• by Michael McLaren , Op-Ed Contributor, November 20, 2020

As brands and agencies begin to enter the holiday season, advertising competitiveness will not wane although the U.S. is two weeks post-election. “Online video marketing” saw a dramatic uptick in intent among brands and agencies last week.

Streaming online video took center stage in the past few months as many cord-cutting Americans streamed election content from major outlets on Internet-connected devices.

Predominantly used as a branding channel, online video also offers the personalization and cost efficiency lost in many traditional TV buys. In a year that’s forced brands to pivot their messaging multiple times, the flexibility of online advertising mediums accommodates quick changes to messaging and creative. 

Also last week, AT&T’s WarnerMedia announced that HBO Max is now available to Amazon Fire users, opening up compelling advertising and data opportunities to marketers interested in online video.

This news may have implications on voice-activated search, a tactic we have seen covered a lot in the past year. Closing the circle on audience data stemming from multiple forms of media will give both media providers and marketers a leg up on understanding their target buyers. 

“Podcasting” saw a slight increase in intent among brands in the past week, a trend we expect to amplify in light of news that Spotify recently purchased Megaphone, a podcast ad-buying platform.

eMarketer predicts that podcast advertising will grow over 10% this year, reaching $782 million in spend. This number is expected to exceed $1 billion in 2021.

Investments in the space akin to Spotify’s will open up new data streams and dynamic advertising opportunities to marketers wishing to leverage the brand-safe and immersive attributes of the medium. 

Intent data showed “conversion funnel” jumped among brands, as measured by Bombora, indicating a desire to close out the year with a firm grasp on what targeted audiences’ journeys entail.

In earlier articles we have discussed disruptions to the buying journey for both B2C and B2B consumers, and how these changes forced a reckoning among companies attempting to not only remain competitive but to stay afloat.

As brands look more to ecommerce and weigh new advertising tactics, we expect to see more investments in predictive analytics and AI, as discussed last week.