The format’s strength is rooted in social media, which has maintained a healthy audience throughout quarantine measures. Also, digital video is proving to be an effective alternative to TV for branding efforts, which are an increasing priority for campaigns aiming to build goodwill in a time when transacting is restricted.
Digital video spending could get a bump from TV’s hit during the pandemic, especially related to sports content, which drives a sizable audience and spend level for live linear TV.
In 2020, video will surpass traditional digital display spending in Canada for the first time. Video now makes up 25.8% of all digital ad spending. For each of the past five years, video topped all other digital formats in annual growth.
Video’s ascendance in Canada took years to develop. Even with YouTube’s strong audience in Canada and the heavy monetization of pre- and mid-roll in-stream ad units on the platform, our forecasts showed video accounted for less than 10% of digital spending in Canada up until 2016. But in 2017, video’s share jumped to 22.8%, the result of the vastly improved video placements in social media. Instagram Stories video ads debuted in Canada in 2017, contributing to an apparent tipping point for outstream video.
Video advertising is even more prevalent on mobile devices because of the heavy mobile consumption of social media. Video will account for 30.2% of total mobile advertising in 2020. Mobile video spending will reach CA$1.95 billion ($1.47 billion) this year, and will grow 8.5% next year. Mobile will account for 89.6% of the digital video market in 2020.