The document discusses best practices for digital video advertising in 2017, highlighting the rapid growth of US digital video ad spending projected to reach $18 billion by 2020. Key insights emphasize the importance of audience targeting, personalization, refined metrics, and the necessity of adapting content specifically for digital platforms rather than repurposing TV ads. Experts recommend short ads with early branding, utilizing third-party verification to ensure ad performance measurement, and prioritizing user experience to combat ad blocking and fraud.

1. DIGITAL VIDEO
ADVERTISING
BEST PRACTICES
2017
Expert Insights for
More Effective Campaigns
JANUARY 2017
Paul Verna
Contributors: Annalise Clayton, Sean Creamer, LaurenT. Fisher, Maria Minsker, Amy Rotondo
Read this on
eMarketer for iPad

2. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR
MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS
US digital video ad spending topped $10 billion in 2016 and is on track to approach $18 billion by 2020.This
sustained growth makes video one of the brightest spots in the digital advertising market, but has also created
several difficult problems that industry practitioners are working to solve: ad blocking, fraud, a profusion of
low-quality inventory and increasingly ineffective use ofTV-style advertising on digital platforms.
■ Current best practices for digital video advertising in the
US include audience-based buying, refined targeting,
advanced metrics and the use of third-party verification.
■ Industry experts also recommend personalization,
branding ads early and often, and matching ad formats
to the many devices, platforms and content types
available to marketers.
■ Authenticity and relevance are especially important,
particularly for marketers seeking to connect with
millennial audiences through influencer marketing and
live video.
■ Practitioners are advising against the tried-and-true,
and now tired, practice of repurposingTV ads for
digital.They instead recommend focusing on the user
experience as a countermeasure against fraud and
ad blocking.
■ Whereas past digital video campaigns tended to focus
on brand awareness, some experts advocate the use of
video to drive more concrete outcomes such as sales,
site visits and foot traffic.
WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT?This report compiles best
practices in digital video advertising from more than two
dozen experts in the field, including executives at ad
agencies, brand marketers, publishers and ad tech firms.
Their insights are grouped into 15 categories that span
across areas such as creative approaches, targeting,
personalization and methods for beating back the dual
threats of ad blocking and fraud.
billions and % change
US Digital Video Ad Spending, by Device, 2015-2020
$4.79
$2.89
$7.68
$5.84
$4.47
$10.30
$6.68
$5.87
$12.55
$7.29
$7.11
$14.40
$8.18
$8.11
$16.29
$8.88
$9.08
$17.95
Note: includes advertising that appears before, during or after digital video
content in a video player; numbers may not add up to total due to rounding;
*includes advertising that appears on desktop and laptop computers and
other internet-connected devices; **includes mobile phones and tablets
Source: eMarketer, Sep 2016
216109 www.eMarketer.com
2015
29.4%
88.0%
46.6%
2016
21.9%
54.5%
34.1%
2017
14.5%
31.4%
21.8%
2018
9.1%
21.2%
14.7%
2019
12.2%
14.1%
13.1%
2020
8.5%
11.9%
10.2%
Desktop*
Mobile**
Total
KEY STAT: Led by especially strong momentum in
mobile video, US digital video ad spending will grow at
double-digit rates every year through 2020, culminating a
total of $17.95 billion at that time.

3. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
NO. 1: BUY AUDIENCE FIRST
The video ad industry hasn’t yet attained the holy
grail of true people-based marketing—defined by the
Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM)
as “the practice of mapping consumer identities
across all channels (online and offline) and digital
devices (PCs, mobile phones, tablets, smartTVs,
etc.).” However, advances in cross-device linking and
audience targeting have given marketers a more
sophisticated set of tools to help them reach their
prospective customers.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“Cross-device linking and audience-based buying have
matured in the past year. I encourage all our clients to
not buy inventory first, but to buy audience first and then
make sure that the publications they’re buying with are
reasonable.” —Jay Friedman, Goodway Group
“Everything has to be audience-driven. With the amount
of data that is out there and the amount of insights you
can draw from an audience, you need to not just deliver
against that audience, but get to the right members of
that audience and reach them at the right moment.”
—Mike Racic, iCrossing
NO. 2: REFINE YOUR TARGETING
Tailoring video content to specific audiences is
becoming the norm, just as it has been with display
ads that are tweaked using demographic, geographic
and other targeting criteria.The goal is to deliver
hyper-relevant ads—something millennials especially
expect and value.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“The old days of just runningYouTube pre-roll for a
big brand and spraying [the ads] across the board
have dramatically changed, and now it’s really about
hypertargeting the message to very, very localized
audiences. Same [general] messaging, same value
proposition, same everything, but you might tweak the
audio or the video to focus on different segments so that
younger and older people in certain locations get shown
different clips.” —Dave McIninch, Acquisio
“There may be disagreement in the marketplace around
targeting, and it may be sort of a dirty word, but there’s
an entire generation of people—millennials—who believe
that targeting is what makes advertising relevant to them,
and they want that.They don’t want to waste their time
on advertising that has nothing to do with their needs or
interests.” —Jen Catto,Tremor Video

4. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4
NO. 3: REFINE YOUR METRICS
Like audience targeting and device linking, campaign
metrics have increased in sophistication. Industry
leaders now regard benchmarks such as clicks and
impressions as building blocks to more detailed
views of ad performance, which include factors like
purchase intent, or actual purchases.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“The past couple of years have been all about brand
safety and viewability, which are building blocks.The next
step is to measure beyond clicks or impressions and
always look to include some kind of understanding of
what your impact is on purchase intent, brand favorability
or even store visits and transactional data. For brand
advertising, you ought to be going beyond just the basic
metrics.” —Stephen Upstone, LoopMe
“Measurement has become more and more key,
particularly as you think about trying to coordinate what’s
happening in the traditionalTV landscape and the digital
landscape.” —Dan Lovy, Social and Interactive Media
Consortium (SIMC)
NO. 4: USE THIRD-PARTY
VERIFICATION
With the lion’s share of US video ad dollars going
to walled gardens such as Facebook andYouTube,
and with Facebook having twice acknowledged in
2016 problems with the way it tracks video metrics
on its platform, advertisers are especially sensitive
to the need for objective measures of campaign
performance. Most experts advise clients to use
third-party verification systems, and some also
advocate for industrywide standards.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“In 2017, digital advertising spend will exceed television.
So for video to continue its growth, it’s got to have
standards and it’s got to be third-party.” —Rich Sutton,
Trusted Media Brands Inc.
“We strongly encourage customers to use a third-party
verification system that takes into account multitouch
attribution. Otherwise, you’re asking someone to grade
their own homework, which is usually not a good idea.”
—Justin Adler, SourceKnowledge
“[Use] performance measures beyond the standard IAB
[Interactive Advertising Bureau] viewability definition
alone—richer metrics that look at sight, sound, motion
and engagement metrics that measure the quality of
people’s attention and involvement with a particular video
promotion, as opposed to just the potential to see, which
is what viewability is.” —Wayne Gattinella, DoubleVerify
“Any publisher or media distribution entity needs to have
a third party verifying and validating their metrics. But
just having the third-party validation is not the endgame
either.You’ve got a lot of different third parties that have
discrepancies in how they report on things like video
completion or viewability.That’s why industry standards
become important.They’ll be neutral and they’ll align the
third parties, who will in turn keep the publishers in line.”
—Ittai Shiu, Exponential

5. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 5
NO. 5: STOP MAKING DIGITAL ADS
FROM TV SCRAPS
Not only do many advertising executives advise
against recyclingTV ads, but some argue for a
reinvention of the creative brief. Instead of starting
with a 30-second spot as the bedrock format and
carving up shorter pieces from it, creatives should
conceive campaigns that incorporate, from the
ground up, things like Snapchat and skippable
pre-rolls.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“Simply deployingTV ads in digital environments
is fundamentally poor in this day and age, and
understanding the differences in user experience
betweenTV, laptop and mobile devices is key.”
—David Gosen, Rocket Fuel
“We’re still relying too heavily these days on repurposed
television advertising. It’s not the same medium at all.
Video ads need to be shorter—especially with mobile
advertising, which is becoming more and more relevant.
Your brand is going to probably take some hits if you
think that a person wants to look at a 15-second pre-roll
ad on their mobile phone. Nobody does.” —Patrick Hopf,
SourceKnowledge
“I anticipate we’ll see creative agencies start working
more closely with brands to reconsider the 30-second
TV spot.The repurposing of those spots doesn’t always
resonate well across devices. [Agencies] need to
consider the medium and the user experience and start
to think about how to tell a story in a chaptered way,
considering the device that the users are on.”
—Jen Catto,Tremor Video
“You shouldn’t just assume that you should put aTV spot
in digital. If you look at companies like Geico, they’ve
shown that custom creative for a channel likeYouTube is
the best practice, where you use the first 5 seconds. And
in Facebook, it has to be even shorter than that.That kind
of fundamental knowledge is coalescing as video scale
is becoming more and more important.” —Scott Peters,
Edelman Digital
NO. 6: TAILOR AD FORMATS
TO PLATFORMS, DEVICES
AND CONTENT
The video ad market is more complex than ever, with
a growing array of formats, aspect ratios, durations,
devices, platforms and content types.The onus is on
the advertiser to make sense of the landscape and
make intelligent decisions informed by the way the
video will ultimately be viewed, whether it’s on a
smartphone in vertical mode on the go, or at home
on a connected screen that looks and feels likeTV.The
possibilities and combinations are seemingly endless,
as are the opportunities for marketers to connect with
target audiences in novel ways.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“Understanding the relation between content and format
is important, and then understanding the right ad format
to put there is just as important as doing the audience
part. It might not be a 15-second or 30-second spot. It
might be a 5-second spot, a 7-second spot or a 10-second
spot. Do you want it to be autoplay vs. user initiated?
Unless you’re running against long-form content, say 30
or 40 minutes, [the default] should be user choice if they
want to interact with an ad.” —Mike Racic, iCrossing
“In the rush to go programmatic, many desktop-first
actions have been used where they don’t really connect
with mobile audiences. While consumers are 70%
mobile, many budgets are 10% mobile.The bits that
are mobile are just relying on a single format like video
on Facebook. Mobile is very underexploited in video
advertising today, so it’s important to understand the
different formats that are available in mobile.”
—Stephen Upstone, LoopMe
“For theTaco Bells of the world that are trying to sell their
crispy chicken sandwich to an 18-year-old guy, there’s
no reason to start with a linearTV strategy.They should
be starting where they know they’re going to find their
audience.That’s not true for Merrill Lynch and it’s not true
maybe for a lot of advertisers who cater to guys like me.
But if your audience is under 25, the creative brief needs
to be flip-flopped.” —Mike Henry, OpenSlate

6. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 6
“You don’t really have people thinking about Snapchat
today in terms of a [gross rating point] but we find it
interesting exactly because of that. It’s a video product
and a video environment, and even though it’s not at
major scale in terms of trueTV-like video budgets, we are
watching it keenly.” —Andrea Ching, OpenSlate
“You can come up with a story and then cut it six ways
to Sunday to fit whatever device, but we need to start
planning and storyboarding the creative for the device at
the very inception of the idea.” —Jen Catto,Tremor Video
“The most important thing is that we not treat all
platforms the same, because you go to them for different
reasons.You go to them maybe all within the same day,
but you have a different behavioral expectation, so we
need to create content that meets those expectations.”
—Kenneth Blom, BuzzFeed
“You need to create specific content that is relevant
to which channel someone may be considering. So if
it’s onYouTube, you have to understand how people
viewYouTube. On Facebook, you have to know that
it’s a more passive viewing experience and that people
may not have their sound on. With some of the newer
platforms like Instagram, there are different formats and
different physical shapes that the video should take. With
Snapchat, vertical video has become much more the way
people are consuming things. So make sure that you’re
tailoring your content to those specific needs and within
the constraints and opportunities that each of those
platforms exercises.” —Eli Grant, DAC Group Chicago
NO. 7: KEEP VIDEO ADS SHORT,
AND BRAND EARLY AND OFTEN
It seems obvious that, with the proliferation of
skippable pre-rolls, autoplay ads and short ad formats
on mobile platforms, marketers would get the
message that video ads need to be front-loaded with
a branding message. And yet, like many seemingly
self-evident truths, this one seems to slip the radar
more often than one might think. Experts who spoke
with eMarketer expressed this imperative in a variety
of ways, with the common denominators being the
need to keep video ads short and using the first few
seconds as possibly the only opportunity to make
an impression.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“Build your spots so they convey everything you need
to convey in 5 seconds, and that the next 10 or 25
seconds are bonus time. I see so many video ads today
that within 5 seconds they’re still doing the build-up.”
—Jay Friedman, Goodway Group
“Early on you saw a lot of creative that, just like television
creative, often times didn’t reveal the brand until the last 5
or 10 seconds of a 30-second spot. Digital video is viewed
very differently, and I think smart creatives understand
that branding early and branding often is important.”
—Wayne Gattinella, DoubleVerify
“Something like 85% of video on Facebook is being
watched with no sound, so you’re seeing the emergence
of content with subtitles that help get the message
across. I think we’ll continue to see growth in that
practice.” —Phil Schraeder, GumGum
“Formatting digital video advertising to be more engaging,
with text overlays and information on top of the images, is
an interesting change. We saw it grow a lot this past year,
and it’s really shifted how we approach video content.”
—ErinYasgar, Prohaska Consulting

7. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 7
“Brands and marketers have to seriously look at ad
lengths.These must drop to 10 seconds and under—not
just on mobile but across all devices.The value exchange
and expected user experience have resulted in shorter-
length ads being vital for video. A brand has 5 seconds
to create a conversation, create impact and engage. If
your creative does not achieve this, it has failed.”
—David Gosen, Rocket Fuel
“Ads have to be 5, 7 seconds.You have to be able to really
get a crisp message across, show the products, show
the value, the style, all of these things.” —Patrick Hopf,
SourceKnowledge
NO. 8: PERSONALIZE IT
The end goal of tailoring video experiences to
different users based on advanced targeting criteria
or prior behavior is to make ads more personal.This
push toward personalization emerged as a best
practice for several experts in our panel.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“To make something relevant to the consumer, you have
to know something about them—their history, their
wants, their needs, their profile.This allows you to create
an ongoing and relevant dialogue, and that’s what makes
a difference.” —Oren Harnevo, Eyeview
“Just like banner ads, video ads can now be tailored to
personalized online behavioral schemes—at least four,
five, six, if not, 10, 20 or 30 creatives for the same brand.
When I see a video ad and you see a video ad, it should
be a different ad for the same product.”
—Ofri Ben-Porat, Pixoneye
“The things we like [about connectedTV] are the ability to
localize and personalize—to be able to show relevance in
the context of the ad. If someone’s watching something
on HGTV and has an interactive ad experience, that may
be different in Chicago than it is in NewYork,Texas or
Florida.” —Eli Grant, DAC Group Chicago

8. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 8
NO. 9: CONVEY AUTHENTICITY
Striving for authenticity isn’t new, but it’s especially
important at a time when digital influencers carry a
growing portion of the burden of brand advertising,
and millennials put a premium on marketing
messages they can relate to.This doesn’t mean
advertisers should suddenly stop using professional
studios or high production values, but they should
focus on ads that consumers, especially younger
ones, perceive as authentic.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“Authenticity is a huge thing. We’ve seen indications
that Facebook is starting to rank content that is captured
and uploaded on a mobile device higher than desktop
content, because we think they’re assuming that content
is taken in a location. It’s not overly manufactured and
overly edited in a studio. So we encourage our clients to
use mobile devices to capture content.” —Eli Grant, DAC
Group Chicago
“In working with influencers, brands are trying to make
sure the video doesn’t look like advertising. It has to be
as authentic as possible and less self-centric than it might
be in a typical advertising context.” —Zbigniew Barwicz,
DubDub
“It’s super important for brands to make sure there is a
human element to their campaigns. Influencers can really
help bring a brand to life in the social space.”
—Leanne Johnson, GoPro
NO. 10: PICK THE RIGHT TIME AND
PLACE TO GO LIVE
Live streaming platforms went mainstream in 2016
with the public rollout of Facebook Live.While the
advertising value of these services and features
isn’t yet clear, marketers aren’t wasting time in
experimenting. So far, best practices revolve around
the time sensitivity of events such as concerts
and presentations—essentially tapping into an
appointment-viewing mindset.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“The great thing about live video is to try to capture
people at a particular point in time and in a particular
place. One example is a tax preparation company, which
for certain periods during the year is promoting its brand
much more heavily. And so you can create appointment
viewing blocks. It’s a great way to build excitement
around an event vs. just showing up in people’s feeds.”
—Eli Grant, DAC Group Chicago
“We’ve seen great live activations from our clients
that include broadcasting events, concerts, panels,
presentations, announcements, ask-me-anythings,
product launches and, of course, the occasional science
experiment. Live streaming and live social apps are great
relationship builders if the content is executed well.”
—Adam Hirsch, Edelman Digital

9. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 9
NO. 11: TREAD CAREFULLY WITH
MESSAGING APPS
Along with the rush to consider messaging platforms
such as Snapchat andWhatsApp comes a cautionary
note:Those apps are places where users aren’t
necessarily predisposed to a brand message. In fact,
users may outright reject it. Marketers are taking
stock of the pros and cons before making a full-scale
commitment to those spaces.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“Snapchat, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger
have grown up as places for organic, peer-to-peer
conversations, and we’re worried about the potential
backlash of people not expecting or looking for a
broadcasting push from a brand. We’re treading very
carefully there. But obviously that space has matured
over the past year, so it’s going to be more of a place
where we’ll be looking to spend time.” —Eli Grant, DAC
Group Chicago
“You can’t just insert something in [a messaging app]
without any thought behind it, because the performance
is going to be a little bit off and might come across as too
invasive.You have to be creative about your approach to
things like video in messaging apps.” —Jim Daily,Teads
“Consumers are very sensitive about messaging. It’s
something that’s very personal to them, so we have to
make sure we’re not overstepping our boundaries and
turning this into something that’s more about advertising
and less about actual messaging.” —Matt Wynter,
DigitasLBi
NO. 12: USE VIDEO TO
DRIVE PERFORMANCE
The conventional wisdom has been that video
is better suited for branding campaigns than
performance-driven ones. But some are starting
to challenge those long-held assumptions by
using video to drive ecommerce and other
concrete outcomes.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“Video hasn’t been considered to be part of a solution in
areas that are ecommerce-focused, but that is changing
and will continue to change as the growth of video
continues to surge and retailers use video to help drive
performance. Multibillion-dollar marketing categories
like search and display have been built around
performance-based approaches proving [return on
investment] ROI and sales. Video is next.” —Jeff Fagel,
Eyeview
“It’s no longer enough to look at traditional demographics
like gender and age. What we see is more people on
the CMO level wanting to integrate their first-party data
or their performance KPIs [key performance indicators]
into the analytics, so they’re contributing their actual
performance to the spend—not just the performance
of the characteristics and the demographics that they
were getting off of the spend and assuming there’s a
correlation.” —John Derham, iQ Media
“Our mandate is outcome marketing. For us, it doesn’t
matter whether the video got viewed X number of times
or had a high viewability score. What matters to us and
our clients is whether the video met the performance
metric.” —Patrick Hopf, SourceKnowledge

10. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 10
NO. 13: GET SMART ABOUT
FIGHTING FRAUD
Ad fraud is a major problem for the advertising
industry, one whose full dimensions may not yet be
understood.The recent revelation by digital security
firmWhite Ops that a Russia-based hacking group
defrauded advertisers and publishers of as much
as $5 million per day in bogus video ad views has
focused new scrutiny on this issue. Industry experts
advise caution in establishing clear KPIs, using private
exchanges and not overprioritizing viewability, which
can be easily manipulated by bots.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“Fraud follows the money. Video catches a higher
CPM than any other ad format, and that’s a perfect
recipe for bad things to happen in terms of fraudulent
practices. While the industry focuses heavily on video
viewability, it’s critical that when measuring a viewable
ad impression, the advertiser also ensures that the
impression is fraud-free and served in a brand-safe
environment. We know that fraud purposely presents
itself as highly viewable, so unless you have a very strong
set of ad filters, you’ll be looking at high viewability but
also high fraud.” —Wayne Gattinella, DoubleVerify
“Fraud is a massive issue. People are always trying
to figure out how to game the system, and it takes a
while for the technology to catch up.That’s why you
have preferred partnerships where you’re controlling the
publishers and the inventory that’s being placed into that
environment.Then you can choose to buy or not buy, as
opposed to the open exchanges.” —Mike Racic, iCrossing
NO. 14: FIGHT AD BLOCKING WITH
GOOD AD EXPERIENCES
Like fraud, ad blocking is a nuisance for the
advertising industry. However, the outcry heard a
year ago over this issue seems to have died down
a bit.The problem hasn’t gone away, but experts
are downplaying its effects.They’re also advising
advertisers to take a holistic approach to combatting
the problem, essentially focusing on delivering
compelling experiences that users won’t want to
block.This won’t necessarily convince those who use
ad blockers to suddenly disable or uninstall them, but
in the long term it could help foster a more positive
perception of digital advertising, and hence a lower
incidence of ad blocking.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“Ad blocking is an issue for publisher revenue. At the
current juncture, it’s not a problem for brands, because
brands are still finding places to place their ads. It will be a
problem for brands if it continues to be adopted, because
they’re not going to get the scale they want or reach the
consumers they want. What we have to do as an industry
is make sure we are putting user experience first. It’s not
complicated.You get rid of interstitials, you get rid of
pop-ups and you get rid of all these ad formats that
people hate so much.” —Jim Daily,Teads
“In some countries, the percentage of people who use
ad blockers is high. However, when you dig into that it’s
mostly desktop and mostly display. So I think the fear of
ad blockers is something we talk about, but I don’t see ad
blocking hurting the digital video industry, just like DVRs
didn’t hurt the television industry.The real threat is bad
creative and people not paying attention.” —Scott Peters,
Edelman Digital

11. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11
“Ad blocking is inconvenient. It threatens publisher
profitability and a marketer’s ability to reach their users.
But there is a brighter side to this.The attention being
paid to this issue is sparking questions around how
do publishers get fair revenue for better-quality ads,
and then how can we establish ad standards where
consumers will have a better user experience. Focusing
on the experience contributes to loyalty to publishers
and ultimately removes the need for users to turn to ad
blockers in the first place.The apocalypse of all ads being
blocked everywhere, that’s just not going to happen.”
—Ittai Shiu, Exponential
“The No. 1 best practice is to create great user
experiences.You’re seeing that from some of the larger
publishers that are starting to talk about ad quality and
how many units should be on a page, and that ties into
video, too.” —Brian Rifkin, JW Player
NO. 15: IF IT’S TOO GOOD TO
BE TRUE ...
With US programmatic video ad spending now
accounting for the majority of total video ad
spending—and poised to continue increasing sharply
through at least 2018—ad executives are raising
important questions about the value of programmatic
inventory. Specifically, they are asking whether
prioritizing cost carries long-term risks to brand
health. If the price is too good to be true, it may be for
a reason.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“All programmatic ad inventory, and video almost more
than anything, is like buying jewelry or diamonds. If the
price is too good, there is a reason for it. I see so many
clients and agencies demanding video inventory that is
low-priced, and they are not getting what they think they
are getting when they’re spending that little bit of money.”
—Jay Friedman, Goodway Group
“Marketers who are very cost-sensitive or have a lot
of purchasing power will do their best to drive costs
down. But great video inventory comes at a premium. If
a marketer understands that value, then their campaign
will be on better-quality inventory.Their ad will deliver a
better user experience, and those users will pay back
by appreciating that advertising message of associating
more value with a brand.” —Ittai Shiu, Exponential

12. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 12
EMARKETER INTERVIEWS
BigTip forVideo Clips: MakeYour Point in 5 Seconds
Jay Friedman
Partner and COO
Goodway Group
Interview conducted on December 22, 2016
Going Beyond the IABVideoViewability Standards
Wayne Gattinella
President and CEO
DoubleVerify
Interview conducted on December 14, 2016
Justin Adler
Director, Product and Marketing
SourceKnowledge
Interview conducted on December 15, 2016
Hilton Barbour
CMO
dubdub
Interview conducted on December 9, 2016
Zbigniew Barwicz
CEO
dubdub
Interview conducted on December 9, 2016
Ofri Ben-Porat
Co-Founder and CEO
Pixoneye
Interview conducted on December 11, 2016
Kenneth Blom
Director, Branded Distribution
BuzzFeed
Interview conducted on November 11, 2016
Jen Catto
CMO
Tremor Video
Interview conducted on December 13, 2016
Andrea Ching
CMO
OpenSlate
Interview conducted on November 30, 2016
Jim Daily
President
Teads
Interview conducted on December 13, 2016
John Derham
Founder and Head of Innovation
iQ Media
Interview conducted on December 13, 2016
Jeff Fagel
CMO
Eyeview
Interview conducted on December 6, 2016
David Gosen
Senior Vice President and
Managing Director, International
Rocket Fuel
Interview conducted on December 12, 2016
Eli Grant
Vice President and General Manager
DAC Group Chicago
Interview conducted on December 9, 2016
Oren Harnevo
CEO and Co-Founder
Eyeview
Interview conducted on December 6, 2016
Mike Henry
CEO
OpenSlate
Interview conducted on November 30, 2016
Adam Hirsch
Global Executive Vice President
Edelman Digital
Interview conducted on November 11, 2016
Patrick Hopf
President and Co-Founder
SourceKnowledge
Interview conducted on December 15, 2016
Leanne Johnson
Senior Director, Digital Marketing
GoPro
Interview conducted on November 11, 2016

13. DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES 2017: EXPERT INSIGHTS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS ©2017 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 13
Dan Lovy
Executive Director
Social and Interactive Media Consortium
(SIMC)
Interview conducted on December 8, 2016
Dave McIninch
Chief Revenue Officer
Acquisio
Interview conducted on December 2, 2016
Scott Peters
Vice President and Director, Paid Media
Edelman Digital
Interview conducted on December 15, 2016
Mike Racic
President, Media Operations
iCrossing
Interview conducted on December 9, 2016
Brian Rifkin
Co-Founder
JW Player
Interview conducted on December 14, 2016
Phil Schraeder
President and COO
GumGum
Interview conducted on December 12, 2016
Or Shani
Founder and CEO
Adgorithms
Interview conducted on November 21, 2016
Ittai Shiu
Vice President, Creative Strategy
Exponential
Interview conducted on December 1, 2016
Rich Sutton
Chief Revenue Officer
Trusted Media Brands Inc.
Interview conducted on December 9, 2016
Stephen Upstone
CEO and Founder
LoopMe
Interview conducted on December 6, 2016
Matt Wynter
Media Supervisor, Video Center of Excellence,
NewYork Region
DigitasLBi
Interview conducted on December 19, 2016
ErinYasgar
Vice President, Global Buyer Strategy
Prohaska Consulting
Interview conducted on December 12, 2016
RELATED EMARKETER REPORTS
Q4 2016 DigitalVideoTrends: Monetization, Audience,
Platforms and Content
US SocialTrends for 2017: eMarketer’s Predictions for
Attribution, Live Streaming, Messaging, Influencer
Marketing and More
10 Key DigitalTrends for 2017: Our Predictions for
WhatWill—andWon’t—Happen NextYear
EDITORIAL AND
PRODUCTION CONTRIBUTORS
Cliff Annicelli Managing Editor, Reports
Michael Balletti Copy Editor
Joanne DiCamillo Senior Production Artist
Dana Hill Director of Production
Eden Kelley Chart Editor
Stephanie Meyer Senior Production Artist
Kris Oser Deputy Editorial Director
Heather Price Senior Copy Editor
John Rambow Executive Editor, Reports
Allie Smith Director of Charts

14. Coverage of a Digital World
eMarketer data and insights address how consumers
spend time and money, and what marketers are doing to
reach them in today’s digital world. Get a deeper look at
eMarketer coverage, including our reports, benchmarks and
forecasts, and charts.
Confidence in the Numbers
Our unique approach of analyzing data from multiple
research sources provides our customers with the most
definitive answers available about the marketplace.
Learn why.
Customer Stories
The world’s top companies across every industry look to
eMarketer first for information on digital marketing, media
and commerce. Read more about how our clients use
eMarketer to make smarter decisions.
Your account team is here to help:
Email research_requests@emarketer.com to submit a request for research support, or contact
accounts@emarketer.com or 866-345-3864 to discuss any details related to your account.
The leading research firm for marketing in a digital world.