Programmatic advertising company Varick Media Management has partnered with Videology to provide clients with access to the company’s premium converged TV and video advertising inventory in the U.S. and Canada.
Gabe Dunlop, who was recently appointed manager for Varick’s new Canadian office, called Videology a market leader in the programmatic video space on the basis of its “world-class” technology and continued product development.
“They’re pioneering things that will change the industry that haven’t made it to the front yet,” said Dunlop. “They’re building tech that’s going to get under the hood of broadcast – it’s not going to be digital broadcast, it’s going to be broadcast.”
Dunlop said video was “broadening” the capabilities of programmatic, with the Videology partnership addressing growing client demand for better performance from their video advertising.
He said programmatic continued to evolve from its early role as a direct-response platform best suited to boosting clicks and website visits, with companies like Videology playing a key role in that evolution.
“As we start migrating out of being just a display one-trick pony, which the industry was three years ago, and getting into premium programmatic video, we start to work in bigger parts of the funnel,” said Dunlop. “It sort of was the tail wagging the dog at one point, and now the dog is starting to move, too.”
Dunlop described the current media sales environment as a “buyer’s market,” with brands having greater buying power than ever before. “They just need tools and programmatic is a great tool for deconstructing the true value of a piece of inventory,” he said.
With such a proliferation of websites (approximately 1 billion in 2016), Dunlop said marketers increasingly needed tech to categorize and prioritize which sites they want their message to appear on.
Dunlop said with formal partnerships now in place with companies including Videology and Bell Media, the company is now focusing on client partnerships and developing specific advertising categories. Its current Canadian client roster is comprised of marketers in the events space, as well as apparel, alcohol and another undisclosed company that is re-inventing itself for the digital landscape.
“We’re building the business across three or four different verticals right now, and still looking for places to tell our story and educate clients. The market is busy with people who are interested, and it takes time to educate and help them.”
***
In its most recent “Canada Video Market at a Glance” report – based on an analysis of all the impressions that passed through its platform in the first quarter – Videology said Canadian advertisers were embracing cross-screen campaigns as consumers continued to watch video across a variety of devices.
According to Videology’s data, 55% of second quarter campaigns ran across more than one device, a 22% increase over the corresponding year-earlier period.
The majority of advertisers (66%) chose view-through rate as their campaign objective, while 22% opted for click-through rate and 14% opted for a viewable rate – up from 5% in the corresponding year-earlier period.
Among advertisers selecting viewability as a campaign objective, 93% opted for the Media Rating Council standard of 50% of pixels on screen for at least two consecutive seconds, with only 7% opting for typically more stringent custom requirements.
While all the campaigns utilized demographic targeting, the report said advertisers also leveraged targeting tactics “at a greater rate” than the previous year.
Geographic, domain and behavioural targeting segments all experienced a year-over-year increase, with geo alone up 36% on a year-over-year basis. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of ads were 15 seconds, a 27% increase over the previous year.
Thirty eight per cent of ads were 30 seconds in length, while less than 1% were 60 seconds.
Automotive was the leading advertising segment at 29%, ahead of consumer goods (20%), restaurants (14%), pharmaceutical (6%) and alcohol (6%).
