At Digital Hollywood's Media Summit this week, cable industry executives noted a few trends  and recent developments in video advertising. Here are four.

 

1. Multiple Screens. The most significant shift in consumer behavior has been the rise of second, third and fourth screen usage, according to Peter Naylor, evp, Digital Ad Sales, NBCU News Group. Most of the programmer’s shows have their own hashtags, and networks are increasing output of content derivative from the first screen. Social TV efforts are specifically designed to “reward live viewing of our 10-foot content,” he said. Time-shifted viewing is also more prevalent. As a result, advertisers increasingly want to know how consumers are behaving across these multiple screens.

 

2. Interactive Consumption. The Xbox is now used for entertainment 60% of the time, said Sara Clark, creative experiences director, Yarn, Microsoft Advertising, and consumers are looking to interact with that content, “rather than sitting back passively,” she said.

 

3. Mobile Video. Companies like comScore are increasingly measuring the habits of the multiplatform consumer—and that definitely includes mobile video viewing. According toAndrea Vollman, marketing director, comScore, Inc., the amount of times consumers viewed video on their mobile devices tripled last year. Moreover, the length of the content is shifting from short-form to long-form, said Nickhil Jakatdar, CEO & co-founder, Vuclip. He is now seeing consumers watch video for 30-40 minutes at a stretch. Gabriel Dorosz vp, Strategy, Designkitchen, believes this shift in behavior will effect the buyer media mix in the next 2-3 years. “Everyone’s online and mobile and watching video,” he said. “But brands and agencies are still not spending the money that they should to engage consumers.”

 

4. Targeted Advertising. According toJeff Siegel, svp, Worldwide Advertising, Rovi Corporation, the word “targeting” comes up almost immediately during conversations with advertisers. And top of mind is how those consumers behave. The company that both targets an audience effectively and fields accurate information on how that consumer interacts with the ads—for instance, if someone rejects an ad on one platform they shouldn’t be sent that ad again on a different platform—will be in prime position for success.