LAS VEGAS: Marketers should no longer prioritise the 30-second TV ad spot and instead should concentrate on short video specifically edited for mobile, according to a senior Facebook executive.
David Fischer, VP of Business and Marketing Partnerships at Facebook, made this recommendation at the Adobe Summit 2017 in Las Vegas, where he held an onstage conversation with John Mellor, Adobe's VP of Strategy, Alliances and Marketing.
As reported by AdNews, when asked if the 30-second TV spot is dead, he said: "I don't know if it's dead but I think there needs to be a pretty major evolution, and like all things in life that are complicated, the answer is – it depends."
Arguing that mobile is "the next big thing", Fischer said that marketers should focus on spot ads that last 15 seconds or less because it's the "thumb-stopping" content on mobile that should be their priority.
"Yes, there are clients out there taking 30-second spots and running them on mobile and some of them, the occasional one, might hit, but the reality is you need to think about where people are spending their time and what they are doing," he said.
"People are spending a ton of time on mobile. We see over 100m mobile video hours consumed a day on Facebook so there’s a ton of consumption, but it's a different type of experience," he added.
"That's why we've been working with our partners, taking their 30-second spot and editing it down to seven or 12-seconds to capture that attention up front."
He acknowledged that consumers' rapid embrace of mobile had caught Facebook off guard in 2012, shortly after it went public, and those tough times had forced it to undergo a major transformation to make Facebook a "mobile first" company.
"I don't think that transformation is done by any stretch and we can still occasionally get caught on our heels by how quickly this evolution is happening," he added.
Building on that experience, he explained that Facebook is now concentrating on monetising its messaging platforms, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
"There's a lot of things going on and one area we are just starting to dig into is messaging – in creating great commercial opportunities for messaging," he said.
David Fischer, VP of Business and Marketing Partnerships at Facebook, made this recommendation at the Adobe Summit 2017 in Las Vegas, where he held an onstage conversation with John Mellor, Adobe's VP of Strategy, Alliances and Marketing.
As reported by AdNews, when asked if the 30-second TV spot is dead, he said: "I don't know if it's dead but I think there needs to be a pretty major evolution, and like all things in life that are complicated, the answer is – it depends."
Arguing that mobile is "the next big thing", Fischer said that marketers should focus on spot ads that last 15 seconds or less because it's the "thumb-stopping" content on mobile that should be their priority.
"Yes, there are clients out there taking 30-second spots and running them on mobile and some of them, the occasional one, might hit, but the reality is you need to think about where people are spending their time and what they are doing," he said.
"People are spending a ton of time on mobile. We see over 100m mobile video hours consumed a day on Facebook so there’s a ton of consumption, but it's a different type of experience," he added.
"That's why we've been working with our partners, taking their 30-second spot and editing it down to seven or 12-seconds to capture that attention up front."
He acknowledged that consumers' rapid embrace of mobile had caught Facebook off guard in 2012, shortly after it went public, and those tough times had forced it to undergo a major transformation to make Facebook a "mobile first" company.
"I don't think that transformation is done by any stretch and we can still occasionally get caught on our heels by how quickly this evolution is happening," he added.
Building on that experience, he explained that Facebook is now concentrating on monetising its messaging platforms, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
"There's a lot of things going on and one area we are just starting to dig into is messaging – in creating great commercial opportunities for messaging," he said.
Data sourced from AdNews; additional content by Warc staff
