Do Video Ads Work? What to Keep in Mind When Making Them

With 5G now available on smartphones bringing faster connections, and smartphone use continuing to rise, video advertising is drawing more attention.

Video advertising mainly helps you widen your audience and cut costs.
Even so, many people worry whether making and running a video ad will actually work.

To get the most out of video advertising, you first need to know the points that matter when making the video.

1. Four main benefits of video advertising

Video advertising mainly delivers the following.

• You can make a lot of points in a short time
• It draws an audience strongly
• The click rate is high
• You can start on a small budget and the return is good

1.1 You can make a lot of points in a short time

Compared with a still image, you can convey far more.
You can show a product from several angles, prompt the viewer to picture themselves using the service, and deepen their understanding of it.
Giving the video a story can also win sympathy, move the viewer and prompt them to act.

1.2 It draws an audience strongly

Compared with television commercials or newspaper advertising, a big strength of video advertising is that it reaches people on computers and smartphones.

As the figure above shows, smartphone penetration was over 80% as of 2020.
Smartphone users are mainly younger people in their teens and twenties, but ownership among older people is rising too, so the audience you can reach with video advertising is widening.

1.3 The click rate is high

Research by datebox reports that, compared with still-image advertising, video advertising doubled the click rate and lifted the conversion rate by 20-30%.
(Quoted from:https://databox.com/videos-vs-images-in-facebook-ads）
Showing a product or service as video rather than as a still makes it easier to picture, which is said to raise the urge to buy.

1.4 You can start on a small budget and the return is good

Charging is usage-based on essentially every platform, so being able to start on a small budget is part of the appeal.
The platforms charge as follows, for example.

Medium	Charging model
Facebook／Instagram	・CPM ・Cost per click
YouTube	・Pay per view ・Cost per click
Twitter	・Pay per view ・CPM

In many cases, then, you pay nothing unless the video plays for a set number of seconds, so the return often comes out better than with television commercials or newspaper advertising, where the cost is fixed.

2. How it differs from image and text advertising

So how does video advertising differ from a still banner or a text ad?

2.1 Advantages of video advertising

・You can convey far more
The first point is that the sheer amount you can convey is far greater.
With a still image, naturally, you can only convey what fits inside the image.
A video, by contrast, can carry a lot of text, photographs and illustrations, so it delivers far more to the viewer.

・Viewers take an interest more readily
When someone is scrolling a LINE timeline or an Instagram feed, for instance, a video ad catches the eye more than a still one.

・Viewers understand it more easily
Explaining things in order within the video, or telling a story, deepens understanding of the product or service.
The texture and shape of what you sell also come across more easily.

2.2 Disadvantages of video advertising

・Production costs are high
Producing a video ad will in most cases cost over 100,000 yen for a single video of a few tens of seconds.
A still image can be produced far more cheaply, so video advertising costs more to make.

・Production takes time
A video takes longer to produce than a still.
You therefore need a certain amount of lead time.
Changes to the content of the video also take longer than they would with a still.

・Results are hard to test
Being able to pack a lot in is part of the appeal of video, but it also makes it hard to test which part is driving the result.

・It may be skipped
When a video ad appears on Instagram or YouTube, the viewer can skip it or scroll straight past.
The first few seconds are therefore crucial.

3. Points for making a video ad that works

So far we have covered the advantages of video advertising.
So what do you need to watch when producing a video ad that works?
From here we gather those points together.

・Keep the video short
If the urge to tell viewers everything about your service takes over, the ad ends up longer than it needs to be and risks not being watched at all.
It is best to produce on the assumption that viewers will not watch a long video ad.
It varies by platform, between Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, but between 30 seconds and 2 minutes is said to be about right.

・Grab attention in the opening
Keeping the video short matters, but so does making an impact in the opening seconds and grabbing attention.
If someone is scrolling through their Instagram feed, for example, the first one or two seconds of the video are said to be decisive.
If they judge the content to be of no interest, they simply scroll past.
Some YouTube ads cannot be skipped until five seconds have passed, so in that case it works well to grab attention within those first five seconds.
On any platform, a video with enough impact to catch someone’s interest in the briefest opening moment is likely to be effective.

・Give it a story
Another approach is to build a story into the video.
People are more likely to watch when it earns their empathy or their interest.
It also makes it easier to picture the kind of life the product or service makes possible, so it is worth doing.

・Deliver the right message to your target
The creative is not the only thing that matters.
However beautiful the finished video ad, if the message does not reach the audience you are targeting the results will be poor.
This is true of advertising in general, not just video, but it pays to be clear about who you are making your case to, and then to design what message you will deliver.

・Produce several versions
Again this is not specific to video ads, but preparing several versions and running an A/B test, or a multivariate test, is likely to be effective.
Prepare several variations of the video ad, test which version performs better, and then run the one that performs well.

4. In closing

Those are the effects of video advertising and the points to keep in mind when producing it.
Finally, a recap.

▼The effects of video advertising
・You can make a lot of points in a short time
・It draws an audience strongly
・The click rate is high
・You can start on a small budget and the return is good

▼Advantages of video advertising
・You can convey far more
・Viewers take an interest more readily
・Viewers understand it more easily

▼Disadvantages of video advertising
・Production costs are high
・Production takes time
・Results are hard to test
・It may be skipped

▼Points for producing effective video ads
・Keep the video short
・Grab attention in the opening
・Give it a story
・Deliver the right message to your target
・Produce several versions

Keep these points in mind and run effective video ads.