LONDON/MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA: As more marketers make increasing use of digital video, so it becomes vital they understand how to measure the effectiveness of campaigns across a range of channels and publishers all of whom may be using different metrics.
In a Warc Best Practice paper, How to measure the performance of video marketing campaigns, Steven Wastie, chief marketing officer at marketing analytics company Origami Logic, notes that digital video offers many more engagement metrics than standard display banners, such as view time and video completion rate.
But the definition of digital video metrics is inconsistent from publisher to publisher; nor do they always match up with industry metric definitions. Facebook's definition of an impression, for example, is not the same as Google's DoubleClick Campaign Manager, which can lead to problems when buying inventory, reviewing campaign reports and calculating campaign ROI.
Further, Wastie cautions that different publishers support different digital video ad formats – including standard pre-roll, interactive interstitials and native video ads – and the available metrics vary depending on the format used. “So it is important to understand what each metric in a publisher report really means."
Accordingly, he outlines four steps marketers can take to ensure their video ad campaigns are measured effectively.
These include setting KPIs against brand goals, such as awareness, engagement and conversions – and ensuring that publishers are able to support the chosen tracking technologies and report against them.
Ad formats and delivery method need to be selected with those brand goals in mind. Wastie notes that native video, or “outstream", ads are becoming increasingly popular with both brands and publishers, for different reasons, but adds that the common assumption that out-stream ads drive 100% viewability is wrong: “this is technically not possible," he says.
“Be sure to check that what's considered a ‘viewable' impression by the publisher is in line with your brand requirements."
Video creative also needs to take account of the audience on each platform or publisher site. “Brands should consider whether they are missing an opportunity by repeating the same creative across many digital publishers without customisation," says Wastie.
"It's worthwhile to invest in varied video production so that you create and deliver the most relevant versions of ad creatives for different audience segments and publishers."
In a Warc Best Practice paper, How to measure the performance of video marketing campaigns, Steven Wastie, chief marketing officer at marketing analytics company Origami Logic, notes that digital video offers many more engagement metrics than standard display banners, such as view time and video completion rate.
But the definition of digital video metrics is inconsistent from publisher to publisher; nor do they always match up with industry metric definitions. Facebook's definition of an impression, for example, is not the same as Google's DoubleClick Campaign Manager, which can lead to problems when buying inventory, reviewing campaign reports and calculating campaign ROI.
Further, Wastie cautions that different publishers support different digital video ad formats – including standard pre-roll, interactive interstitials and native video ads – and the available metrics vary depending on the format used. “So it is important to understand what each metric in a publisher report really means."
Accordingly, he outlines four steps marketers can take to ensure their video ad campaigns are measured effectively.
These include setting KPIs against brand goals, such as awareness, engagement and conversions – and ensuring that publishers are able to support the chosen tracking technologies and report against them.
Ad formats and delivery method need to be selected with those brand goals in mind. Wastie notes that native video, or “outstream", ads are becoming increasingly popular with both brands and publishers, for different reasons, but adds that the common assumption that out-stream ads drive 100% viewability is wrong: “this is technically not possible," he says.
“Be sure to check that what's considered a ‘viewable' impression by the publisher is in line with your brand requirements."
Video creative also needs to take account of the audience on each platform or publisher site. “Brands should consider whether they are missing an opportunity by repeating the same creative across many digital publishers without customisation," says Wastie.
"It's worthwhile to invest in varied video production so that you create and deliver the most relevant versions of ad creatives for different audience segments and publishers."
Data sourced from Warc
