The Current State of Cross-Platform Video Advertising

Most US digital video inventory is transacted programmatically

Serving video ads across multiple platforms is a growing priority for media buyers, who tend to prioritize reaching audiences via the expanding range of devices and platforms where they spend so much of their time.

While audience-based marketing is a tantalizing possibility for marketers, creative, technical and business challenges all mean that cross-platform buying is not as effective as it could be.

According to eMarketer's latest report, "Cross-Platform Video Advertising: Momentum Builds, but Obstacles Remain," cross-platform video advertising represents an opportunity for digital marketers to expand their reach into the living room while allowing traditional TV advertisers to layer in the benefits of digital.

(Subscribers to eMarketer PRO can access the full report here. Nonsubscribers can learn more about it here.)

Connected TV sits at the intersection of digital video and linear television, but ad-supported connected TV platforms have yet to attain mass scale, making it difficult to get the reach that many buyers require.

Meanwhile, most US digital video inventory is transacted programmatically, but the same isn’t true of connected TV and advanced TV inventory. Those formats are still mainly purchased directly, which has limited the growth potential for cross-screen advertising so far.

In the latest episode of "Behind the Numbers," eMarketer's Paul Verna and Lauren Fisher talk about how companies are reaching audiences on multiple platforms and devices in an increasingly fragmented media environment.

"Behind the Numbers" Podcast