Why In-App Programmatic Video Advertising is the Hottest Trend

Saurabh Bhatia

November 7, 2018

Needless to say, mobile video consumption is flourishing rapidly and that too in-app, as compared to mobile web in the past. This is catching marketers’ attention in a mobile-centric world where their core focus is on generating higher Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

Tremendous in-app video consumption on mobile devices, non-intrusive ad user experience, and precise targeting with adherence to the highest quality media metrics are few of the reasons making marketers think of only one solution and that is — programmatic approach in mobile in-app video advertising.

We recently published our report on ‘Programmatic Mobile Video Advertising Insights for Marketers.’ The report analyzes over 166 billion auctions and millions of ad impressions delivered in Q2’2018. It can be observed that concerns over the quality of inventory and sophisticated audience data targeting, combined with unpleasant display ad formats had generally kept advertisers a bit apprehensive about the programmatic approach in mobile advertising, however, now advertisers are beginning to see the returns in terms of engagement, conversions and awareness — massive scale, precise granular targeting, real-time optimization and highly engaged audiences across every coordinates imaginable.

Here are key highlights from the report rationalizing the pragmatic shift in programmatic mobile video advertising:

38% Growth in Programmatic In-App Video Ad Spend — Increased video content consumption by users and their affinity towards in-app, has boosted advertisers’ confidence in spending more ad dollars on mobile video.
62% Increase in Private Marketplaces (PMPs) Ad Spend — Buyers’ increased focus on efficiently purchasing the highest quality inventory with scale has generated immense interest in PMPs transactions.
60% Growth in Viewability Measurable Inventory — Viewable mobile video ads are in high demand with more brand advertisers opening up to advertising in-apps.
67% Average Video Completion Rate (VCR) for viewability measurable mobile video ad impressions.
Full-Screen Video Ads are driving the highest brand recall with 38% growth in impressions.
CPG/FMCG (26%), Auto (13%), and Retail (13%) are the biggest programmatic ad spenders.
Gaming (23%), Weather (16%), and Music (13%) are the most preferred app destinations for mobile video ads.
New York (20%), LA (16%), and Chicago (11%) drive highest mobile video ads consumption.

Let’s take a closer look at certain factors and see why programmatic mobile video advertising is turning out to be the best choice for them.

In-app mobile video consumption rise

The shift is already there. Forrester’s forecast highlights that 78% of all mobile video advertising spend will be in-app this year. And the reasons are obvious —

Splendid growth in in-app time spend.
Better user engagement due to effective in-app ad formats.
Opportunity to explore users’ location data to effectively geo-target them.
As compared to mobile web ads, which rely on cookies, in-app SDKs collect device identifiers to track and target users, and to measure impressions, conversions and other important real-time data.

Immense focus on user experience

Gone are the days when users used to react positively to banner ads. Even with mobile video, users prefer ads that are not spoiling their experience at all. Some of the ad formats that are catching marketers’ attention are full-screen video, native, and rewarded video ads.

Full-screen video ad format is the most popular ad size among the marketers because they get the undivided attention of the user with a full-screen ad and additional branding in the end card.
Native video ads don’t “feel” like advertisements and hence offer a seamless experience.
Rewarded video ads are less intrusive and offer higher video completion rates because users opt-in to watch the ad in return for in-app rewards.

Precise targeting with highest quality standards

Marketers want to be sure that their ads appear only on high-quality media properties. In-App SDKs offer detailed targeting options that outperform tag-based audience targeting mechanisms. Additionally, marketers want more control over their audience data. Hence, they want to buy through transaction models where they can put some safeguards over the inventory they purchase. The most appropriate solution they are finding is – Private Marketplaces (PMPs).

Download the complete report here.

Saurabh Bhatia

Saurabh Bhatia is the CEO & Co-Founder of Chocolate, a leading mobile video advertising firm. He has over 12 years of Sales and Business Development experience. Prior to Chocolate, Saurabh held CEO/Executive positions in Maxcellence Peak Performance Solutions and SCORE Insurance Claims Management SW. Saurabh's undergraduate degree was from IIT Delhi.