Last Updated: August 18, 2022

Digital Video Advertising for Ecommerce on Social, CTV, Youtube, & More

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In the digital age, video advertising is a key part of any successful ecommerce strategy. With connected TV advertising, YouTube advertising, and more surging since the onset of the pandemic, the opportunity for brands to generate revenue from a digital video advertising strategy is riper than it ever has been.

To give you insights into the video advertising landscape, we conducted a survey of over 170 digital marketing professionals from a wide range of industries and business. In this article, dive into the data behind video advertising for ecommerce and how your brand can leverage different channels for profitable growth.

Video advertising will be a huge initiative for ecommerce marketing professionals in 2022, with 40.7% of doers, 39.5% of managers, and 42.7% of decision-makers naming it as a top trend for this year. It’s the fourth most popular trend among all of our respondents and is especially critical for the home goods industry, where 52.9% of brands say video is a top-of-mind trend this year.

In 2022, US digital video ad spend is expected to reach $67.16 billion, a nearly $12 billion increase over 2021. That’s more than double what it was in 2019, when US marketers spent $31.86 billion on video ads. Digital video delivered 18.7% of all online ad revenue in 2020.

In 2023, digital video advertising spending will reach $78.45 billion.

TV and digital video are nearly tied as the most effective video ad channels, with 47% of marketing professionals naming TV (including linear and CTV) and 46% naming digital video (including online or mobile ads) as the most valuable for achieving advertising goals.

For all age demographics, short videos are the top video format – but a large number of consumers aren’t highly preferential toward short-form vs. long-form video content. 96% of Gen Z social media users have watched videos under four minutes long in the past month, with 93% watching videos over 20 minutes in the past month. The difference gets starker as users get older, with 75% of Baby Boomers watching videos longer than four minutes in the past month compared to 56% watching videos over 20 minutes.

Mobile is king when it comes to video advertising. In fact, mobile video ad spend has been greater than desktop since 2018. In 2022, mobile will make up nearly 75% of all video advertising at $34.4 billion. US mobile video advertising will reach $53.9 billion by 2025.

Music streaming platforms are usually thought of as audio-only, but Spotify is disrupting that with the introduction of video podcasts in October 2021. The new content type will offer automated ads through programmatic video advertising with Anchor. With 12.6% of marketing professionals naming audio and streaming services as a top trend for 2022 compared to 40.8% for video, brands focusing on audio this year may want to start thinking about a digital video strategy if they haven’t already.

Quick stats:

  • 22.3% of consumers use social media to watch livestreams
  • The number of Instagram users engaging with Reels has increased 20% since 2020
  • 1 in 4 consumers watch a video made by a brand each month
  • 40% of online shoppers watch a livestream at least once a week
  • 13% of internet users typically find out about new brands or products from vlogs

Social Media Video

Video and social media go hand-in-hand. Between Facebook video, Instagram Stories, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, social video marketing is central to many ecommerce strategies. Of the brands that say video is top-of-mind for them this year, 66.2% also named social media, 47.9% named social commerce, and 43.7% named influencer marketing.

US social network video advertising spend grows every year. In 2021, it reached $20.28 billion to make up one-third of all social network ad revenue. In 2022, video ad spend on social networks will grow 20.1% to $24.4 billion. That’s more than double what it was in 2019, when US advertisers spent just $11.14 billion on social network advertising.

Native video advertising – which refers to ads that are seamlessly integrated into a social media feed to appear more like regular content to users – will be key to many brands’ paid social advertising strategies in 2022. Many consumers are more likely to resonate with content that is less formal and more personal, a shift accelerated by TikTok over the past two years. Native video ads that are more similar to user-generated content will likely be a major social media initiative this year.

Connected TV & Linear TV

Connected TV (CTV) is one of the growing components of video advertising for ecommerce. CTV refers to television sets that stream video over the internet through devices like a smart TV, gaming console, or over-the-top (OTT) device like the Amazon Fire Stick or Roku.

Connected TV advertising spend in the US will reach $19.1 billion this year. In 2019, CTV ad spend was just $6.4 billion and made up 2.7% of total media ad spend. By 2024, CTV ad spend will be more than double what it was in 2021, reaching $29.5 billion to make up 7.6% of all media ad spending.

Linear (traditional) TV still outpaces connected TV advertising by a long shot, with linear TV ad spend expected to come in at $67.88 billion this year. Linear TV ad spend is expected to remain relatively stable over the next three years, averaging at $66.87 billion each year between 2022 and 2025.

YouTube Advertising

Another key component of video advertising for ecommerce is YouTube. Global YouTube advertising revenue grew by 45.9% last year to reach $28.9 billion. The number of monthly YouTube users is increasing to approach the number of monthly TV viewers, coming in at 225.8 million users and 245.7 million users respectively. YouTube has more than 2.5x the number of monthly TikTok users, which comes in at 90.6 million.

Over 40% of shoppers have purchased products they discovered on YouTube.

What’s unique about YouTube advertising? The video platform, which has been around since 2005, differs from emerging social media channels like TikTok and Instagram Stories in that it focuses on longer form videos. Consumers are also more familiar with it, with 82% of social network users saying they watch YouTube. In 2021, over 75% of all internet users visited YouTube monthly.

That familiarity can help consumers trust the ads they see from your brand on the platform – which can be powerful, considering YouTube is the third most popular social commerce channel and the fourth most popular platform for influencer marketing. Social commerce is top-of-mind for 36.2% of digital marketing professionals this year, with influencer marketing coming in at 35.1%.

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Programmatic Video Advertising

Video will be a key component of brands’ programmatic advertising strategies in 2022. 13.5% of marketing decision-makers say programmatic is one of their brand’s biggest initiatives for 2022.

63.2% of marketers who name programmatic as a top initiative also say video is top-of-mind.

Programmatic video advertising is an underutilized channel with potential benefits for every brand. Powered by robust customer intent data, programmatic puts ads in front of highly targeted audiences on the websites and apps they browse the most and empowers brands to stay top-of-mind with ideal customers throughout their path to purchase.

2022 will mark the first year that video makes up over half of all programmatic ad spend. US programmatic video advertising spend is expected to grow 20.7% in 2022 to reach $62.96 billion before growing 18.9% to reach $74.88 billion in 2023.

Programmatic saw higher growth in previous years due to the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing growth of online advertising. In 2020, it grew 34.1% to $35.18 billion, and in 2021, it grew 48.3% to $52.17 billion.

By 2023, programmatic video advertising spend will surpass linear TV ad spend. More than one in every five ad dollars spent on programmatic in 2022 will go toward CTV.

Tying It All Together

As a highly engaging form of creative, ecommerce video marketing isn’t going away anytime soon. As trends like social media and streaming television continue to grow, digital video advertising will only become a more important part of a successful, profitable marketing campaign that grows brand awareness and acquisition.

If you want to make sure you’re implementing a profitable video advertising strategy, the ecommerce experts at ROI Revolution can help. With over 20 years of online advertising experience, our teams are poised to deliver strategies that lift conversions and drive revenue. Get in touch with us today to uncover opportunities for video advertising or other marketing campaign types to grow your brand in 2022 and beyond.

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