Tailor-made ads, CTV, new tech: What’s driving video advertising?

Video advertising has taken the digital marketing world by storm, thanks to the popularity of ‘Reels’ and other formats. This medium allows brands to communicate in a compelling and accessible manner. This is especially crucial in a diverse market like India, considering the different languages and cultural nuances.

To delve deeper into this, Silverpush, an AI-powered contextual video advertising company, in association with exchange4media hosted the second edition of its industry roundtable.

Experts from across domains and agencies came together to discuss - Tailoring Video Creatives to Enhance Audience Engagement. The session was moderated by Naziya Alvi Rahman, Editor, e4m.

The panelists included - Chaitanya Sinha, Business Head-India, Indonesia & Thailand, Silverpush; Rahul Joshi, Head of Sales - India, Silverpush; Chinmay Chandratre, Sr. VP - Media, FCB Six; Meghna Godkhindi, Senior Partner- Digital Strategy and Operations, RK Swamy; Prabhat Naik, Senior Partner, Client Leadership, dentsu X India; Pranjal Jain, Associate Director - Media Buying & Accountability; Interactive Avenues; Riaan Rodrigues, Senior Vice President - Digital Business & Marketing, TATA AIG General Insurance; Sachin Mishra, Digital Marketing Lead, Cipla Health; Srikrishna Moorthy, Executive Vice President – Digital Initiatives- Head Performance Marketing, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Stuti Kumar, D2C & Digital Marketing Manager, Bajaj Auto Ltd.; Suyash Dongare, Head of Digital Marketing, VIP Industries and Tanvi Sadekar, Digital Marketing Head, DeBeers Forevermark India.

The conversation began with Silverpush's contributions to brand success and the distinctive attributes of their services. Joshi expanded on Silverpush's pioneering role in the advertising industry's digital realm, citing two key factors: an unwavering commitment to innovation and a keen ability to anticipate market trends. He emphasized the company's exceptional focus on staying ahead of the curve, both in identifying emerging trends and aligning strategies accordingly.

Joshi provided insight into the evolution of digital video advertising, stating, "We initiated video advertising on social streams, which was then dominated by YouTube. With the advent of the social media boom and the emergence of OTT platforms, video advertising has continued to expand. It will persist as an engaging ad format, particularly as it evolves alongside AI, exerting significant influence on advertising strategies. This underscores the critical importance of sustainable and responsible technology in guiding audience engagement and brand recall. It behooves us to pause and contemplate how innovation can elevate attribution to new heights."

The conversation went ahead with how tailor-made content was helpful to which Godkhindi shared insights from her experiences on the agency side. “It is possible to micro-segment, the eco-system delivers the best when it comes to customer insights. It delivers the best when you build a customized content understanding of who the audience is at a micro level. You can derive results only when you focus on customer insights.” She also shared that tailor-made content gains customer’s interest and helps in gaining sales.

Similarly, Moorthy recounted an anecdote from the strategies implemented within his company. He stated, “We have crafted tailor-made content, even for vernacular languages, which has proven advantageous for us. Additionally, we prioritize channel-driven content; for instance, we adapt our video content differently for various platforms such as Instagram. However, micro-segmenting sometimes makes it difficult for us to cut through videos.”

Naik stated that the first thing which comes to mind is television followed by other mediums. “When we go out and check with people there is hardly any differentiation in video consumption on TV, digital channels or CTV. It is very difficult to segregate whether that exposure has happened on TV, OTT or digital channels. This is the problem I would like to solve.”

He continued talking about video content, which is placed as a branding element and not being placed as a performance element. “There are no calls to action, there is nothing we put as a marketing element. We are losing the consumer's interest.”

Kumar said, “Tailoring for individuals is what we have to deliver but is also tough to understand. Today, in text-space, the brands are becoming personalized.” She later spoke about how video is a big thing but how brands can break the clutter and stand out.”

With numerous options available, attention spans have significantly decreased. Previously, ads lasted around 45 seconds, then they shortened to 30 seconds, and now they're often as brief as 10 seconds. Consequently, if you fail to capture consumers' attention within the first 2-3 seconds, running a successful campaign becomes challenging.

On the decreasing attention spans amid the influx of options, Sinha highlighted the challenge faced by brands across various categories in capturing attention. He elaborated on Silverpush's approach, “We have begun integrating interactive elements into existing brand videos, placing them contextually. It's crucial to marry contextual and creative intelligence. Through these elements, we gain insights into customer interaction and identify elements for action, providing valuable audience dynamics insights.” Additionally, he discussed enhancing the interactivity of micro-sites.

As per Tanvi, “The key is really how you tailor your content to make your product the key, convey the key message, within the first 3-5 seconds by using consumer insights and not relying on algorithms. In jewellery as a category, while my TG is women, it is mostly purchased by men. Algorithms depend on the brand.”

The discussion then went towards algorithmic approaches and how they help to target the audience better. According to Dongare, “On the brand side and on the creative side one has to have that intelligence from the data but also from your own research and link test that you can do to figure out what works the best.”

Chandratre spoke about the generation gap and the consumption pattern. “It depends on the brand’s objective and how that brand uses AI, algorithms and tailor-made communication on a particular platform. We need to think rationally about creative units on platforms with objectives in mind.”

Suyash asked if there was a way of measuring ‘ad avoidance’? Jain responded on the same saying that ad avoidance in today’s time has become easier to solve with many devices belonging to the same user. “If you are following an algorithm, you know that your user is consuming CTV as well as mobile. So you know that users can be retargeted to the primary device used.”

On the topic of algorithm usage, Jain emphasized that agencies and brands should carefully consider the source of data used in algorithms and the factors influencing that data's attribution throughout the digital journey for their brand. From awareness to consideration, Jain noted that if attribution remains limited to either last touch or multi-touch, it fails to provide a comprehensive understanding.

The experts also discussed the challenges in the reach of video ads. Rodrigues said when you want to go beyond the walled garden, you have to let go a little bit of your reliance on data. “Data does help us but the more you rely on it, the fewer insights you get. You need someone to tap the story out of the data, just following it blindly doesn’t help you. Why do we stick to the walled gardens because we get all the data we want, and other information? The fear of going outside of that is that we will have no data and how do we prove that it is not working?” He said that the earlier videos used to go viral for two weeks straight and it’s not the same now.

Mishra highlighted the challenges of walled gardens in the media and advertising landscape, particularly with the abundance of OTT platforms and YouTube. He pointed out the reluctance of these walled gardens to share data, underscoring the importance of unified frequency data for tailor-made content across different platforms. Mishra noted that GroupM had tackled this issue years ago, particularly with DV360's initial focus on device ID-based solutions.

In conclusion, the participants discussed the future of video ads, predicting rapid growth in AI and Gen AI within the space. They emphasised that creativity remains an integral part of campaigns that will persist. With tailor-made video ads, they noted that it's becoming increasingly easier to influence consumer behaviour. Overall, video advertising has emerged as an indispensable tool for marketers in India, enabling them to stay relevant and forge meaningful connections with their target audience.