Online videos are one of the drivers in digital marketing. Recent studies show that when it comes to mobile video advertising, growth continued in Q4 across key engagement metrics, such as unit engagement rate, video play rate and video completion rate. 

Celtra's latest Mobile Display Ad Performance Report for Q4 2014 found that smart video ad formats continue to show potential, outperforming all other format types in all metrics. The lift in expansion rate in for these came in at 75%.

While unit engagement rate for standard expandable banner has dropped by 35%, it has increased by 30% on smart video formats. According to Celtra’s report, banner impressions now represent over a quarter of all requested impressions, with a higher unit engagement rate, video play rate and video completion rate.

To no surprise, the retail industry represents over 20% of all quarterly requested impressions, whereby the highest unit engagement rates for expandable banners were witnessed in travel (23.9%) and technology vertical (20.9%). Longest time spent on ad unit was in food & beverage (20.1 sec in expanded unit) and, the highest video play rates for user-initiated video were present in automotive and entertainment verticals, both 17.7%.

Auto-play video is taking over, with 75% of videos in all Q4 creative set to auto-play. Video completion rate is 59% in standard expandable banners and even higher (71%) in smart video expandable banners. Highest video completion rates were measured in entertainment and technology verticals, both above 70% in banner format.

Fact is that marketing and advertising with videos is an uptrend you should not miss out; therefore consider the following tips to succeed:

Produce the 'wow' factor: The most boring videos are the ones in which we learn nothing new. So, find out exactly the information needs of the viewer, create a concept and develop relevant content instead of redundant information.

Provide optimal sound: When broadcasting videos, they often sound like coming out of a tin can. Make sure to give it as much attention as to picture for a good user experience.

Introduce yourself: Whether explanatory video or image film, the viewer wants to know the sender. Create confidence by presenting first yourself and your product respectively to establish a relationship with the user and not remaining a phantom.

Present on your website: Instead of spreading the self-produced videos only on video platforms, they should also be found where interested parties are already trying to find some information: On your own website, which is easy to realize by embedding code.

Implement a multichannel strategy: Videos are accessed from a broad variety of devices; therefore consider using the optimum adaptation to all common devices. The display format of your video should be suitable for both the desktop and mobile use with your smartphone or tablet.

By MediaBUZZ