Online video advertising set for “huge growth” – industry expert

February 7th, 2012

The UK video ad sector will see a major shift towards online video in 2012, with an increasing number of big brands investing in this form of advertising, according to an industry expert.

Writing for marketing and media news hub The Drum, Daniel Ruch, chair of the IAB Video Council, the UK’s largest industry body of senior experts in online video advertising, predicts this year will herald “huge growth” in online video.

Mr Ruch forecasts that the UK online video advertising market will continue to grow at “high double digit, perhaps even triple digit percentage growth rates”. He points to a recent report from Futuresource Consulting that found the consumption of legitimate free and paid-for online video is on track to exceed 770 billion views across the USA, UK, France and Germany, up from 640 billion views last year. Driving this growth are improvements in accessibility and ease of use, he adds.

Mr Ruch also claims that big brands will switch over from conventional TV advertising slots to digital media, which is more measurable and targeted. “At least five major fortune 500 advertisers will publicly make a big change in their media planning away from traditional and towards digital media,” he predicts.

Media companies will also move towards digital as consumers’ definition of TV starts to change, he says. "The importance of flat screens, PVRs, HD ready and so on is becoming more and more diluted as consumers' definition of good television will be about the type of content made available rather than the type of box it's wrapped up in," he explains.

Another trend for 2012 will be rising interest in video-on-demand services, which offer targeted online video advertising. “Video advertising has measurement technology that provides detail that is changing the way brands think about this medium. Through catch-up TV and the like, brands can not only consider whom they are targeting, but also whether or not their ad is working and more importantly, why it’s working," Mr Ruch says.