In fact, AP and TMB found that – in the eyes of client marketing execs, at least – the big social platforms beat out not only video platforms, but also came ahead of ad networks, publishers like BuzzFeed or Vice, video DSPs, and full episode players like Hulu. Almost two-thirds (65%) of client marketing execs surveyed said they planned to use social platforms for video ads, compared to 55% for the video platforms, 29% for ad networks, 24% for publishers, 22% for video DSPs, and 21% for full episode players.
Agency execs, by contrast, give a slight lead to video platforms, with 62% planning to use sites like YouTube or Vevo, compared to 51% who said they will use social platforms.
No surprise, live streaming video appears to be a major reason for marketer interest in social platforms, with 19% of client marketing execs saying they definitely plan to invest in live streaming video over the next twelve months, and another 60% saying they are considering it. On the agency side the proportions were 17% and 71%, respectively.
Facebook Live has a small lead over YouTube live here, with 70% agency execs and 72% of client marketing execs considering Facebook Live, compared to 59% of agency execs and 69% of marketing execs considering YouTube live.
Regardless of which specific channel they favored, agencies and clients alike both predict they will spend about a quarter of their total ad budgets on digital video over the next twelve months, with programmatic transactions accounting for 32% of this spending, on average. Over half (51%) of agency execs see programmatic spending on digital video increasing, while 32% of marketers said they plan to increase programmatic spending.