Online Video Needs Scale to Win Big Advertisers, GroupM CEO says
Many big advertisers aren’t convinced they can achieve the reach and frequency they want with online video, said Rob Norman, CEO GroupM Interaction Worldwide, in an exclusive interview with Beet.TV in New York last week.
“We are still spending one percent or less of our total national TV investment into online video,” he told Beet.TV. “My conclusion is when our clients think about video primarily they think about TV ads so they are comparing and contrasting the reasons and values they get from TV to the reasons and values they get online.”
The trouble is online video can sometimes look like a bad bet at first blush. As an example, clients who are used to TV will usually check out Hulu online since it’s the most “TV-like” but then will balk at the CPMs, since Hulu is often priced higher than TV CPMs. While Hulu is usually more expensive than TV on a pure CPM basis, online advocates will point to the smaller ad load and more engaged viewer online as a justification for the higher value.
Even so, advertisers still want scale, Norman said. “So far in terms of reach for the bulk of advertisers Hulu isn’t significant so it’s an issue of scale and an issue of price,” he said.
That scale issue also thwarts creative investment in online video. “On a mass scale advertisers haven’t gotten into the mindset of producing 100 assets instead of one, of producing assets of infinite variety in the granularity that allows them to exploit the targeting potential of online video,” he said.
Still, some GroupM advertisers have experimented with branded entertainment online, such as with Web shows “In the Motherhood,” which was sponsored by Unilever and Sprint. Branded content is not new though. But on the Web, its audiences are engaged but still small.
Norman was a participant in the Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable in New York last week. Andy spoke to him before the session began.
Daisy Whitney, Executive Producer