• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, November 27, 2013

Most advertisers don’t have the measurement tools they need to determine the effectiveness of their online video campaigns. About 60% of marketers say they lack the tools to measure campaign impact, according to analytics firm BrandAds in a just-released study surveying more than 100 agency and brand marketers.

The problem lies in the tools available today, and the biggest issue is timeliness. About 81% of marketers said they have to wait more than 24 hours for data, and that’s not a reasonable time frame for real-time updates to a campaign. Meanwhile, only 12.5% of advertisers are receiving the data in real-time.

Marketers expressed other concerns as well. Half of them think the tools to measure the impact of digital video ads are too pricey or involve too much operational overhead, while 11% said the data provided simply isn’t useful.

The study also found that many marketers lean on display metrics like clicks and impressions, but that’s an antiquated way to measure video, BrandAds said. About 87% of marketers rely on impressions and 83% on clicks, but more than three-quarters said they would prefer to use more brand-centric ones like viewability, engagement and brand lift.

BrandAds has its own agenda behind the study, of course. The company offers tools that are designed to measure effectiveness of video campaigns across screens. Nevertheless, the study sheds some light on current measurement challenges.