Elevating our video capabilities means learning from industry experts, which is why we attended the MediaPost TV + Video Insider Summit in Music City, also known as Nashville, Tennessee. The summit covered everything from 2023’s test-and-learn year for video, to 2024 predictions and more. We’re sharing our teams’ top takeaways and insights on the future of video below.
What key insights did we learn during the summit?
An audience-first mentality and transparency is critical for having a positive reaction to campaigns that drive results.
With the video space rapidly evolving, as marketers, we need to remember to give ourselves grace in navigating what’s best for our clients. Going from 0 to 1 is still 100% growth. It is important to take time to think through the changes in our space and avoid jumping in headfirst without evaluating the entire ecosystem and the anticipated impacts it may have on the overall media plan.
Video types are not a one and done type of tactic anymore. They all play a role in supporting the overall media plan. Finding ways to maximize the channels and have them work together to our advantage is incredibly important when buying a holistic video strategy. Naturally the lines get blurry, but we should look to understand how to use that to our advantage.
What video strategies did we discover that we could see being implemented for our clients?
As anticipated, dashboards are increasingly important for monitoring and reporting the success of video campaigns. Including all key partners in a dashboard such as client, agency, creative team, analytics team, as well as key external partners ensures all key players understand the goals and are aligned to working towards the KPIs. Keeping a close eye on key indicators such as search lift, video views, and site traffic allows specialists to optimize quickly before waiting for results to come back from a measurement report. Ultimately, every partner (internal and external) needs to keep the business outcomes top of mind to make decisions that lead to success.
What themes did we hear from industry leaders during our roundtable?
During the roundtable, we discussed several hot topics in the video space, including the impact of the writers and actors’ strike on the advertising industry. Ultimately, it was decided that we likely will not feel the effects until 2025, if there will be any at all. The consensus was that linear TV is still king for mass awareness and that regardless of the strike, it’s still a critical piece to any overall media plan. Many alluded to the options and cancellation terms they negotiated as being crucial for the back half of next year with the flexibility to shift funds should the actors’ strike continue.
With 2024 being a political year, discussions around political spend played a huge role for 2024. The emphasis will continue to be a strategy focused on live events, sports, news, and reality/game show programming.
A common theme in our discussions was the need for fresh programming. The currently fragmented space that we live in is only encouraging consumers to hop from network to network and platform to platform to find new things to watch, regardless of fresh programming.
What impact do we see our key takeaways having on brands in 2024?
Gone are the days that a simple demo audience buy works. Collectively, our brands need to approach buying more holistically vs. a layered approach. Many advertisers have found success in an always on OTT strategy and that layering in LTV at critical times can help afford them mass awareness.
Social video will also heat up in 2024, but creative is critical for finding results because the consumer is conscious of recreated content for social vs. curated content designed specifically for the platforms.
During the summit, we saw a trend that the video model is jeopardized and we as advertisers need to find ways to standardize the space. There isn’t one currency, one model of buying, one demo, one allocation of spend, or one frequency. It’s a mixture of finding the right recipe for each individual client, testing and learning, and growing all at once. Paying attention is key and having your audience’s attention, wherever they are consuming video, is exactly where you need to be.
Looking for more information? Connect with our video experts today.
