New research from Jun Group finds that brands want campaigns across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices
NEW YORK – The number of advertisers requiring that campaigns run across all digital screens – including mobile phone, tablet, and desktop – is up 270 percent, according to new research from Jun Group. The industry leader in branded content distribution and discovery also found that brands are less interested in driving to social properties from their ad campaigns and have been slow to implement third-party measurement services. Jun Group pulled these insights from hundreds of requests for proposals from media agencies, brands, and entertainment companies over the past several years.
Cross-Device Video Takes Center Stage
In 2014, 37.5 percent of proposals required that campaigns run across digital devices, significantly up from 13.4 percent in 2013 and 10.1 percent in 2012. At the same time, requests for “mobile-only” campaigns declined from nine percent in 2012 to zero percent in 2014. “Mobile optional” campaigns also declined significantly, from 18.2 percent to 5.2 percent. At this rate, over half of campaigns will require cross-device campaigns in 2015.
The shift to cross-device campaigns coincides with changes in media consumption. According to an eMarketer report earlier this year (April 2014), U.S. adults now spend more time on the Internet on their phones than on desktop computers.
[blockquote cite=”Mitchell Reichgut, CEO of Jun Group” type=”left”]Advertisers know that their customers are consuming content on multiple devices, and they are now more inclined to buy media across screens, rather than on one or the other.[/blockquote]
Social Actions Down Significantly
The number of campaigns requiring social actions – such as likes, follows, or shares – declined by a third from 2012, going from 38.4 percent to 22.9 percent. At the same time, brands are significantly more likely to ask for traffic to their owned-and-operated properties.
Twenty-four percent of RFP’s from national brands required traffic to brand sites as a success metric. These findings are consistent with earlier research (Brands “Like” Their Owned Digital Better), where Jun Group found that the amount of traffic driving to Facebook and YouTube from ads was down 23 percent and 19 percent, respectively. This trend provides more evidence that brands are changing their digital and social strategies as social networks transition into paid platforms.
Third-Party Studies and Verification on the Rise
Jun Group also found that more brands are looking to verify performance and legitimacy through third-party vendors.
Brand studies from companies like Vizu and Millward Brown have become significantly more popular since 2012. The number of campaigns requiring third-party studies is up 69 percent over the last two years, from 14.1 percent of campaigns in 2012 to 24 percent in 2014. Brands and agencies typically want to measure their campaigns’ impact on brand lift, purchase intent, and other success drivers.
Third-party ad verification vendors also saw an increase in popularity. 12.5 percent of 2014 campaigns required verification from companies like Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify, up 77 percent from 2012. Despite a lot of industry attention on ad fraud, only a small fraction of brands are looking to third-party ad verification providers.
About the Research
Jun Group analyzed 331 requests for proposals from national brands over the past three years, and identified significant changes in brand requirements. “As we move into 2015, we expect brands to promote their own properties across devices. Brands will also require more third-party data to support their digital investments, but it remains to be seen if brand studies or ad verification become mainstream requirements,” said Reichgut.
About Jun Group
Jun means truth. Our advertising platform is the honest, efficient way to get millions of people to engage with video and branded content across devices. The world’s best-known brands choose Jun Group because everything we do is brand-safe, visible, and transparent.
Jun Group is based in New York with offices in Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, and Los Angeles. Please visit http://www.jungroup.com or follow @jungroup on Twitter for more information.
