For Tablet Users, Video Trumps All Other Content Types

54% of tablet users watch video on their tablet on a weekly basis

It may be no surprise that tablet users are embracing online video in a big way. According to a March 2012 study by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) and research consulting firm Frank N. Magid Associates, accessing content and information was the top reason US tablet users reached for their devices, at a considerable 94%. Video was the most popular content that tablet users sought, followed by getting weather information and local news.

Business-related content, such as financial information and checking the stock market, fell fairly low on the list, indicating a more entertainment-focused device experience for most users.
Short-form news and entertainment videos trumped long-form movies or television shows as the most popular videos watched by tablet users. A lofty 92% of those who consumed video on their tablet said they viewed short-form news and entertainment videos on a regular basis. Moreover, 64% viewed user-generated videos, like YouTube videos, on a regular basis. Fewer than half of the respondents said they watched full-length TV shows and movies on their tablet regularly. This suggests that tablet users are more apt to snack on the device—use it for short periods of time, as opposed to hour-long blocks.

In general, tablet users watched video more frequently than smartphone users. According to an April comScore MobiLens study, 53% of US tablet users watched mobile video or TV at least once that month, compared to only 20% of smartphone users. This is likely because of the tablet's larger screen size and its role as a couch companion.

eMarketer projects nearly 70 million US consumers will use a tablet by the end of 2012. By 2015, over half of all internet users will be tablet users. This tablet growth rate means that video is also likely to flourish. As marketers consider their tablet video strategies, they should keep in mind that shorter video content is consumed on a more regular basis than long-form content.-eMarketer

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5 Key Video Marketing Findings: comScore Report

comScore released a report entitled Surviving the Upfronts in a Cross-Media World, a guide for navigating the cross-media landscape during this year’s TV and digital upfronts.

The report examines how the online video market can be used to supplement traditional television advertising. It also looks at the effectiveness of cross-media campaigns. The report also features some recommendations for advertisers, agencies, and media buyers who are thinking about incorporating digital video formats to their media mix.

“With the digital upfronts in their second year, more advertisers are considering adding digital video to their media mix in long-form TV programming and short-form video,” said Judy Bahary, SVP, Marketing Solutions at comScore in a press release. “Our research shows an incredible synergy between TV and digital video formats when used together in cross-media campaigns, driving effectiveness levels higher than either medium used on its own. As the online video market continues to develop, we should see it evolve from its current supporting role to an essential part of media planning in the annual upfronts.”

Key findings include:

1. The online video audience reaches approximately 180 million monthly unique viewers. In addition, average engagement levels are rising as it continues to play a more prominent role in the online experience.
2. Adding a digital video component to a TV media plan can increase the effective reach of the campaign in a very efficient manner.
3. Digital video ad formats are just as effective as TV ads. But TV and digital video have a synergistic effect when used together, making this media mix more effective than either one on its own.
4. Multi-Screen consumers are a fast-growing segment and need to be marketed to on multiple screens in order for campaigns to achieve optimal reach and frequency levels.
5. Younger age segments are generally more receptive to digital advertising than TV, highlighting the importance of incorporating digital video into the media buying and planning process.

It’s no surprise that YouTube is the clear leader in the online video market today, easily drawing 146 million viewers in March 2012. Other leading publishers of video content include Yahoo! (61 million viewers that month), VEVO (51 million) and Facebook (45 million). Many of these properties fluctuate within the top 10 ranking from month to month, but their audiences are consistently strong.

To get a true sense of how widespread online video content is in the U.S., comScore examined its reach within the online population as well as among the total U.S. population, and segmented it by age group. Overall, more than 4 in 5 Internet users are consuming online video content in a given month.

The 18- to 24-year-old segment showed the highest penetration of its online population at 87 percent. Another interesting finding is that for ages 25-34 and 35-44, there is virtually no difference between online video’s reach among the web population and the total U.S. population, which suggests that nearly 100 percent of people ages 25-34 and 35-44 in the U.S. are Internet users, making a strong case for the potential value of online video advertising for marketers interested in reaching all of these segments.

While the monthly audience for online video content is steady at around 180 million people, the degree to which users engage with online video has increased dramatically in the past year. In fact, 30 percent more Americans now watch online video content on an average day than they did a year ago.

The average user spends more than 21 hours per month (up 47 percent) watching more than 200 content videos (up 20 percent). Americans’ growing interest in long-form video content is evident from the growth in the average time spent watching a video, which has jumped 23 percent in the last year to 6.4 minutes.

The report makes its most persuasive arguments when it cites the latest data or recent studies. However, it also makes some less persuasive arguments when it suggests editing “TV ads down to 15 seconds to optimize for digital platforms.” This isn’t backed up with any supporting evidence.

Cutting a 30-60 second TV ad spot down to 15 seconds might make sense “if” viewers have no choice and no control over which ads they want to see and when. Anything longer might annoy or irritate them.

But, the advent of YouTube’s TrueView video ads, which give viewers the ability to skip an advertiser’s message, means you might not need to cut your 30-60 second TV ad spot. And since YouTube charges you only when a viewer has chosen to watch your ad, not when an impression is served, there’s no cost and no risk to running a spot that’s longer than 15 seconds.-Greg Jarboe, Search Engine Watch

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Tablets Gain Mobile Video Viewers

Per comScore, tablets have reached a critical mass in the U.S. with 1 in every 4 smartphone owners using tablets during the three-month period ending April 2012, and nearly 3x more likely to watch video on their device compared to smartphone users, with 1 in every 10 tablet users viewing video content almost daily on their device.
Mark Donovan, comScore SVP of Mobile, observes that “... tablets are one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies in history... poised to fundamentally disrupt the way people engage with the digital world... on-the-go and... in the home...”

In April 2012, 16.5% of mobile phone subscribers used a tablet, representing an increase of 11.8 percentage points in the past year. Growth in market penetration was even more apparent among the smartphone population with nearly 1 in 4 using a tablet device in April, an increase of 13.9 percentage points in the past year. A lower 10.4% of feature phone owners use a tablet, suggesting that smartphone ownership is highly predictive of tablet adoption in the current market.

Tablet Users Among Mobile Audiences (Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers; Ages 13+; 3 Mo Average)
	% of Respondents Using Tablet
	Apr 2011	Apr 2012	Point Change
Total Mobile (Feature Phone & Smartphone)	4.7%	16.5%	11.8
Smartphone Only	9.7%	23.6%	13.9
Feature Phone Only	2.3%	10.4%	8.1
Source: comScore MobiLens, June 2012

A demographic analysis of mobile device audiences indicated that tablet and smartphone audiences closely resemble one another in terms of gender composition, with tablet users just slightly more likely to be female than smartphone users.

However, the age composition of audiences showed that tablet users skewed noticeably older than smartphone users. For both devices, the heaviest overall audience concentration was between the ages of 25 and 44. Compared to smartphone owners, tablet users were 28% more likely to be in the 65 and older age segment, and 27% less likely to be age 18-24.

Tablet users also skewed towards upper income households, likely a function of the high price point of these devices still considered a luxury good to many consumers. Nearly 3 in 5 tablet users resided in households with income of $75,000 or greater, compared to 1 in every 2 smartphone users.
More than half of tablet users watched video and/or TV content on their device in April 2012, compared to just 20% of the smartphone audience, with larger screen sizes making tablets more conducive to video consumption than their smaller-screen cousins, says the report.

Not only were tablet users more likely to watch video, but they were more likely to view video habitually with 18.9% of tablet users watching video content at least once a week, and 9.5% watching video nearly every day on their device. Of those viewing video at least once during the month, 1 in 4 paid to watch content, highlighting the tremendous monetization potential this platform represents for content providers.

Video/TV Viewing on Device for Tablet and Smartphone Audience (Total U.S. Tablet Owners and Smartphone Subscribers, Age 13+; 3 month avg. ending Apr. 2012)
Viewing Frequency	% of Tablet Audience	% of Smartphone Audience
Ever in month	53.0%	20.0%
Once to three times throughout the month	24.6%	10.3%
At least once each week	18.9%	6.7%
Almost every day	9.5%	2.9%
Source: comScore TabLens and comScore MobiLens, June 2012

For additional information from comScore. - MediaPost

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YouTube Video Campaign Engagement Levels

While 33% of the most-engaging YouTube campaigns run under 30 seconds, only 11% of campaigns by volume run that length, per findings from a Yesmail Interactive study [download page] released in June 2012. And although YouTube campaigns rose sharply over the 3-month study period - by about 38% to 80 across all brands (3.5 campaigns per brand) - the average campaign engagement plummeted by roughly 66%. Yesmail’s actual engagement measure adjusts for follower size; rather than measure by sheer volume of Facebook Likes or YouTube views, actual engagement is a measure of individuals’ behavior. Thus one campaign may outnumber another in followers by 10 to 1, but its actual engagement may be far lower.

Duration Does Not Match Actual Engagement

Some 45% of all campaigns for 20 leading apparel brands (including Abercrombie & Finch, Old Navy and American Apparel) ran between 30 and 90 seconds. But of the top 10% in terms of actual engagement, a plurality (33%) ran under 30 seconds, while just 39% ran between 30 and 90 seconds. A further 28% ran either between 120-180 seconds (17%) or more than 180 seconds (11%).

The study indicates that much of why brands choose the longer formats is due to choice of content: TV commercials typically run from under 30 to 90 seconds, while music videos, short documentaries and user-generated content usually run over 120 seconds.

According to recent comScore data, video ads accounted for 21.6% of all videos viewed and 1.9% of all minutes spent viewing video online in May. While the duration of the average online content video was 6.5 minutes, the duration of the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes - or 24 seconds.

If duration is a key variable in engagement, then, the challenge for brands is to create video that is short enough to be digestible for the consumer, but long enough to tell a compelling story that prompts a reaction. And if video advertisers want to take a cue from a recently-released Nielsen study of CPG ads from 2006 to 2011, it’s best they focus on funny or sentimental ads at the expense of those that hone in on promotions or prices.

Marketers Missing Other Opportunities, Too

Marketers deploying campaigns on YouTube appear to be missing the boat with regards to the optimal days for deployment. Despite Monday being the most engaging day for YouTube, it is one of the 3 least-utilized deployment days. By contrast, the largest number of YouTube campaigns were deployed on Friday and Thursday.

Other Findings:

• 15% of the brands tracked do not have a YouTube channel.
• Only 35% of the brands that have a YouTube channel deployed campaigns during each of the 3 months tracked. 20% only deployed campaigns in 1 of the months.
• Roughly two-thirds of the YouTube campaigns were deployed between 11AM and 7PM ET. Surprisingly, the 2AM - 3AM timeslot achieved the highest engagement. It may be that these campaigns are reaching insomniacs: according to recent figures from Resonate, insomniacs are 34% more likely to watch TV on a computer, 31% more likely to watch from a tablet, and 24% more likely to watch on a cell phone.

About the Data: Yesmail used its Yesmail Market Intelligence tool to tracks, collect and analyze all digital campaigns deployed through email, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, for 20 leading apparel brands and retailers over a three-month period. Those brands included The Gap, Abercrombie & Finch, Ralph Lauren and Urban Outfitters, among others. Brands were selected for their strong reliance on social media marketing, and for their focus upon the 18-35 year old demographic.-eConsultancy

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Video Ad Views Surpass 10 Billion - 1st Time

comScore May 2012 U.S. Online Video Rankings

More than 180 million U.S. Internet users watched 36.6 billion online videos in May. Video ads posted another month of record-breaking gains, surpassing the 10-billion mark for the first time on record.

Top 10 Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers
Google Sites, driven primarily by YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in May with 151.7 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 57.8 million, VEVO with 48.3 million, Microsoft Sites with 44.4 million and Facebook.com with 44.3 million. Nearly 36.6 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 17.6 billion, followed by Hulu with 888 million and Yahoo! Sites with 845 million. The average viewer watched 21.9 hours of online video content, with Google Sites (7.7 hours) and Hulu (4.2 hours) earning the highest average engagement among the top ten properties.

Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers, May 2012, Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Content Videos Only (Ads Not Included)
Property	Total Unique Viewers (000)	Videos (000)*	Minutes per Viewer
Total Internet : Total Audience	180,503	36,556,792	1,315.3
Google Sites	151,656	17,618,391	462.7
Yahoo! Sites	57,762	845,401	77.7
VEVO	48,258	653,656	57.5
Microsoft Sites	44,356	490,942	42.7
Facebook.com	44,310	246,972	24.0
AOL, Inc.	39,627	569,268	60.5
Viacom Digital	39,199	433,530	53.8
News Distribution Network, Inc.	34,246	286,801	86.8
Amazon Sites	27,158	96,733	21.9
Hulu	25,689	887,812	253.7

*A video is defined as any streamed segment of audiovisual content, including both progressive downloads and live streams. For long-form, segmented content, (e.g. television episodes with ad pods in the middle) each segment of the content is counted as a distinct video stream.

Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
Americans viewed an all-time high of 10 billion video ads in May. Hulu ranked first with more than 1.6 billion video ads delivered, followed by Google Sites with nearly 1.4 billion, BrightRoll Video Network with 1.1 billion, Adap.tv with 966 million and TubeMogul Video Ad Platform with 897 million. Time spent watching video ads totaled 4.5 billion minutes, with Hulu delivering the highest duration of video ads at 725 million minutes. Video ads reached 52 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 64 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 56, while ESPN delivered an average of 29 ads per viewer.

Top U.S. Online Video Ad Properties Ranked by Video Ads* Viewed May 2012, Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Ads Only (Content Videos Not Included)
Property	Video Ads (000)	Total Ad Minutes (MM)	Frequency (Ads per Viewer)	% Reach Total U.S. Population
Total Internet : Total Audience	10,076,499	4,517	63.6	51.7
Hulu	1,666,846	725	55.5	9.8
Google Sites	1,385,273	143	18.6	24.3
BrightRoll Video Network**	1,130,983	673	10.3	35.8
Adap.tv†	966,204	556	13.1	24.1
TubeMogul Video Ad Platform**	896,787	259	17.4	16.8
Specific Media**	751,542	359	7.7	31.9
Tremor Video**	725,944	408	14.1	16.8
SpotXchange Video Ad Marketplace†	615,290	326	13.5	14.9
Auditude, Inc.**	569,862	219	11.6	16.0
ESPN	490,103	169	28.6	5.6

*Video ads include streaming-video advertising only and do not include other types of video monetization, such as overlays, branded players, matching banner ads, etc.
**Indicates video ad network
†Indicates video ad exchange

Top 10 YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers
Video music channels VEVO (47.6 million viewers) and Warner Music (27.7 million viewers) maintained the top two positions. Gaming channel Machinima ranked third with 23.5 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios Inc. with 16.2 million, FullScreen with 14.1 million and BroadbandTV with 8.1 million. Among the top 10 YouTube partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement (66 minutes per viewer) followed by VEVO (55 minutes per viewer). VEVO streamed the most videos (618 million), followed by Machinima (388 million).

Top YouTube Partner Channels* Ranked by Unique Video Viewers May 2012, Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Content Videos Only (Ads Not Included)
Property	Total Unique Viewers (000)	Videos (000)	Minutes per Viewer
VEVO @ YouTube	47,633	617,770	55.1
Warner Music @ Youtube	27,689	160,880	24.1
Machinima @ YouTube	23,503	388,012	65.7
Maker Studios Inc. @ YouTube	16,158	169,230	43.5
FullScreen @ YouTube	14,135	69,806	18.4
BroadbandTV @ YouTube	8,130	38,293	16.5
Big Frame @ YouTube	7,309	41,341	19.5
Demand Media @ YouTube	6,363	15,238	7.9
Collective Digital Studio @ YouTube	6,261	40,250	22.1
MOVIECLIPS @ YouTube	6,103	15,088	8.5

*YouTube Partner Reporting based on online video content viewing and does not include claimed user-generated content

Other findings from May 2012:

• 84.5 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
• The duration of the average online content video was 6.5 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
• Video ads accounted for 21.6 percent of all videos viewed and 1.9 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.
  

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Why and How To Create Online Video Content

Check out our new article on Reel Marketer.

You thought you had your marketing communications under control.

White papers, case studies and webinars – no problem. Your blog is generating traffic, your email campaigns and CRM system are working, and you’ve even implemented a social media strategy. So things are good, right? Well, not really.

You’re missing a crucial component – online video.

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