Mobile video is a worldwide phenomenon, according to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and On Device Research. The report, entitled “Mobile Video Usage: A Global Perspective,” distributed a 20-question survey among respondents in 24 countries, with 200 mobile device users in each country participating. Let’s look at four fast facts about the findings — and how they might help shape your trade publication’s multimedia marketing strategies going forward.
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1. Users Watch Both Short-form and Long-form Video
The days when long-form video was relegated to televisions and desktop computers are long gone. While short-form videos running under five minutes continue to rule the mobile roost, 36 percent of mobile users worldwide claim to watch longer videos on a daily basis. This content may take the form of TV series and feature films — but that doesn’t mean other long-form content isn’t welcome.
The acceptance of the long-form video format on mobile devices potentially opens up a whole new product for your company: the video magazine. Instead of limiting your online publication to short video clips that merely support your publication’s text-based offerings, consider creating an entire separate video “show” consisting of multiple shorter video “articles.” This content could then be made available as a subscriber-exclusive or value-added feature on your website.
2. Social Media Is the Place to Park Your Video
If you want to reach a mobile audience with your publication’s videos, you’ve got to hit them where they live — and apparently, they live on social media. 42 percent of smartphone owners surveyed state that they get their video content via popular social media channels.
What does this mean for your marketing efforts? Since YouTube is still the unquestioned king of social media video, it’s more important than ever to launch, populate, and promote your publication’s own YouTube channel. You should probably also delve into the multimedia possibilities of that other social media giant, Facebook. Facebook’s new publishing platform, Instant Articles, lets you integrate video, audio, and text into your posts — and even your native advertising, via its mobile app.
3. Tailored Ads Are a Good Fit for Video Viewers
Mobile video users overwhelmingly prefer tailored ads over non-tailored ads in their video content, by a vote of 82 percent to 18 percent. The exact form of tailoring makes a difference too. 28 percent of respondents would like the ads tailored to the video they’re watching, while 18 percent would rather see them tailored to recent viewing history, with another 18 percent in favor of tailoring to favorite brands.
Viewers can do this tailoring themselves by selecting specific Google Ads settings to control the relevance of the YouTube ads they see; Hulu users can do the same by changing their Ad Tailor settings. But of course it’s still up to you to create those ads and make them available to this audience of pre-qualified leads.
4. Mobile Is the New TV
22 percent of the worldwide mobile audience reports watching less television in favor of smartphone-based viewing. That’s a global average of the 24 countries surveyed, but individually the percentage ranges as high as 37 percent (China), with 25 percent in the U.S., 26 percent in the U.K., and 28 percent in Mexico. Additionally, 66 percent of mobile users worldwide note that many of the ads they’ve already seen on TV get a second viewing on their mobile devices.
If you’ve been spending a big chunk of your advertising budget on TV commercials, it’s time to redistribute some of that investment by plugging it into Web-based video advertising, either exclusively or as part of a one-two advertising punch. This will help ensure that your publication gets seen by potential buyers who are able to act instantly on what you’ve just shown them — an interactivity you can’t expect from the typical TV experience.
The future is bright for video content and advertising on the go. So why not mobilize your trade publication’s visibility and excitement factor while reaching a highly targeted viewership?