So, What’s the Upside for Video Ads?

What’s the upside of dealership video ads? How much time have you got? Seriously, digital ad benefits are intense. In a knockdown drag-out fight – digital video ads vs broadcast ads – it’d be no fight at all. Digital ads knock-out the competition every time.

Dealership digital video ads continue to grow in power, popularity and platforms. With more money being spent distributing them and more time being spent watching them. Plus, more people are cutting the cord in favor of OTT (Over-The-Top streaming providers), which also works in video ads’ favor. How does this affect you? Many automotive dealerships have already ditched broadcast ads and gone with digital video ads via:

YouTube
OTT (for example, Netflix)
Social (especially Facebook)
Premium publisher sites (definitely USA TODAY NETWORK)

Still on the ropes about video ads? Let’s take a sec and count the ways they beat out broadcast.

1. More Spend

This year is the first time digital ad spend is on track to exceed traditional ad spend, reaching 54 percent of total ad spend at $129.34 billion. And mobile is expected to account for $87.06 billion of that digital ad spend. Meanwhile, traditional ad spend is estimated to drop to 45.8 percent of total ad spend – down from 51.4 percent in 2018.

2. More Influence

What social media do people land on when looking for product information? And what kind of a punch do video ads pack?

33 percent of internet users think YouTube has the most useful content when it comes to new products and services.
80 percent of users recall video ads they’ve seen in the last 30 days.
69 percent of car shoppers who use YouTube are influenced by what they see.
37 percent of car shoppers consider a brand after viewing digital video ads.
(Why Switch from Broadcast to Digital Video Ads)

3. More People

People of all ages – from all over the world* – are watching more social videos. And that means more opportunities for your dealership video ads.

16-24 70 percent
25-34 64 percent
35-44 59 percent
45-54 51 percent
55-64 42 percent

*China was not included in the survey.

Where are they watching these digital videos, at least the Millennials and Gen Z? In order of hours per day: smartphone, TV, desktop/laptop and tablet.

4. More Time

People are spending more time with digital video and less time with non-digital TV:

Free, ad-supported video (like YouTube) 29 percent
Paid services 46 percent
Other (like streaming from pay TV services) 25 percent

This trend is expected to continue. Partly due to “cord-cutters” and “cord-nevers” (people who don’t own, or have never owned, a television), a group that’s expected to climb by 32.8 percent this year to 33 million. And subscription OTT viewers will reach 170.1 million (51.7 percent of the U.S. population). (Forbes)

5. More Platforms

Which top social media platforms do people use to watch digital videos – and, more importantly, video ads?

YouTube 75 percent
Facebook 56 percent
Instagram 26 percent

Facebook is still the dominant social platform in terms of reach – and people love watching videos, so video ads are a strategic choice. Consider Facebook automotive inventory ads, which are optimized for people in-market for a vehicle. You can upload your dealership’s inventory with auto specific fields like make, model and body style. Then ads will automatically be generated and served to in-market car buyers.

6. More Options

How can you get the best viewability rates for your dealership video ads? How you purchase them matters – and here are the metrics to prove it:

Publisher direct 69.7 percent
Programmatic 55.3 percent

If you’re reading this – and you are – you’ve already got (at the very least) a passing familiarity with a publisher. USA TODAY NETWORK. We have unique video ad formats for your dealership to choose from, including large, mobile responsive video ads that take over the top of pages for high engagement in a short amount of time. Plus, our team can geo-target digital video ads directly on our premium pages or before videos on YouTube or connected TV.

Ready to make video ads part of your digital strategy? Consider this: businesses that use video grow revenue 49 percent faster than those that don’t.

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