The Future of Video Advertising is Artificial Intelligence

The Future of Video Advertising is Artificial Intelligence In the last few years, the popularity of video advertising has experienced tremendous growth.According to the Wall Street Journal, viewers are spending more than 1 billion hours watching videos on YouTube every single day.What’s more, these figures are from 2017, which means that the number is way higher today.In addition, Cisco predicted that video would account for 80% of all content consumed on the internet in 2019.With such figures, it is no surprise that marketers and advertisers are doing away with traditional display ads and putting greater focus on video.According to a survey by Wyzowl, 81% of businesses are investing in video advertising.It is also estimated that the digital video advertising industry in the United States will grow by double digits between 2018 and 2021, reaching about $22 billion by 2021, according to eMarketer. Video statistics on social platforms. Source: Digital Information WorldDespite the growing popularity of video advertising, the traditional method of video advertising has not been very efficient.For a moment, let’s picture what normally happens during the production of a video advert.A video editor is given a script and thousands of shots from which he or she is supposed to come up with a 20 or 30 second ad targeted at viewers within a certain geographic region.Working the whole day, the video editor goes through the hours of footage, discarding most of it and piecing the best parts together to come up with an amazing video.The client approves the video and it is published on various social platforms.So far so good. But then trouble comes in. The internet has turned the world into a global village, and in a few hours, the video, which was targeted at a specific region, say the United States, is being viewed all over the world.Since it is only tailored for a specific market, it doe s not achieve its intended purpose in the rest of the world.There is even a risk that it might send the wrong message in some markets.This method of video advertising is not very efficient.Today, a lot of businesses are producing lots of video content, and it is estimated that by 2021, 17,000 hours of video marketing content will be published every single second.In addition, there is the issue of audience apathy, where majority of consumers have seen so much marketing content that they have become apathetic to it.According to a study by Havas, 60% of consumers view the content published by brands as nothing more than clutter.In such an environment where you video marketing content has to stand out from millions of hours of video content and catch the attention of consumers who are increasingly becoming apathetic to marketing content, the traditional way of doing things won’t cut.In order for your video marketing content to make an impact, not only do you need a more efficient way of producing video content, you also need the ability to analyze granular data and understand what your audience needs and how to deliver it to them.This is where artificial intelligence comes in. So far, the impact of artificial intelligence in the digital marketing space has been profound.Artificial intelligence has offered businesses an abundance of robust data, tangible campaign results, and actionable user insights, effectively revolutionizing the ability of brands to target their audiences.In addition, with all this data to guide marketers, artificial intelligence has also made it possible for brands to tailor their content and online experience to the individual interests and preferences of customers in a scale that was unimaginable before.Just like it transformed other areas of digital marketing, artificial intelligence is also transforming the video marketing space.Once again, let’s picture the production of a video advertisement.Like before, a script is created, but this time round, instead of shooting a single video, several iterations of the video are shot. In one version, the actor changes his clothing.In another, they use a person of color as the actor.In another, they replace the actor with an actress. In yet another, they change the props to depict a different culture.After shooting the footage, instead of passing it on to a video editor, it is passed on to an artificially intelligent algorithm, which comes up with several 30 second ads.Each of the ads has been specifically tailored to the interests and preferences of different audiences, based on data gathered from the audience.What’s more, all this only takes a few seconds, rather than the whole day. Once it is time to publish the video, instead of having the same video shown to all audiences, the algorithm analyzes user data and determines which version of the video should be shown to the user, based on their specific interests and preferences.For instance, African-American users might b e shown a version of the video where the actor is African-American.For female viewers, they might be shown a version of the video where the star is a woman.Sometimes, this level of customization and personalization might even be extended beyond personal data.For instance, if the viewer is watching the video at night, the conditions within the video might be adjusted to depict nighttime as well.Similarly, if the user is in a location that is experiencing rainfall, the video can be adjusted such that there is rain in the video as well.This is something that can be easily achieved using geolocating weather scripts.Aside from customizing and personalizing the video to match individual users, the algorithm can also access video analytics as they flow in and make edits to the video in real-time.For instance, if most viewers stop watching the video at a certain point, the algorithm can edit out this part and test the engagement metrics after the part is edited out.This leads to higher enga gement, compared to a situation where marketers have to wait weeks before they can analyze and act on video analytics.This might sound like something from a fantasy world, but it is actually the future of personalized video advertising, where content is tailored for individuals rather than the masses.Artificial intelligence has not only made it possible for brands to know as much as they can about their customers, it has also made it possible to make use of this data to provide engaging, relevant and highly personal experiences to customers.In turn, users are more likely to click on and respond to video content when the content is specifically tailored for them.Savvy agencies have realized this and are making artificial intelligence and integral part of their video marketing efforts.WHY AI IS THE FUTURE OF VIDEO ADVERTISING?Marketers are just starting to integrate artificial intelligence into their video marketing efforts, but you can bet that this trend is here to stay and will onl y grow bigger.Some of the reasons why the future of video advertising lies in artificial intelligence include:AI Allows Creation of More Personalized Video ContentToday, online users have become accustomed to a personalized online experience. When advertisers reach out to you via email, they address you by your name. When you log on to Facebook, you view advertisements that reflect your interests.When you go on YouTube, you receive video recommendations based on the kind of videos you like watching.When you go to your favorite ecommerce sites, you receive recommendations based on the kind on items you have bought before.Because of this, users have come to expect a personalized experience on all online platforms, and it is therefore natural that the same kind of experience should be extended to video content. Artificial intelligence allows brands to do just that.The greatest benefit of personalization is that it boosts engagement and helps counter audience apathy.Video content that s eems to speak directly to customers is more likely to elicit an emotional response from the customer and drive them to take the preferred action, whether that action is buying a product or service or subscribing to a newsletter, or even simply sharing the video.This in turn makes your video marketing efforts more effective and increases their ROI.AI Allows Gathering of Customer Data and InsightsPersonalization is impossible without knowing the individual. If you don’t know me and what I like, there is no way you can create content that is tailored to my individual interests and preferences.Therefore, brands need a way to gather customer data prior to producing video content. Artificial intelligence allows them to do just that.One of the greatest benefits of the digital world is that everything users do on the internet leaves a trail of digital breadcrumbs that represent a wealth of data about the user.Artificial intelligence tools have made it possible to not only gather this weal th of data, but to also analyze it and gain great insights about the users’ interests and online habits. In so doing, these AI tools save brands from having to spend weeks and months conducting customer research.The more data gathered by these AI tools, the more brands refine their knowledge of their customers, which in turn allows them to refine their video content to match the interests of the customer and promote relevant video content to them.Aside from helping brands produce more customized video content, this data can also be used to guide the overall video marketing strategy.AI Allows Businesses to Test the ROI of Their Video Marketing StrategyVery often, an effective video marketing strategy will require a significant investment, both in terms of money and time.Because of this, many small businesses and brands are reluctant to make a significant investment in video marketing unless they are completely certain that it will bring a return on investment.AI tools provide a way for small businesses and brands to wet their feet without making a significant investment before going all in.With AI analytics, they can test their video marketing strategy and get a better idea of expected outcomes before they make a more significant investment in video marketing.Before the rise of artificial intelligence, it was virtually impossible for brands to do this.Once brands have a good idea of what results to expect from their video marketing strategy, they will be more willing to make allocate a more sizeable portion of their digital marketing budget to video marketing.In addition, artificial intelligence makes it possible for brands to come up with a few pieces of content and test them to find which ones their audience are more responsive to, as well as the platforms where their audiences are more engaged.Once they receive their results, they can then optimize their video marketing plan to only focus on videos that their audience are most responsive to and the platfor ms that drive the highest engagement.Artificial intelligence also provides real-time updates, which makes it easier for brands to optimize their video marketing even after the campaign goes live.AI Improves Customer Experience and Increases ConversionsToday, about one third of the time users spend online is spent on watching videos. At the same time, a lot of users view any videos that are not relevant to them as a nuisance.If you want to improve your customers experience when interacting with your video content and increase your conversions from video content, you need to make sure that all video content shown to users is highly relevant to them.Artificial intelligence provides you with an opportunity to do just that.If you are anything like me, I believe you have been caught in a YouTube loop at least once. You go on YouTube to view one video, but then you end up spending one more hour on YouTube viewing the recommended videos.YouTube uses artificially intelligent algorithms to re commend videos that are relevant to you and matched up to your interests, which is why you end up spending more time on YouTube than you intended to.While we cannot be sure exactly what system YouTube algorithms use to rank recommended videos, you can use artificial intelligence tools in a similar manner to show video content that is relevant to your audience, which will in turn make them more receptive to your marketing messages.When you serve customers with video ads that are similar to videos the customer has previously engaged with, or video ads that are related to products or services the customer has previously searched for, the customer is less likely to perceive these ads as a nuisance.And the best part about this is that it also increases your likelihood of making a sale. Customers are more likely to purchase a product or service after seeing a video about it compared to when they have only read about it.Video content makes your products and services come to life in a way t hat written content cannot.According to Social Media Today, consumers are 64% more likely to purchase a product or service after watching a video about the product or service.Cross platform video promotion can also be enhanced through artificial intelligence.With tools such as Adext AI, brands can ensure that every customized video gets to its target audience in their preferred platform.All you need to do is to connect your video to this tool and it will determine the platform where this video is most likely to perform best and automatically promote the video on that platform.Such AI driven video targeting allows businesses and brands to boost conversions at low costs.AI Makes Video Production More EfficientIf you want your video marketing strategy to be effective, it is important to ensure that you produce high quality video content.However, producing high quality video content requires investments in talent, time, and other video production costs.Sometimes, these costs can be mass ive, and companies with small budgets might find it a bit of a challenge to produce high quality video content.Fortunately, small businesses and brands without the talent or budget to maintain a fully-fledged in-house production team can take advantage of artificial intelligence to produce high quality video content.With such tools, someone can easily create high quality videos even if they have no knowledge of video editing and design.Even for those with an in-house production team, the whole process of creating video content becomes more efficient when using artificial intelligence tools.Normally, the process of creating video content is very time-consuming. Editors have to wade through hours of footage, trying to find the perfect shots.This process takes several hours for a small video.Sometimes, it can take even weeks.To help make the process a bit more convenient, many video creators have to manually tag the video footage with attributes that make it easier to sort through the footage.While this saves them some time, it is still a time-intensive process. All the time spent tagging footage could have been spent in the actual development of the final content.With intelligent tools such as Adobe Sensei, however, video content creators can skip this time-consuming process.With its video auto tag service, Adobe Sensei automatically tags each segment of video with attributes that describe the segment â€" attributes such as actions, locations, faces, colors, products, and logos â€" and creates a searchable taxonomy that makes it easy to find the right video file or the right cut of the video in a matter of seconds.Aside from helping with the technical aspects of the production process, AI tools also use big data and analytics to ensure you are producing the right kind of content.When producing video content, video content creators try to aim for video content that has a high likelihood of performance. However, predicting future performance of a video is not easy .You could try to look at other videos that performed well and try to guess what made them perform well, or you could follow your instincts.Unfortunately, none of these two methods is effective or reliable. You need a better way of predicting whether a video will perform well. Once again, AI can help with this.AI tools have the ability to analyze available data to understand the kinds of content different audiences are more likely to respond to, and then help you in creating exactly this kind of content.For instance, Adobe Sensei has a service known as Video Ad AI which reads the video, audio, and other information available in a video and identifies demographic segments that are more likely to engage with the video, as well as the platforms where the video is likely to perform well.This makes it easier for a marketer to match a video with the right platform for promoting the video. It also gives a watchability score to show how likely people are to watch the video.Another such tool is SimpleShow, which also uses big data to understand what kinds of content users are more likely to respond to.The tool then uses these insights to help marketers build videos that people are more likely to engage with.The best part is that the tool takes out the technical aspects of video production, so that anyone can use it to produce amazing video content â€" without having to go through the process of learning how to be a graphic designer or video editor.Other tools even have the ability to go through hours of video footage to identify the best footage to use in your final video, saving you all the hassle of going through endless video footage.WRAPPING UPArtificial intelligence has already revolutionized different elements of digital marketing, and now, video marketing is next.The use of artificial intelligence in video marketing will make it possible for brands to gather data about their customers and tailor their content to the specific interests and preferences of each ind ividual customer, which will in turn increase customer engagement with video content and boost conversions.It will also make the video production process much more efficient and provide businesses with a more reliable way of measuring the ROI of their video marketing efforts.With all these benefits, there is no doubt that AI will continue being an essential tool in the future of video advertising.