• by Skip Brand , May 1, 2013

Many moons ago, a forward-thinking businessman went to the upfronts seeking advertisers for a 24-hour cable sports network. He was laughed out of the building. Years later, another innovator attempted to lure advertisers to an all-music network, and met the same response. Not long after, when “I Want My MTV,” became an iconic tagline and when ESPN had deals with the NCAA and NFL, no one was laughing. It became clear that niche content had a place in broadcast, and that brand advertisers would flock to passion-based programming.

Consumers drive the advertising revolution. For us in the industry, it’s the ultimate disruption, but because the consumers are the driving force, reacting naturally to changes in technology or bandwidth, they don’t even realize a seismic event has occurred. It’s an un-disruptive disruption. It happened decades ago in television, and it’s happening now – with mobile video.

In 2009, MediaPost’s Joe Mandese predicted, “Another switch may also be on the horizon -- one in which the kind of TV and other media we now get from cable, satellite and over-the-air TV services, may ultimately be accessed from a wireless, mobile Web infrastructure.” Now, that time is here, and with the IAB NewFronts, we should take a good look at the latest disruption: Mobile video – more specifically, tablet-based video.

Mobile video’s consumed at an astonishing rate, especially considering it didn’t exist five years ago. Cisco recently reported that 51% of all mobile data consumed was video, and the IAB and GFK report that 45 million Americans watch professionally produced online video each month. This is reflected in growing video budgets: Adap.tv recently reported that 72% of advertiser budgets for the mobile video increased in the last year by average of 53%.

Online TV still accounts for the majority of mobile video consumed. But unlike traditional, “lean back” TV, tablets are lean-forward. Even with video content, consumers tend to lean into their shows.  The latest IAB and GFK study measures “wantedness,” which may equate to that “lean.” Consumers lean into professionally produced online video with the same intensity as they do daytime dramas or news.

This sets the stage for a major revolution in mobile video advertising, which consumers are as receptive to as they are to TV advertising.  Media companies are getting savvier. Companies like Netflix are creating original programming that’s optimized for smaller screens, so it will look just as great in your pocket as it does on your 55” LED. 

But programming like that has to run advertising that’s more like television than Web advertising. No one wants five ads tiled alongside streaming content. Content is king, technology is aces: A beautiful rich-media ad needs to run adjacent to top-quality, highly engaging content. The ideal is one dynamic ad – just like TV: a single ad with single share of voice and sight, sound and motion, alongside top-notch programming.

Appropriate measurement will be key, and it has to be adapted to digital media for brands. The biggest advantage of digital media over television advertising is the ability to measure, then react and optimize in real-time.  Whether that means changing the message for one demographic, updating a call to action or pausing an ad altogether, it will take accurate measurement to help brands take advantage of the mobile video advertising opportunity.

Mobile video advertising must also be easy to buy – enter programmatic. With the growing adoption of HTML5 and new mobile Rising Stars, programmatic becomes possible, which gives brand advertisers the advantage of targeting and scale, as well as premium tablet-based content – from MTV and ESPN to Condé Nast and Forbes. 

The NewFronts represent a tremendous disruption for online advertising: “The wealth of original professional digital programming… is evidence of the public’s hunger for new, compelling content available online,” the IAB's Randall Rothenberg told Variety. “It is a watershed moment.” With premium programmatic, advertising will be able to meet that demand.