How to Measure the Success of a Video Ad Campaign
At Stories With Purpose, we know that video advertising is one of the most powerful and popular ways to reach and engage your target audience online. That’s why we create our own video ads in-house. According to a report by Wyzowl, 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool and 93% of marketers say that video is an important part of their marketing strategy.
But how do you know if your video ad campaign is working? How do you measure the impact and return on investment (ROI) of your video ads? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) that you should track and optimize?
In this post, we will answer these questions and show you how to measure success in your video ad campaign. We will cover the following topics:
How to define your goals and choose the right platforms for your video ads
How to understand the KPIs of your video ad campaign and what they mean
How to use analytics tools to track and improve your video ad performance
Define Your Goals and Choose the Right Platforms
Before you launch your video ad campaign, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. Your goals will determine what kind of video ads you create, where you distribute them, and how you measure their success.
Some common goals for video ad campaigns are:
Increase brand awareness and recognition
Generate more website traffic and leads
Boost conversions and sales
Educate and inform your audience
Build trust and loyalty with your customers
Once you have defined your goals, you need to choose the right platforms for your video ads. Different platforms have different audiences, formats, features, and metrics. You need to consider where your target audience spends their time online, what kind of video content they consume, and how they interact with video ads.
Some of the most popular platforms for video ads are:
YouTube: The largest and most popular video-sharing platform with over 2 billion monthly active users. YouTube offers various types of video ads, such as skippable and non-skippable in-stream ads, discovery ads, bumper ads, masthead ads, and outstream ads. YouTube also provides detailed analytics and insights for your video ad performance.
Facebook: The largest and most popular social media platform with over 2.8 billion monthly active users. Facebook offers various types of video ads, such as in-stream ads, stories ads, feed ads, instant articles ads, marketplace ads, audience network ads, and messenger ads. Facebook also provides detailed analytics and insights for your video ad performance.
Instagram: The largest and most popular photo-sharing platform with over 1 billion monthly active users. Instagram offers various types of video ads, such as stories ads, feed ads, reels ads, IGTV ads, explore ads, and live ads. Instagram also provides detailed analytics and insights for your video ad performance.
Twitter: The largest and most popular micro-blogging platform with over 330 million monthly active users. Twitter offers various types of video ads, such as promoted videos, in-stream pre-roll or mid-roll ads, sponsored moments, amplify pre-roll or mid-roll ads, first view ads, live event sponsorships, and conversational cards. Twitter also provides detailed analytics and insights for your video ad performance.
LinkedIn: The largest and most popular professional networking platform with over 740 million monthly active users. LinkedIn offers various types of video ads, such as sponsored content videos, sponsored in-mail videos, text ad videos, dynamic ad videos, and carousel ad videos. LinkedIn also provides detailed analytics and insights for your video ad performance.
TikTok: One of the latest and most popular platforms for video ads, especially among younger audiences. TikTok is a social media app that allows users to create and share short-form videos on any topic. The app is notable for its personalized feeds of quirky and entertaining videos set to music and sound effects. The app also features various types of video ads, such as in-feed ads, branded hashtag challenges, branded effects, and top view ads. TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users and has been downloaded over 3 billion times worldwide.
CTV: Connected TV (CTV) advertising is a form of digital advertising that appears within streaming content on devices that are connected to the internet, such as smart TVs, gaming consoles, mobile devices, and OTT (over-the-top) devices. CTV advertising allows brands to reach audiences who are watching their favorite shows and videos online, rather than through traditional cable or satellite providers.
Depending on your goals and budget, you may want to use one or more platforms for your video ad campaign. You may also want to test different platforms and see which ones perform better for your specific audience and message.
Understand the KPIs of Your Video Ad Campaign
Once you have launched your video ad campaign on the chosen platforms, you need to track and measure its performance. To do that, you need to understand the KPIs of your video ad campaign and what they mean.
KPIs, or key performance indicators, are quantifiable measurements that indicate how well your video ad campaign is achieving its goals. Different platforms may have different ways of measuring KPIs, but some of the most common ones are:
View count: The total number of people who have viewed your video ad for a certain duration (usually 3 to 30 seconds depending on the platform). This metric shows how much exposure your video ad has received, but it does not indicate how engaged or interested your viewers are.
Engagement rate: The percentage of viewers who interact with your video ad by liking, commenting, sharing, or clicking on a call-to-action. This metric shows how much your video ad resonates with your audience and prompts them to take action.
Watch time: The total amount of time that viewers spend watching your video ad. This metric shows how captivating and relevant your video ad is to your viewers and how well it retains their attention.
Video completion rate: The percentage of viewers who watch your video ad until the end. This metric shows how effective your video ad is at delivering your message and keeping your viewers interested throughout.
Click-through rate: The percentage of viewers who click on your video ad or a link within it. This metric shows how well your video ad drives traffic to your website or landing page and how clear and compelling your call-to-action is.
Conversion rate: The percentage of viewers who complete a desired action after watching or clicking on your video ad, such as signing up for a newsletter, downloading an app, or making a purchase. This metric shows how well your video ad converts viewers into leads or customers and how aligned it is with your marketing funnel.
Return on ad spend: The ratio of revenue generated by your video ad campaign to the amount spent on it. This metric shows how profitable your video ad campaign is and how well it meets your business objectives.
Suggested Reading: How Much Does a Video Ad Cost
Depending on your goals and platforms, you may also want to track other metrics such as brand lift, play rate, cost per click, cost per view, or cost per acquisition. You can use analytics tools such as Google Analytics, YouTube Analytics, or Facebook Insights to measure these metrics and optimize your video ad campaign accordingly.
Use Analytics Tools to Track and Improve Your Video Ad Performance
To measure the success of your video ad campaign, you need to use analytics tools that can collect, analyze, and report the data from your chosen platforms. These tools can help you monitor your video ad performance in real-time, compare different platforms and campaigns, identify what works and what doesn't, and make data-driven decisions to improve your ROI.
Some of the most popular free analytics tools for video ads are:
Google Analytics: A free web analytics tool that can track and report the traffic and conversions from your video ads on various platforms. You can use Google Analytics to set up goals, events, and UTM parameters for your video ads, as well as create custom reports and dashboards to visualize your data. You can also integrate Google Analytics with other Google products such as Google Ads, YouTube, and Google Data Studio for more insights and optimization.
YouTube Analytics: A free analytics tool that can track and report the performance of your video ads on YouTube. You can use YouTube Analytics to measure metrics such as views, watch time, engagement rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, revenue, and more. You can also use YouTube Analytics to segment your audience by demographics, interests, devices, locations, etc., as well as compare different videos and campaigns.
Facebook Insights: A free analytics tool that can track and report the performance of your video ads on Facebook. You can use Facebook Insights to measure metrics such as reach, impressions, engagement rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, and more. You can also use Facebook Insights to segment your audience by demographics, interests, behaviors, locations, etc., as well as compare different videos and campaigns.
By using these analytics tools, you can gain valuable insights into your video ad performance and identify areas for improvement. You can also test different variables such as headlines, thumbnails, lengths, formats, audiences, budgets, etc., to see what works best for your goals and optimize your ROI.
If this sounds like a lot, well… it is. We’re happy to help, so reach out to our team of video ad experts today to get started – Contact Us.
