Why Artificial Intelligence is the future of Video Advertising

How has Video Advertising changed over the years?

The evolution of advertising has seen some remarkable changes over the years. Not only this, but it changed up to the limit where it has adapted to new mediums and audience constantly. It has become more significant and personalized throughout history. If anything that had the biggest impact on the journey of video advertising and ad personalization is the INTERNET and its ability to collect billions of data points on the user.

Let’s have a look at the journey of video advertising and track the key milestone -

The era of the Mid-2000s aka The Rise of Video Advertising- Initially video ads entered the market like TV spots: Publishers received the creative directly and hosted it as pre-roll with little to no tracking.

2008: The Arrival of VAST- As the first standard for video advertising, this was a groundbreaking development from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) that ensured greater consistency across all platforms.

2009: Arrival of VPAID Entered the Market- the VPAID ad standard made interactive ads possible, but misuse in tracking increased ad latency.

2010: In-Banner Video Ads Cultivated in Popularity- Display ads hosted in-banner videos. On a larger scale, it was not of great user experience.

2013: Appearance of Autostart Video Launched on Facebook- Initially it was popular and autoplay proved to be disruptive, with publishers like Facebook, Google, and Apple opted for caption or sound-off auto-plays.

2015-Present: The Fight against Fraud- A lack of transparency due to fraudulent ad data escalated, leading to present-day, anti-counterfeit tools like Ads.txt.

2017: Click-to-Play & Viewability- Intended to watch and strategically visible placements for players became a key to improve user experience-as well as the bottom line.

And as a matter of fact, the rise of video has grown exponentially, with predictions that video will account for 82 percent of all internet traffic in 2021.

Video advertising isn’t just a luxury when it comes to gaining exposure and building a brand. It is a key component and should be the first thing considered when it comes to a marketing brand strategy. It seems as though this is just the beginning of video ads. With the right strategy, content, and data, video advertisements attribute massively to a successful customer journey.

How does innovation in technology impact video advertising business?

The video advertising industry has changed in big ways and major credits go to innovation in technology. The advancements in technology have eventually played an important role in how individuals are exposed to new information. Let’s for instance, with the rapid growth and adoption of internet connectivity, the long-established advertising norms have been uprooted. Increased connectivity has resulted in the technocracy of media; anyone with a good strategy, an internet connection, and basic web design skills is now capable of competing with multibillion-dollar enterprises for views and advertising dollars. Moreover, the increased use of social media platforms not only means that people are accessing information in new ways, but it also means they are no longer as reliant on receiving information through traditional mediums.

Moreover, with the innovation of technology, we can observe that solid typewriters have been replaced by sleek laptops and ad campaigns are greatly augmented by data and artificial intelligence-driven platforms. Giving more priority to artificial intelligence, it has transformed how effectively brands can target their users online by proposing businesses an abundance of actionable user insights, tangible campaign results, and robust data. It has made advertising more user-friendly and proficient for advertisers. With AI, advertising and marketing teams are now been able to target the right customer at prime time to boost customer engagement and increase company revenues.

How publishers can benefit from the growth of AI in video advertising?

Artificial Intelligence is about to disrupt the video advertising industry by providing powerful solutions to maximize performance and productivity. Probably, it will bring an infinite number of opportunities regarding semantic targeting, precise analytics, user experience improvement, content creation and so much more. Moreover, with efficient technology, video advertisers will be able to deliver perfectly designed ads for each user. It will increase the average revenue per user.

However, since publishers, broadcasters and marketers have access to a huge amount of data and gathering that data is just the first step, AI helps in deriving insights and also aids to make informed decisions based on those insights.

Precisely, in personalized video advertising, AI makes personalized ads easy to deliver to viewers in real-time considering the type of data and insights collected. Meanwhile, metadata is generated on the fly so decisions can be made real-time based on the incoming data. Ultimately, with better data, publishers can offer better advertising packages and premium inventory based on target audience profiles and content counterparts. Probably, it also helps in improving the brands to reach and target their customers.

Hence, a successful AI video strategy aids in delivering relevant, personalized and satisfying ads to the viewers, leading to a better overall video experience and creating a positive brand identity for the advertisers.

Can you elaborate on the effectiveness of AI in video advertising in the long run?

If we talk about advertising, it is a tried and tested method that many businesses hold as an integral part of their growth strategy. However, in a digital world where consumers are overwhelmed and bombarded by an overwhelming amount of advertisements every day, they are becoming less and less effective. Probably, this becomes annoying to the consumers which eventually keeps advertisers and publishers uncertain on how much revenue their ads are likely to generate. Unquestionably, there are targeting methods that attempt to display more relevant content, but the fact remains that individuals cannot be effectively grouped for marketing purposes. Hence, there comes the need for a more personalized and individualized approach to get the best results. Certainly, according to the Adobe Digital Insights Advertising Demand Report, 78 percent of consumers prefer personalized advertisements, yet only 28 percent believe that it is done effectively. Developing artificial intelligence solutions helps in providing more personal and direct advertising messages to users.

Let’s have a look on few of its benefits artificial intelligence provides for advertisers in video advertising -

Hyper personalized the customer experience by evaluating their profiles

Speed up production of specific formats

AI-powered software helps in deciding what content to create and when to disseminate the same.

Helps in processing huge amount to data and make precise predictions based on patterns that emerge from it.

Aids in predicting customer behavior, identify and nurture the most valuable leads.

In nutshell, there is limitless potential for artificial intelligence in digital advertising. Also, video marketing is at its dominant stage wherein the next decade, 86% of marketers will be using content to advertise, educate and entertain.

From a business perspective, people who are running an ad campaign to help grow their business need to stay on top of the technologies available to them. There are only so many people out there with so much attention (and money!) to give to advertisements.

Similarly, to provide a seamless path to publishers and advertisers, new formats are rising in consumption to bolster video as an effective and engaging medium. Not only is this but with the advancements in technology, publishers now being exposed to new formats for advertising.

Hopefully, in the long run, targeted consumers will find these targeted ads less invasive by fitting seamlessly into their viewing activities irrespective of searches for information while scrolling social media portals or watching on TV series. It will offer both a win-win situation and a new way of looking at ads.

Amitt Sharma
Global Chief Executive Officer - VDO.AI