Video advertisers could be wasting more than half their budgets on traditional video retargeting because ads optimised to consumer sentiment are much more effective in driving engagement, interest and brand perception.

That is according to a new study, entitled The Sentiment Driven Consumer Journey, and released by Magna Global, IPG Media Lab and ViralGains, a video ad journey platform.

The companies asserted that advertisers could save themselves millions if they optimised ad journeys based on consumer sentiment, which they said also doubles brand trust and the likelihood to take action.

Researchers tested 6,000 consumers in the third quarter of 2018, serving one group with video ads that were optimised according to sentiment, while a second group was served ads based only on exposure.

Those in the first group had a better overall ad experience, the study argued, because 85% of consumers targeted by sentiment agreed the ads were interesting, while 76% said they were relevant to them and 66% agreed they were informative.

“Marketers know that a great story is a relevant story, and the best marketers understand that they must use consumer sentiment to create customised and relevant consumer journeys; otherwise they risk not improving brand or product purchase intent or worse – increasing negative sentiment about their brand,” said Tod Loofbourrow, chairman and CEO, ViralGains.

“Engage consumers in a dialogue about their preferences, and listen to the feedback that signals sentiment and purchase intent – when you optimise individual journeys at scale using first-party data and science, everyone wins,” he added.

The report claimed that marketers could save up to 59% of their adspend if they just reallocated impressions to consumers who have shown interest in the content.

Furthermore, the report added, consumers served ads targeted by sentiment were 2.7x more likely to search for the brand and twice as likely to visit its website.

“Brands that listen to the consumer and create a customised experience rather than blanket everyone with the same ad sequencing stand to benefit in almost every conceivable way,” said Kara Manatt, SVP of strategy at Magna.

“Customising the consumer ad journey is a key element to smart advertising, as it allows advertisers to tell a cohesive story across ad exposures, as opposed to an inefficient ‘hit and miss’ approach.”

Sourced from Magna Global, IPG Media Lab, ViralGains; additional content by WARC staff