Why you can’t avoid mobile and video in 2016

Social media marketing. Retargeting. Online display advertising. In the constantly evolving world of digital marketing, what specific trends should you and your team be seriously paying attention to and, more importantly adopting, in the new year?

Mobile advertising and video marketing are two trends you must consider integrating into your plan. Here’s why:  

Mobile has surpassed desktop usage. Recently, SmartInsights reported that U.S. adults are now on their mobile devices 2.8 hours per day versus 2.4 hours on desktop. Translation? Desktop is now a secondary device to mobile. Actually, this shift is not really that hard to believe when you consider that approximately 85 percent of smartphone owners access Facebook, the number one app, via mobile. (Source: DMR: Facebook User and Mobile Statistics.)

In addition, eMarketer reports that mobile ad spending is already projected to account for about 50 percent of all digital ad spending by the end of 2015 and is expected to increase to over 60 percent in 2016. By all accounts, mobile is here and if it’s not part of your mix, it needs to be.  

Spend on traditional video (TV) is shifting to digital video. It’s becoming harder and harder to ignore the powerful effect digital video advertising has on reaching target audiences. As Business Insider reports, it has an average click-through-rate (CTR) of 1.84%, which is the highest CTR of all digital ad formats. One big reason for this result is that video is both impressive and expressive. Not only does it attract large numbers of views but it also makes a huge impact on the audience to understand a brand’s message.  

In addition, 30 percent of digital video budgets were dedicated to branded video in 2015 and a recent Aol industry report predicts the trend to continue to rise in 2016.  

Of course, the growth of video is heavily influenced by mobile, the other top-growing trend. According to Ooyala’ s Q3 Global Video Index Report, viewing video on mobile devices has increased by 400 percent. And by the end of 2016, industry analysts expect 50% of all video views will happen on mobile devices. So with 60 percent of users preferring to watch video over reading text, brands really need to consider reprioritizing budgets to capitalize on the success and impact of video.

While marketing experts have been talking about both of these tactics for a couple of years now, more marketers are now integrating them into their marketing programs. It’s time to get on board if you’ve not done so already.

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