With the advent of the Internet, advertising spaces in traditional mass media have become increasingly saturated and less effective. This has led many advertisers to hop onto the bandwagon of online advertising, and this digital advertising market has only grown and evolved since.

But with the click rates per ad in a campaign sitting at around 0.1%, the returns on static advertising is no longer enough to justify the rising cost in digital advertising expenditure. Thus, businesses began to explore the idea of video advertising, which proved itself to be a highly effective marketing method. Here’s why video advertising has so much potential in a marketing campaign.

As more people gain access to the internet, the market for online advertising is expected to grow, with the number of mobile users projected to reach 4.68 billion in 2019. Many of these mobile users are urban and are likely to be subject to physical crowdedness that creates a potential for more effective advertising via mobile devices.

In addition, mobile devices are also becoming increasingly ubiquitous. Just about everyone in the desired target audience will have access to a mobile device, and this target audience is likely to be constantly checking their phone. Video advertisements take advantage of this captive audience by maximising screen space and time, using audio and visual output to fully engage watchers.

Essentially, digital advertising creates the ability to reach out to millions, if not billions, of members of the target audience around the world, and video advertising helps to make the most out of that precious screen time.

Unlike static forms of advertising, video advertising is highly interactive. Socially, the internet is marked as a unique source of media due to its users being able to interact with each other and share information.

This is because through these interactions, users are able to create a community that not only engages a potential consumer - thus increasing the chances they become a repeat customer - but also allows for word-of-mouth advertising centered around the advertised product, potentially increasing the effectiveness of a video ad. This can then be further combined with video advertising’s capacity to go viral and reach millions of people at the tap of a button, an option unavailable to static advertising.

Psychologically, videos are more mentally engaging than static advertisements. The average attention span of most individuals only reaches 8.25 seconds. Reading demands more attention than the average viewer is willing to spend, and static imagery isn’t interactive enough to capture its viewers’ attention and persuade them. A static advertisement is therefore more likely to be scrolled past and overlooked as it does nothing to attract and hold the attention of a potential consumer.

This is especially important because the brain is naturally attracted by motion, and video advertisements can offer that eye-catching movement in ways that static ads simply cannot do. On top of that, the brain has a much higher tendency to engage with visuals and processes them at a much faster rate. When combined with audio, video advertising becomes an affair that fully engages two major sensory inputs for maximum effectiveness, atop the usual advantages offered by visual static advertising.

As consumers become more shrewd with their finances and responses to advertisements, it becomes apparent that they will not be creating immediate purchases the moment they see an ad that catches their eye. Instead, the goal for companies becomes creating an ad that provides memorability and good branding in hopes that the consumer, having recognised the brand, is more inclined to create a purchase from it.

One of the most common memory techniques commonly taught is that of turning information into songs and stories, and it’s a technique that can be adapted for memorability in advertising. Video advertising, due to its capacity to construct songs or stories through moving imagery and audio, can take full advantage of this fact, allowing for rapid introduction of brand recognition within a video advertisement’s opening seconds and utilising the remaining time to be memorable.

Narrative creation as a memorability method is seen most clearly in televised advertising, which has room to unfold a story via cinematography, allowing its viewer to engage with it on an emotional level to create a more effective brand recall. This allows an audience to better connect with the advertisement and even resonate with it on a deeper level. This is then further strengthened by music and audio, which has been proven by research to enhance that emotional response to an ad.

In the age of digital advertising, video advertising is king. The design and nature of video advertising mean it can take full advantage of an expanding mobile market and its potential screen time. It is also far more engaging than static advertising is, in that it can be shared easily and can create a community around itself that may lead to more customers. Additionally, it can engage the viewer’s emotions via narratives, allowing for better brand recall. In summary, video advertising presents to advertisers the opportunity to stand out and capture audiences in a way static advertising can’t fully achieve online.