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comScore adds YouTube mobile metrics (GOOG)
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ComScore, the oft-cited data company that measures digital traffic and ad campaigns, can now measure mobile consumption on YouTube.
This is important because nearly 70% of all YouTube videos are watched on mobile devices. Some examples of measured metrics include monthly minutes per viewer, average minutes per video view and monthly videos watched per viewer, among others.
The launch also helps in cross-platform measurement, which counts the unduplicated audience across desktop and mobile devices. Google and Facebook are slowly becoming more open to advertisers and third-party measurement firms, and marketers are likely to welcome the increasingly transparent ethos.
Mobile measurement on YouTube will help support its self-reported ad metrics and could help increase ad spend on the platform. When walled gardens like Facebook and Google, which owns YouTube, provide campaign measurement metrics, they are self-reported and lack third-party measurement services to verify that ads were, in fact, delivered and seen by users. One common analogy used is that walled gardens “grade their own homework,” or measure campaign success internally. ComScore's metrics may help defeat that perception.
In a similar effort to increase transparency, Facebook agreed to be audited by the Media Rating Council (MRC), the media body that certifies measurement practices, to verify the accuracy of advertising information it delivers to marketing partners. After measurement miscalculations were disclosed late last year — from total reach to video view metrics — brands and marketers alike called for more independent audits around Facebook’s ad program.
As more ad spend gets directed toward video formats, marketers will look for trustworthy verification services to validate ad spend.
Consumers continue to increase their time spent consuming digital media, while advertisers continue to increase their ad budgets into digital channels.
The influx is not expected to let up in the near future. The US digital advertising industry will continue to experience remarkable growth through 2021 to reach nearly $100 billion in annual revenue, driven primarily by the sustained migration of ad dollars from traditional TV to digital video and the continued increase of social spending.
Overall, the strong growth of the US digital ad market can largely be attributed to increased time spent by consumers on digital media and brands' increased comfort with allocating budgets to digital formats, particularly on digital video. In a recent 2016 survey of almost 400 US ad agencies and marketers, the IAB found that two-thirds of respondents plan on increasing spending on digital video in the next year.
Moreover, mobile will become the top destination for digital ad spending as advertisers continue to attempt to resolve the disconnect between the rapid growth in time spent on phones and tablets and the relatively small share of ad budgets that are allocated to such platforms — known as the mobile opportunity gap. In fact, mobile is set to eclipse desktop ad spend by 2018.
Dylan Mortensen, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on U.S. digital media ad revenue that forecasts revenue trends over the next five years and outlines the key growth drivers for overall digital ad revenue in the U.S.
Here are some key points from the report:
US digital ad revenue is expected to reach nearly $100 billion by 2021, according to BI Intelligence estimates. This represents compound annual growth of 8% from the $68.9 billion expected in 2016.
Mobile is positioned to become the top destination for digital ad spending as advertisers continue to attempt to close the "mobile opportunity gap."
Digital video advertising will grow faster than any other segment over the next five years, as consumers shift time spent online to phones and tablets. Revenue in this category is forecast to rise from $8.5 billion in 2016 to $23 billion in 2021.
Social advertising in all formats is gaining traction and will be among the key drivers of digital ad growth in the next five years. Social ad revenue is poised to climb to $30.8 billion by 2021, up from $15.5 billion this year.
Artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and sponsored content will help propel further digital ad growth in the next decade.
In full, the report:
Forecasts US digital ad revenue through 2021.
Highlights the rising popularity of digital media with consumers and brands.
Explores why digital video advertising growth will exceed all other formats over the next five years.
Outlines emerging technologies that will help propel ad growth in the next decade.
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