VideoVideo Ad Views Hit 26.9 Billion in January, SpotXchange Jumps to #1 Spot

Video Ad Views Hit 26.9 Billion in January, SpotXchange Jumps to #1 Spot

According to comScore, 183.8 million Americans watched 48.7 billion online content videos in January 2014, while the number of video ad views totaled 26.9 billion. The number of video ad views is up 195.6 percent compared to January 2013.

Woman Watching VideoAccording to the latest data from the comScore Video Metrix service, 183.8 million Americans watched 48.7 billion online content videos in January 2014, while the number of video ad views totaled 26.9 billion.

By comparison, nearly 180 million U.S. Internet users watched 36.2 billion online content videos in January 2013, while the number of video ad views reached 9.1 billion.

So, 85.1 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video last month, up from 83.5 percent for the same month a year ago. That’s an incremental increase of 2.1 percent in the size of the audience for online video year-over-year, which is expected at this high level of market penetration.

However, the number of online content videos being watched is up 34.5 percent year-over-year, while the number of video ad views is up 195.6 percent over the same period. That’s makes the growth in video ads the big story this month.

Top Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed

With Americans viewing nearly 26.9 billion video ads in January 2014, where were they viewing?

According to comScore, the SpotXchange Video Ad Marketplace captured the top spot with 3.5 billion ad impressions in January. AOL came in second with 2.9 billion ads, followed by Google sites in third with 2.9 billion, Live Rail in fourth with 2.4 billion, and the BrightRoll Platform in fifth place with 2.3 billion.

By comparison, Americans viewed only 9.1 billion video ads in January 2013, with Google sites ranking first with 1.8 billion ads. BrightRoll Video Network came in second with 1.5 billion, followed by Hulu in third with 1.4 billion, Adap.tv (before it was acquired by AOL in August 2013) in fourth with 1.1 billion, and LiveRail.com in fifth place with 957 million.

Time spent watching video ads totaled 10 billion minutes, with AOL delivering the highest duration of video ads at nearly 1.3 billion minutes. Video ads reached 52.6 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 165 times during the month.

By comparison, time spent watching video ads totaled 3.5 billion minutes in January 2013, with BrightRoll Video Network delivering the highest duration of video ads at 849 million minutes. Video ads reached more than 50 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 58 times during the month.

So, SpotXchange has won the gold medal in the fierce competition among video ad properties almost as unexpectedly as Mikaela Shiffrin did in the slalom during the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

SpotXchange Backstory and Secret to Success

SpotXchangeWhat is SpotXchange’s backstory? And, more importantly, what is the secret to its success?

SpotXchange was originally founded as a division of the search engine marketing technologies and services company, Booyah Networks. In March 2007, Booyah spun off SpotXchange to form a separate company focused on digital video advertising technology.

In 2009, SpotXchange launched the industry’s first advanced targeting tools to help advertisers reach their audiences and continued to hire the team and expand nationally. In 2010, SpotXchange launched its real-time bidding solution, which helps companies tailor their bids on an impression-by-impression basis when bidding on in-stream and in-banner video ad inventory made available through SpotXchange’s auction-based marketplace.

In January 2014, SpotXchange announced its financial results for 2013 and several milestones. Comparing year-over-year growth, SpotXchange saw revenue grow by 70 percent in Q4, and 184 percent in December. In addition, the company reported programmatic revenue accounted for 46 percent of overall revenue, and reached an all-time high in December 2013, accounting for 57 percent of revenue that month, four times higher than programmatic revenue in December 2012.

SpotXchange also provided guidance on the company’s record-breaking numbers across its global video advertising marketplace and platform for premium publishers:

  • Mobile represented the fastest growing segment in the business, having served roughly 1 billion mobile video impression opportunities to programmatic buyers worldwide in Q4.
  • Video ad bid requests jumped from 1 million/minute in December 2012 to 3.5 million/minute in December 2013.
  • Global reach went from 86 million visitors in January 2013 to 291 million visitors in December 2013, according to Quantcast.
  • Daily global uniques increased to over 20 million/day in December 2013 vs. 5 million/day in December 2012.
  • Video ad auctions jumped to 500 million/day (peaking at 1 billion/day) in December 2013 vs. 150 million/day in December 2012.

“SpotXchange is looking forward to an explosive 2014 as we cement our position as the industry’s most comprehensive video advertising platform, including superior ad serving capabilities and the best control and transparency available,” Mike Shehan, CEO of SpotXchange, said in a press release. “Our partners consistently report that SpotXchange is a top source for programmatic video advertising inventory and we’re proud that our publisher customers are seeing significant jumps in revenue from using our technology. We’re excited to continue this momentum by providing increased liquidity and efficiency for both sides of the ecosystem.”

At the same time, the company also uploaded “SpotXchange 101 – a closer look at working with us“, which shares the secret to its success.

Top Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers

In other news, comScore also reported that Google sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube, ranked as the top online video content property in January 2014 with 157.6 million unique viewers. Facebook ranked second with 84.9 million viewers, followed by AOL in third with 60.6 million, NDN in fourth with 51.4 million, and Yahoo sites in fifth with 44.9 million. Nearly 48.7 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google sites generating the highest number at 12.6 billion, followed by Facebook with 5 billion, and AOL with 1.2 billion.

By comparison, Google/YouTube ranked as the top online video content property in January 2013 with 150 million unique viewers, followed by Facebook with 57 million, VEVO with 50.1 million, NDN with 49.1 million, and Yahoo sites with 43.7 million. Nearly 36.2 billion video content views occurred during that month, with Google sites generating the highest number at 12.3 billion and Facebook reaching an all-time high with more than 425 million.

So, as Search Engine Watch has already reported, AOL has climbed into the top 5 video content properties, while VEVO has dropped back in the rankings.

Top YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers

The January 2014 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channel VEVO maintained the top position in the ranking with 36.1 million viewers. ZEFR (formerly MovieClips) climbed into the second spot with 31.4 million unique viewers, followed by Fullscreen with 26.4 million, Maker Studios with 25.8 million, and Warner Music with 22.6 million.

By comparison, the January 2013 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channel VEVO maintained the top position in the ranking with 48.9 million viewers. Fullscreen held on to the second position with 35.4 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios with 34.8 million, Warner Music with 25.9 million, and ZEFR with 25.6 million.

So, ZEFR has improved its ranking in the past year, but the top five YouTube Partner Channels has remained unchanged.

It’s worth noting that ZEFR recently released an eBook, “Beyond Reviews: The 12 Types of Videos Already Influencing Your Customers.” It reveals, among other things, that “53 percent of shoppers are influenced by YouTube.”

What types of videos do they watch? Here’s a quick look at three of the 12 different video styles and/or genres related to products that exist on YouTube.

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