Mobile marketers should use video more report finds

YouAppi has announced the results of its second annual CMO Mobile Marketing Guide, which highlights opportunities for mobile marketers over the next 12 months. Video emerged the clear winner, with 85 percent of marketers planning to increase their investment in video during 2018, up a full 10 percent from 2017. Over three-quarters of respondents cited video as very or critically important to the customer journey, with marketers saying they use video for acquisition (71 percent), awareness (65 percent), engagement (56%), re-engagement (40 percent) and segmentation (31 percent).

The use of video across every channel is also on the rise. Social media topped the list at 61 percent, an increase of 13 points year over year, while other channels also saw increases in 2018 including in-app video (56 percent), brand video advertising (45 percent) and video for mobile web (42 percent). Rewarded video remained steady, with about one-third of respondents planning to use it in the coming year. Conversely, the number of respondents who said they had no plans to use video in their 2018 mobile marketing programs decreased by four points, to only seven percent.

“The results of our annual survey highlight a growing trend for marketers to meet consumers where they are, and that is with video,” said Moshe Vaknin, CEO of YouAppi. “What is particularly exciting is the impact of video in every part of the customer journey - from user acquisition to engagement, segmentation, awareness and re-engagement. Marketers cited user acquisition and re-engagement as top priorities in the coming year, and video is one of the most effective resources for attracting the right customers and keeping them engaged.”

Mobile marketers did reference certain challenges with video advertising as well. Fraud topped the list, with 48 percent of respondents citing it as their main concern, a 15 point jump from 2017. Additional issues included difficulty in effective measurement (45 percent), difficulty in targeting (26 percent), and lack of visibility into whether videos are being watched (23 percent).

Mobile marketers are eager to incorporate emerging technology, with 49 percent saying machine learning will become a part of their customer journey in 2018 and 36 percent using artificial intelligence. Additional technologies marketers will use in the coming year include mobile payments (27 percent), chatbots (24 percent), augmented reality (21 percent) and virtual reality (15 percent).

The 2018 CMO Mobile Marketing Guide survey was conducted by Dimensional Research in February 2018 and included responses from 425 global digital marketing professionals.