The second annual State of the Video Industry Report, released by IAB Australia and Adap.tv, provides further evidence the medium is growing quickly.

Publishers are reporting increased revenue, higher fill rates and stronger yields, whilst advertisers are using increasingly sophisticated methods to deliver efficient outcomes.

The report surveyed more than 130 media professionals on both the buy and sell side of digital advertising.  It is compiled annually, mirroring similar Adap.tv partner studies in the US and UK, with a sample of over 800 marketing professionals globally.

The Australian report shows that, on top of an already strong market that grew 78 percent last financial year, buyers intend to increase their spend by 37 percent in the coming year. Most of the expenditure has been deflected from other channels, particularly free-to-air TV and print.

The scarcity of inventory is an issue that continues to concern buyers, something which Alice Manners, CEO of IAB Australia, describes as a nice problem to have: “Publishers tell us inventory levels have risen 42 percent in the last year, whilst fill rates have also increased. That shows the insatiable appetite for video content. We can expect inventory levels will continue to increase over the next few years, with particularly strong demand for long-form inventory and Australian content”.

Mitch Waters, Adap.tv’s managing director in Australia, says the report also highlights the increasing importance of data to drive purchase decisions, with 86 percent of agencies using data to target or verify audiences across their video buying decisions: “Programmatic trading is enabling buyers to develop an increasingly sophisticated and accountable approach to their buying, whilst giving publishers immediate intelligence on the sort of content that is in-demand and providing the highest yield”.

Other highlights from the report include:

• 84 percent of buyers still purchase direct from publishers, 66 percent through demand-side platforms and 38 percent through private marketplaces.
• Scarcity of inventory is most pronounced in long form content, with 88 percent of buyers indicating it was an issue.
• Nearly two thirds of publishers have seen their CPMs increase by 25 percent or more in the last 12 months.
• Sellers indicate that over one-fifth of their inventory is being purchased programmatically and over 60 percent are making their premium inventory available through these environments.
• 52 percent of publishers believe programmatic can assist with better merchandising of their inventory.
• Mobile video shows the strongest growth from last year with over 80 percent of buyers now purchasing mobile video inventory.