Marketers attempt to align Online Video and TV Campaigns.

Spending on online video in alignment with TV advertising is a promising trend for marketers as they seek to broaden reach and interact with consumers on multiple screens. The synergy can be complicated, though, given a lack of unified measurement and the nascence of the online video market. An April 2012 study by video advertising company Adap.TV and DIGIDAY considered the media alignment trend and uncovered some insights into what agencies are using to measure the effect of both online video and TV.

About half of brand advertisers and agencies polled in North America believed that, out of the major advertising channels, the one most appropriate to align with online video was TV. Forty percent, though, said online video should be more aligned with display advertising, and 11% said “neither.”

In Q1 2012, when asked how they viewed online video ads vs. TV ads, 62% told DIGIDAY and Adap.TV they viewed online video as a direct complement to TV, while only 10% said it was a replacement for TV. The number of people who viewed online video as a direct complement to TV was up 6 percentage points from 2011—perhaps indicating that more marketers are becoming comfortable with online video as part of the paid marketing mix.

In terms of integrated planning, 48% of respondents said they currently plan TV ads and video together—and another 25% said they are planning to do so within the next 12 months. With planning comes the question of measuring both channels in conjunction. This has been a challenge, yet according to DIGIDAY, there appears to be some consensus on a unifying metric.

When surveyed this year, 73% of respondents said brand engagement was their primary video campaign metric. This was up from 68% in 2011 and just 18% in 2010. Brand lift and clickthroughs were still being talked about, but seem to be less essential in determining campaign effectiveness.

Measuring and marrying TV and online video has benefits in terms of reach, as well, according to a September 2011 study by video ad network YuMe and Nielsen. The study found that with TV ads only, campaigns had 50% reach. When combined with online video advertising, however, the campaigns reached 57% of consumers, a gain of 14%.

Reach of a Campaign with TV and Online Video Ads vs. TV Ads Alone Among US Consumers, Sep 2011

Undoubtedly, online video advertising is experiencing a steady incline, with more brand advertisers and agencies giving the channel serious treatment and consideration. Measurement remains challenging, though, and what “brand engagement” means may be different from one marketer to the next. As the industry continues to grow and change, marketers should take note of burgeoning technologies and trends, such as connected TVs and real-time video ad bidding, while fine-tuning their measurement toolkits.

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