements in front of targeted audiences rather than buying ad time on particular shows. Many advertisers expect this audience-based approach to offer stronger returns, with 44 percent saying they expect to see an 11 to 20 percent increase in return on advertising spending by shifting from traditional ad buys to an audience-based model. Additionally, 33 percent expect to see an additional 6 to 10 percent increase.

The groups surveyed agree that the move toward smartphone streaming and away from linear broadcast TV viewing is the most important consumer viewing change in the past year.

"This research illustrates that buyers and sellers are similarly optimistic about the potential of audience-based trading," says Allen Klosowski, senior vice president of SpotX's Advanced Solutions Group. "While it's true that data-driven buys command higher CPMs which generate higher yields for media owners, nearly half of the advertisers surveyed expect to increase their return on ad spend by as much as 20 percent, offsetting the higher prices. It is not a zero-sum game—both sides stand to benefit."

For more cross-screen advertising results, including a look at the importance of third-party data in audience-based buying, download "TV Is Total Video: Predicting OTT and the Future of Video Advertising" for free (registration required).

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net