Digital Marketing

5 Facts You Need to Know about Video Ads

If there's one thing any PPC marketer should know in 2017, it's this: video marketing works.

Since people spend one third of their online time watching videos, it's understandable it influences their behavior. Videos influence viewers into taking action, whether that is visiting a page, giving their email address to a company, or buying a product.

Companies understand this. According to a study carried out by Ascend2, 69% of companies report their video marketing budget is increasing.

Still, video marketing isn't enough. If you don't have a large enough social media following or email list, you may not get enough views to bring the desired results.

Build Trust with Video Ads

That's why you need to use ads. Ads can help you increase the distribution of your videos.

What's surprising is people like video ads more than they like regular ads. A Nielsen report from 2012, showed that 36% of people trust video ads. Not only that, but the people who enjoy watching video ads increase their purchase intent by 97% and brand association by 139%.

Considering that few people trust advertising these days, video ads become a highly effective way to reach new audiences and influence their behavior.

If you still want to know more about video ads and how they impact consumers, read the rest of this article.

People Prefer Video over Text

The power of video marketing starts with the fact people like video over text. It's human nature: it's easier to watch something that's both entertaining and easier to understand than to read something.

According to Animoto, there are 4 times more consumers who would rather watch a video about a product than reading about it. At the same time, if a consumer has the option to choose between text and video on the same page, 69% of them would prefer to watch a video to learn about a product or service.

This is especially true if the video content is an ad. Who has the time to read an advertisement when they could simply watch it?

Video also affects the way people use a website. Wistia, a video hosting company, found people who watch a video, on average, spend 260% more time on pages with video than those without them.

Adelie Studios, a video marketing company, found the average user spends 88% more time on a website that has video in it.

5 things you need to know about video ads via

You don't need to fully discard your text for your advertising campaigns, however. Since video has a long-lasting effect in how people consume content, you should combine your videos with full-page ads, as it has been shown that boosts engagement by 22%.

Key Takeaway: Add videos to your ad campaigns and to your landing page as that increases time on page and boosts engagement.

People Remember Video Ads

The key to an effective ad isn't just to get lots of impressions at a low cost. You create an ad so people take action on it, whether that is to remember your brand, go to your website, or buy a product. What matters, therefore, is to make people remember your ads so they can then take the needed action.

A study done by Lab42, a research firm, found that 71% of consumers like funny ads, as they make them more likely to remember a product. Below funny ads came educational ads (12%), sexy (8%), serious (4%), and finally patriotic (3%).

One of the best recent examples of a fun video ad is "This is Virgin Fibre" by Virgin. I'm not a potential customer of Virgin, but I can still remember the main idea of that ad weeks after I've watched it. That's the power of a video ad.


There's a second and more powerful reason why video ads are so powerful: viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to a mere 10% when reading it in text. Also, 80% of consumers recall a video ad they viewed in the past 30 days.

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Source: Forbes

Key Takeaway: People remember video content better. Funny ads also help a lot to achieve this result.

Videos Influence the B2C Purchase Cycle

One of the biggest questions most B2C marketers ask is "How do I make people buy my products?". They try many different tactics to achieve that: enticing copy, high-quality images, optimized product pages, and many more things.

Videos, as it turns out to be, are one of the most powerful tactics they could use to persuade their visitors to convert.

Wyzowl, a video marketing company, found that 77% of consumers say they've been convinced to buy a product or service after watching a video. Another study made by Animoto, found something similar: 73% of people are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video.

5 things you need to know about video ads via

Video doesn't just make people want to buy a product, it also influences them throughout the whole decision process: 90% of users say product videos are helpful in the decision process.

5 things you need to know about video ads via

This doesn't just affect consumers in a product or service page, this also includes video ads. According to Online Publishers Association, 46% of users take some sort of action after viewing a video ad.

Finally, a study done by the Aberdeen Group found that companies which use videos in their marketing strategy enjoy 27% higher CTR and 34% higher web conversion rates than those which don’t. This can help reduce the cost per acquisition in social media sites such as Facebook, in which the CTR affects the relevance score, which affects the bid and, therefore, the cost.

Key Takeaway: Videos influence people take some kind of action, including a visit to a page or buying a product. Also, it influences the whole purchasing cycle, from awareness to the final sale. This works both for videos in product pages as well as in ads.

Video Ads Work for B2B As Well

So far you've seen how videos ads affect consumers and B2C companies. This doesn't mean video ads don't work for B2B companies. Most, if not all, of the previously mentioned facts apply for B2B marketing funnels. That's why 96% of B2B organizations use video in some capacity in their marketing campaigns, while 73% of them report a positive ROI.

Most B2B organizations find video effective mainly to the fact 50% of executives look for more information after seeing a product/service in a video, while 65% visit the marketer’s website and 39% call a vendor. What's more, executives behavior regarding video is similar to the ones of regular consumers: 75% of executives watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week.

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In contrast with B2C sales, where the videos are mostly about a specific product or service, there are many types of videos B2B marketers can use. A study done by Ascend2, discovered that B2B marketers the following video marketing types have a positive result to their bottom line:

  • 51% customer testimonials
  • 50% tutorial videos
  • 49% demonstration videos

Just like with B2C sales, videos positively affect the whole buyer's journey. 70% of B2B marketers claim that videos are more effective than other content when it comes to converting users to qualified leads. That explains why Tubular Insights found 73% of B2B marketers find video positively impacts their marketing ROI.

Key Takeaway: Executives like watching videos and are influenced by them as most consumers. B2B marketers find video and video ads powerful and effective.

Video Works in Every Marketing Channel

Video influences the behavior of consumers not only in landing pages, ads, or articles. It works in every marketing channel, including email and social media.

For some reason, 53% of businesses who use video say they struggle to promote the video content they produce. That's because they tend not to promote it through their other marketing channels. If they did, not only it would increase the channel's effectiveness, it will also help them promote their video.

Those companies who do use video in other marketing channels:

  • 47% do so in their email campaigns with an 80% effectiveness rate
  • 87% do so on social media, with a 78% effectiveness rate

Using video marketing for your social paid ads is where you can harness the power of the former.

To start, Facebook is rated as the most social channel with the highest impact for video. That's 840% higher impact than any other social channel. In contrast with a photo, a Facebook video receives, on average, 135% more organic reach.

That's why 39% of marketers plan to add Facebook video to their content strategy and 44% of small business owners plan to invest in video content on Facebook in 2017.

Facebook video ads may be powerful, but Twitter has nothing to envy them. Video views on Twitter grew 220x from December 2014 to December 2015. This explains why 82% of Twitter users watch video content, 93% of which are in mobile.

What's more, video ads are nearly 2x as memorable on Twitter than skippable pre-roll ads on premium sites. Also, Twitter videos drive high engagement, with 250% more replies, 280% more retweets, and 190% more favorites than third party players.

Twitter users think video ads are 10% more relevant, 8% more favorable, and 8% less intrusive, compared to similar ones on publisher sites.

Key Takeaway: There's no reason why you shouldn't reutilize the videos you create in your other marketing channels, including email and social media.


Today you have learned the power of video ads for your marketing strategy. You have seen how much people like consuming video and how it makes them remember an ad's message. You've also seen both B2C and B2B business alike can foster its power.

Now it's your turn. Do you use video for your advertising campaigns? If not, did you learn something that changed your mind about video ads? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

AdStage Team