 (1).jpg)
August 20, 2024
Digital
Share:
Video advertising landscape: where to head next?
How can advertisers launch high-conversion video ad campaigns that drive targeted traffic? Let us analyze this based on the case study of Samolet Plus and GPM Ads within the GPM Partner Network.
Today, video ads are not only a popular but also a rapidly growing segment of advertising, both internationally and in Russia. With the help of videos, businesses inform the audience about the product, build loyalty, and create recognizable brands. Globally, over 91% of companies consider video advertising the best tool for promotion. According to the Russian Association of Communication Agencies (RACA), ad investments in TV and online video in Russia increased by 34% year-on-year in Q1 2024.
This video trend stems from increased demand for personalization and technological advancements. Unlike familiar and, seemingly, more conventional static formats, video holds users’ attention more effectively and stands out thanks to its vibrant emotional component. According to a study by AKMR and Mediacom.Expert, 51% of advertisers use video content to attract customers, and 42% use it to increase brand awareness.
Video ad formats are evolving along with the market and its needs. Whereas reach used to be the only benchmark, clients now expect to see metrics such as view-through and engagement rates.
Where to place ads?
With the departure of major players from Russia, the acute shortage of advertising inventory continues. This scarcity has led to a growing share of fraud in the market, with some unscrupulous platforms using bots instead of “real users” to generate fake demand. As a result, key campaign metrics are dropping, raising urgent concerns about brand safety and ad ROI.
In search of quality platforms, advertisers often turn to seller networks that aggregate safe and relevant sites. With a partner, it is faster and easier to find the “key” to launch an ad campaign. This also allows for prompt and meaningful adjustments to the hypotheses used.
The GPM Partner Network (part of the ecosystem of GPM Ads, the sales house of Gazprom-Media Holding) includes over 500 sites spanning various themes, with a large, diverse, and, most importantly, transparent audience. Campaigns can be configured for shared frequency caps, geo, sociodemographics, and other flexible parameters across platforms.
In addition to numerous platforms, the GPM Partner Network offers a wide range of options: video advertising in Smart TV apps or interactive media formats based on Instream, such as Shoppable Ads. Smart TV provides clients with the opportunity to reach premium audiences. Interactive formats include additional mechanics that allow clients to customize creatives and engage target audiences more effectively.
How to place ads?
One example of effective video ad use is the case study of the Samolet Plus apartment solutions service (part of the Samolet Group), supported by Qvant (part of GPM Ads within Gazprom-Media Holding).
Campaign objectives included:
- Ensuring broad reach among the target audience;
- Raising product and brand awareness;
- Achieving high VTR for video ads.
The key segment was a solvent audience with an interest in real estate: men and women aged 18 to 44.
Throughout the five-month campaign, users were exposed to 15- and 30-second video ads. These ads were integrated into the content in Instream format on GPM Partner Network platforms. This allowed the client to find a homogeneous audience with the desired behavior on the sites and achieve consistent reach, with Adserving data showing nearly 94% VTR across both flights (November 2023–December 2023 and January 2024–April 2024).
Why did it work?
Several factors contributed to the high reach and view-through rates: original creatives, high-quality traffic, and precise audience targeting. Users only need to see the first few seconds of a video to decide whether to continue watching. The high quality video content of Samolet Plus helped to significantly improve metrics.
When defining the core audience, the team kept in mind the nuances involved and tried to broaden the socio-demographic scope. As a result, they were able to get a response from the brand’s primary, broad target audience, including potential customers who are sometimes overlooked.
The use of multiple creatives and active hypothesis testing allowed for timely ad rotation and ensured a high VTR.
The case study of Samolet Plus, GPM Ads and Qvant encourages experimentation when working with a stable foundation: a trusted network of quality sites and original content. The results speak for themselves, with excellent metrics that were the logical and rewarding outcome of a nearly six-month campaign.
In the first two waves of this federal campaign, we built brand knowledge of Samolet Plus as a unique apartment solutions service in the real estate market. This led to a 14-fold increase in brand recall, placing Samolet Plus in the top 5 services and nearly tripling logo recognition. Digital made a significant contribution to the overall results, thanks to a combination of several factors: high-quality inventory, well-calibrated campaign settings, and, of course, memorable creatives. Not only did we get a good response from the target audience, but we also improved our brand metrics. One of the first direct indicators of the campaign’s success on GPM inventory, later confirmed by our research, was a view-through rate of over 90%. Using this data and post-click metrics, we tweaked the campaign for even more impressive bottom-line results.
Samolet Plus never stands still. Our first federal campaigns yielded excellent results, doubling our market share to nearly 10%, increasing partner-franchisee sales, and allowing us to open new offices across Russia. Now it is time to move forward. Our service continues to take the market by storm, and we expect that the wide range of options offered by GPM will provide us with more opportunities for further growth and development.
When running ad placements on a large scale, such as the GPM Partner Network, it is important to pay attention to post-click analysis and optimize placements “on the fly.” Our colleagues at NMi Group closely tracked the metrics throughout the Samolet Plus campaign, which helped us greatly improve the final results.
When we decided to create the GPM Partner Network, with GPM Ads as the product seller, our goal was to provide high-quality inventory and find an individual approach to each placement. In today’s marketing landscape, it is essential for users to interact with ads, even in high-reach formats. To do that, you need to know exactly what ad to show users, at what time, in what content, and how many times to get them to view it through to the end and take the desired action. It was this synergy that allowed us to achieve such high metrics in this case study. We thank Samolet Plus and NMi Group for their trust and cooperation!
.png)
 copy (1).png)
Do you want to advertise?
Send us a message right now, and our managers will get back to you right away!
What type of advertising are you after?