• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, June 8, 2012

Brands and marketers are digging the effectiveness of online video buys and they plan to ante up for more cross-platform buys this year, including those on tablets. That’s according to ad network BrightRoll’s annual report surveying agency executives on online video.

Specifically, the report found that 30% of agency executives expect online video to be the area with the largest increase in spending this year. In addition, many agency executives anticipate upping their spend significantly in nearly all forms of digital video -- 64% say they are likely to include smartphones in digital video buys, while half say they will add tablets to the digital video mix. About 30% say they will include connected TVs in video buys now.

These findings dovetail nicely with other recent studies pointing to the growth in mobile video and tablet video. Online video technology provider Ooyala said in its report last week that online video consumption on mobile devices rose in the first quarter of the year, with a 41% boost on smartphones and a 32% increase on tablets.

So fine-tune those mobile and tablet plans, marketers! But remember, not all tablet and mobile dayparts are created equal. Ooyala found that tablet viewing rises in the morning, subsides during the day, and then peaks at night with one-third of all tablet video plays occurring during prime time.