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Fabrice Courdesses
Published on 14 November 2023
Luma’s latest 2023 State of Digital report reveals that Creative Efficacy has a potential to change the outcome by an order of magnitude 10X.
Today, Data-Driven Creative (DDC) is emerging as the next most contributive pillar of successful digital campaigns, helping brands cut through the noise and deliver improved performance and ROI.
Creative is -more than ever- King.
Thus, testing and refining creative elements in video ads is fundamental to success. And it’s indispensable to furnish marketing teams with a well-defined strategy and the appropriate tools.
One strategy is to get Data-Driven-Creative insight on a single digital platform. Eventually before going broad.
And today, which platform allows you to deliver video ads seamlessly – from television screens to mobile devices – captivating audiences globally?
YouTube is used by 1/4th of the world population. It goes without saying that it serves as a powerful medium for advertisers to connect with a wide range of viewers, ensuring a massive potential outreach strategy.
And the platform is carefully following worldwide audiences’ usages.
Based on Nielsen’s data, YouTube has established itself as the #1 CTV platform, surpassing streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu in terms of viewing minutes.
This converges with insights from Google indicating that CTV has emerged as the second most popular device for YouTube viewers, highlighting its pivotal role as a key advertising channel on TV screens.
This Top-of-Funnel device provides marketers with an opportunity to run and test ads within a premium-quality environment:
Conversely, YouTube has a lot to offer in terms of mobile experience.
Despite its youth, YouTube Shorts has rapidly become a significant player in the expansive landscape of short-form content within the social media sphere.
Shorts provides marketers with an opportunity to run and test ads for mobile screen within a highly competitive/red ocean environment:
YouTube’s versatility also shines through its ability to support diverse ad formats, ranging from 6s Bumper ads to longer Masthead and TrueView ads. This wide range of formats specifically fit every usage according to devices.
Full devices, full ad formats… that follows the entire funnel journey. YouTube looks like the best playground for marketers to test a wide range of digital video ads in one place.
Some marketers would argue that each platform has its unique audience and should be tested independently.
But look at it this way: on social media, every brand shares the same objectives. Capture attention and drive action… in a red ocean environment.
It has to be short and attention grabbing.
Sure, CTAs or buttons will be upside down depending on the platform. But is it really making a difference from an ad creative perspective?
Research studies suggest that user habits remain consistent irrespective of the social media platform. According to USC Dornsife, social media usage evolves from a conscious choice to an automatic habit, particularly among frequent users.
When you think of it, do you change (or your teen ;-)) behavior in front of a video ad whether you’re consuming your TikTok, Shorts, Instagram or Facebook feed?
Similarly, do TV viewers engage differently with CTV ads and traditional Linear TV?
While there is a dearth of studies specifically addressing this behavioral question, it’s worth noting that viewers exhibit even greater attentiveness to YouTube ads compared to TV ads.
According to a Media Mix Model Meta-Analysis conducted by Google in collaboration with Nielsen, YouTube CTV demonstrates an efficiency 3.1 times higher than the average Linear TV Effectiveness index.
Context, devices, durations, audiences or formats: that’s where fragmentation is for advertisers…
This is precisely where ad Creativity must captivate and resonate.
Native ad managers platforms have historically focused on media optimizations and spent billions of investments (especially in Machine Learning and AI recently) to better allocate budgets and real time responses. But according to Luma, a strong media buy will not overcome weak or average creative.
How should I adapt my TV ad for Digital, from Top to Bottom of the Funnel audiences?
Why is my video under-performing? Or over-performing?
What should I change to drive better results before the end of the campaign?
What are the key learnings from this campaign, wins and fails and how to have the perfect Creative brief for next one?
…
Today, marketers still struggle with creative optimizations. Giants like Meta or Google don’t provide Data-Driven Creative insights to inform what makes a creative successful, which worsens results when a creative performs poorly.
By improving the reactivity and agility of Creative Optimization, marketers can X2 or X3 ROAS during campaigns. Yes you heard well – during campaigns!!! Embracing a Creative Loop approach – Create, Test, Analyze, Iterate – is key to innovative strategies and scaling advertising ROI.
Advertisers should refine their video ads strategies thanks to Data-Driven Creative, leveraging the most widely used platforms, such as YouTube and its wide frame of formats and devices.
This strategic approach, based on both Media and Creative optimizations, will be a game changer for their next ad campaigns success.
Already have a video? Optimize your video impact with VideoRunRun’s YouTube Creative/Media audit. Gain valuable Creative insights to enhance ad performance and eliminate wasted spend. Email us now.
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