Digital Video Advertising Best Practices 2019

Industry Experts Weigh in on Privacy, Context, Formats and Measurement

Executive Summary

As US digital video advertising continues to scale and TV holds its own despite unfavorable market conditions, it’s more important than ever for marketers, agencies, TV networks, publishers, streaming platforms, ad-tech and analytic firms, industry trade organizations and other practitioners to follow current best practices for video and TV advertising.

How have video advertising best practices changed in the past year?

After the implementation of GDPR, privacy concerns have put a wrinkle in advertisers’ and publishers’ ability to leverage user data, so some experts discussed ways to ensure privacy compliance while still harnessing the power of the data they collect. Industry practitioners are also increasingly focused on cross-platform measurement, connected TV advertising and looking at completion rates and other metrics that reflect overall quality of the user experience, as opposed to checking off boxes.

Conversely, which best practices from previous years recurred in this report?

Experts spoke of continuing to focus on viewability, shorter video durations and contextual placements; importance of creating platform-specific ads; ongoing challenge of frequency capping across platforms; and the need to reduce ad loads on commercial TV. In some cases, their recommendations echoed previous points, but for the most part, experts are focused on attacking these problems in new ways.

What trends do industry leaders envision for 2019?

Experts foresee an acceleration of cord-cutting and the increasing use of smartphone apps to stream video to other devices, including connected TV screens.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report compiles best practices in digital video and TV advertising from industry experts. Their insights are grouped into categories that span cross-platform measurement, privacy, frequency capping, contextual relevance and ad loads on network TV.

KEY STAT: US digital video advertising will reach $53.39 billion in 2023, continuing a growth pattern that by then will stretch several years. In the same forecast period, TV advertising will trend slightly downward but show resiliency amid challenging market conditions.

Here’s what’s in the full report

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19expert perspectives

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Table of Contents

  1. Executive Summary
  2. Build Robust Privacy Compliance Across Ad Operations
  3. Shorter, Front-Loaded Ads Are Still Better
  4. Shift Focus from Brand Safety to Brand Suitability
  5. Follow the Money in the Ad Fraud Battle
  6. Continue to Solve for Frequency Capping
  7. Combine Connected TV and Linear Ad Buys
  1. As Platform Options Expand, Contextual Relevance Gains Importance
  2. Viewability Matters, but…
  3. Completion Rates Are Becoming More Important
  4. Rewarded Videos Can Be…Rewarding
  5. Reduce TV Ad Loads
  6. Expert Insights
  7. Embrace the Complexity of TV Ad Measurement
  1. Focus on Outcome-Based Measurements…for TV
  2. Don’t Wait for the Future: Upcoming Trends in Need of Best Practices
  3. Takeaways for Marketers
  4. eMarketer Interviews
  5. Read Next
  6. Sources
  7. Media Gallery

Interviewed for This Report

Tony Chen
Channel Factory
CEO
Interviewed January 22, 2019
Andrea Ching
OpenSlate
CMO
Interviewed January 17, 2019
Jane Clarke
Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM)
CEO, Managing Director
Interviewed January 31, 2019
Alex Collmer
VidMob
Founder, CEO
Interviewed January 22, 2019
Danielle DeLauro
Video Advertising Bureau
Executive Vice President
Interviewed December 19, 2018
Vince Errico
Trusted Media Brands, Inc.
Chief Digital Officer
Interviewed January 31, 2019
David Hahn
Integral Ad Science
Chief Strategy Officer
Interviewed January 31, 2019
Mike Henry
OpenSlate
CEO
Interviewed January 17, 2019
George Ivie
Media Ratings Council (MRC)
CEO, Executive Director
Interviewed January 22, 2019
Eric John
Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)
Deputy Director, Video
Interviewed January 25, 2019
Amy King
Pixalate
Vice President, Product Marketing
Interviewed January 8, 2019
Will Kreth
Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR)
Executive Director
Interviewed January 10, 2019
Francois Lee
Assembly
Executive Vice President, Investment Director
Interviewed January 30, 2019
Roy Rosenfeld
DoubleVerify
Vice President, Product Management
Interviewed December 4, 2018
Les Seifer
Tremor Video DSP
Senior Creative Director, Head of Creative
Interviewed February 6, 2019
Elana Sofko
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc.
COO
Interviewed January 8, 2019
Dan Taitz
Penthera
President, COO
Interviewed January 18, 2019
Beth Weeks
Digitas North America
Vice President, Media Director
Interviewed February 1, 2019
Linda Yaccarino
NBC Universal
Chairman, Advertising Sales and Client Partnerships
Interviewed January 16, 2019

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authors

Paul Verna

Contributors

Blake Droesch
Junior Analyst
Nicole Perrin
Principal Analyst
Sharon Tan
Researcher

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