Why You Need to Ditch Content & Switch to Video Ads
With the explosion of technology and the ever-growing popularity of social media platforms (our good friends Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat), it’s an exciting time to be in the marketing and advertising industry. The number of tools and channels now at our fingertips grows every day, allowing us to reach our target audiences in new ways. And, while content is still hailed as “king,” visual content, namely video advertising, is about to take it’s rightful place on the throne as it shows significant growth and rapid adoption.
Video Ads By Numbers
While video advertising is still in its infancy, no other format has shown so much potential in such a short amount of time. Consider the fact that US digital video ad spending is predicted to reach USD 28.08 billion in 2020, up from USD 6.84 billion in 2015.
What can we attribute this to? The answer is simple: people LOVE to consume visual content because of the way our brains are programmed. Images are processed 60,000X faster in the brain than text, and when you combine this with storytelling, you end up with an unbeatable way to engage viewers with your brand.
The proof is in the social media pudding:
- Facebook: we watch 100 million hours of video every day
- Snapchat: we view 10 billion videos per day
*Stats courtesy of TubularInsights
Those numbers are pretty impressive but by far the most jaw-dropping are those that come from YouTube, a platform that was once just a site where people went to watch funny videos posted by non-professionals. Now, hold onto your hats because YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world! YouTube’s influence over the 18–49 year old crowd is undeniable. On mobile alone, YouTube reaches more of this age group than any cable or broadcast TV network and more of this demographic tunes into YouTube than the top 10 TV shows combined! If you’re an advertiser trying to reach anyone in this age range, YouTube is the place where your brand needs to be.
Video Ad KPIs: Click-through-Rates
Ok, so now that we know users want to consume videos, brands need to tap into this medium as part of their communication strategy as a way to engage. However, the question at the forefront of most people’s mind is: what effect will watching a video have on my bottom line? Let’s get some perspective by looking at click-through-rates (CTR) on the most popular types of Facebook ads. In a 2015 report, photo ads boasted a not-too-shabby CTR of 0.98%. However, video ads on Facebook blew way past these numbers with a CTR rate of 3.35% — that’s almost 4X higher than a static ad.
A Video Ad is Worth 1.8 Million Words
Let’s take a look at one last number that will make you perk up and understand the real monetary value of a video ad. Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research has determined that the value of 1 minute of video is equal to 1.8 million words — that’s about 3600 web pages. Even if you hire a content mastermind who can write intelligent posts at nearly the speed of light, there’s no way that one person can compete with the value that a video ad can bring in 60 seconds!
Video Ad Creation in Today’s World
By now we’re pretty sure that you understand the value of video ads however, you may feel stuck when it comes to producing your own ads for your brand. Traditionally, there can be some obstacles in the way. You have a limited budget, limited resources and hundreds or thousands of products in your catalogue. Ideally, you want to create amazing, dynamic videos for each of those products but how can you make this happen?
Forget about traditional video production budgets. Forget about needing to wait weeks to get your edited video footage which is now already outdated because your company is running an awesome promotion on the product featured in your video and the price is now slashed. Using an online SaaS platform like TheMotion, can make you look like the advertising genius you are.
Getting Started With Video Ads
With TheMotion, video ad creation is as simple as connecting to an API. A few clicks and, just like magic, you can turn your entire static product catalog into video ads. (As a disclaimer — we call it magic, and it will certainly feel that way for you but we’ve put our sweat and tears into this product and we know that you are going to be blown away if we do say so ourselves!) Imagine having hundreds, thousands or millions (yes, millions) of videos right at your fingertips in less time than it takes to eat dinner. Oh, and when that great product goes on sale or you have a summer discount extravaganza, new video ads with updated info can be created on demand in the blink of an eye! Is it magic or is it TheMotion? It’s a little bit of both — that’s our secret sauce.
Ready to get started or want more information? Let’s chat!
