2013 Prediction: YuMe's Owen Hanks

The last year has been a busy one for online video advertising, and in particular for mobile video, which brands and advertisers have been very keen to explore.

In the UK in the first half of 2012 alone, the IAB UK estimates that mobile and tablet ad spend in the UK grew like-for-like by 132 per cent to £181.5m, with a healthy portion going to mobile video. We expect to see that growth continue in the new year as advertisers expand how they use mobile advertising and as they use it in conjunction with online and TV.

Mobile video emerges into the Mainstream

British consumers now spend between 15-30 per cent of their day using their mobile devices. This incredible stat is not lost on brand advertisers, who are increasingly seeing smartphones and tablets as important part of the brand media mix. In 2013, their support for it (read: spend) will increase.

Brands will use mobile video to deliver brand awareness for brand recall, expanding beyond activation-(performance) based advertising, or prompting users to action. Moreover, the growth of 4G penetration in the UK will allow consumers to use more entertainment - lean back services - on the go which will only increase the volume of interactions from a brand advertiser opportunity.

Video advertising will diverge on smartphones and tablets

In the earliest days of mobile video advertising, smartphones and tablets were both lumped together as mobile devices. But brands are much more aware that the two are very different formats. Nearly 80 per cent of tablets only have a wi-fi connection, which means they are being used in a fixed environment making lean back content and advertising much more important.

Video in tablets will start to follow many of the norms we see in online video whereas opportunities on smartphones will be brand video advertisers using the space with apps and mobile web sites to deliver the message. 

Metrics matter

As brands increasingly embrace mobile video advertising both on tablets and smartphones and we move away from the experimental, metrics measuring their effectiveness will become increasingly important. Providers are already working to give brands similar metrics as used in television to measure the accretive reach provided by delivery video on multiple devices not just on television and online- this will be early to UK in 2013 but will undoubtedly start to grab attention.

A richer experience brings more opportunities

More publishers will use richer content to engage their audiences and to create sticky content much as they did for online when broadband penetration become ubiquitous in the mid 2000's. Mobile video will become an important part of this. As more publishers provide deeper and richer experiences, more opportunities for video and rich media advertising will develop. Brands will start to use the reach of mobile to deliver a reach and awareness strategy to complement TV and PC.

Mobile bridges fragmenting screens

Brands will start to spread the communication to wherever consumers are spending time therefore mobile will become a part of that conversation- supportive of the TV and online video brand awareness strategy. While these campaigns are still in their earliest days, they are nonetheless innovative and indicative of the future. For example, ITV and Shazam were successful with their Shazam-enabled apps that allowed viewers to tag special Pepsi Max and Cadbury adverts that appeared during the ITV broadcast of the final of Britain’s Got Talent earlier this year. 

Mobile video shines in brand recall

Currently mobile video enjoys better completion and engagement rates than PC video but this may be down to the fact that online video is a more mature market whereas mobile video is nascent. I do believe the 1:1 relationship with mobile devices in full screen will undoubtedly provide deeper brand recall but as yet the scale is not comparable. 

Brand video advertising growing strong on mobile

Over the last 12 months, the mobile market has taken a fresh approach to video. Whereas online video is always encapsulated as pre-roll video ad before video content, mobile has started to recognise the fact that time spent on mobile devices is a good reason to introduce brand video advertising. This is taking the form of: app launch video, in-app video/between usage, display to video, rich media with video and classic pre-roll. Incentivised mobile video ads will continue to be an element of the mobile ad mix but the use case is not always appropriate for brand awareness.

Owen Hanks is general manager mobile, Europe, at YuMe