Viral video spend is set to increase and Facebook will soon track users across devices to deliver a seamless ad experience.
Advertisers spending more on viral videos
TalentPartners released the results of its 2014 Production Trends Survey, which shows where production growth is headed in the year ahead. The survey was undertaken in October 2013, and showed that senior marketing executives believed that social media and viral video investments will increase in 2014.
The breakdown is as follows:
- Social media campaigns (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) are positioned to be the most popular, with 44% seeing the greatest growth in social.
- Next up are viral videos, with 30% of respondents saying this is the area that will see the largest growth in production.
- Interactive and data-driven projects will grow the most, says 20% of respondents.
- Rounding up the rear is television advertising, with only 6% of respondents seeing investment increases here. This shows the ongoing challenge that the television advertising world faces, with eyeballs and attention shifting elsewhere.
The increase in video consumption on mobile is clearly also driving more investment in the sector, as consumers have more and more opportunities to access content on the go.
Facebook to place ads across devices
Facebook is reportedly working on a feature that will allow the social network to track users across devices in order to deliver a seamless ad experience. This will allow brands to deliver different content depending on device, as well as ensure that the best ad is served on the right device at the right time in the user's experience.
This feature could be especially intriguing for viral video production, as users have unique profile IDs. These IDs allow marketers to push users through specific video funnels - basically, the videos would unfold as planned by the advertiser. This would also ensure that the same video doesn't accidentally or wastefully appear on a desktop after a user has played it on mobile.
Unnamed executives in the above report stated that "the writing is on the wall. Sequentially targeted ads are hugely efficient and ultimately cost effective. They have greater relevance for advertisers and better targeting." This targeting will allow advertisers to drill further into a demographic's behavior across devices, using available data to deliver more successful campaigns.
This news plays into Facebook's acquisition of video advertising provider LiveRail last month, in a bid to directly integrate that company's product to deliver video ads on mobile. Facebook has long talked about how video will play into this emerging advertising product, so look for more quite soon.
NB: Video image courtesy Shutterstock.