By Brian Fitzpatrick

The online video advertising sector has seen huge growth over the past year and overall industry opinion indicates that this will continue throughout 2012. In particular, we see this being fuelled by technology becoming ever more sophisticated, increased connections between the various players and better measurement techniques.

Research that we conducted in September 2011, which asked respondents to provide some forecasts for the year ahead, reinforces this opinion, with key predictions including:

• Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) and Sell Side Platforms (SSPs) will become increasingly important

• A greater emphasis on engagement (over click and completion)

• Increased buying through RTB environments or automated trading

• More opportunities and increased budget

• More social networking

• A significant increase in online video ad spend - it is the new multichannel TV

• Better targeting and more integration within buys

• Greater consistency of formats, ease of measuring

• A shift to mobile video

• Better measurement via Nielsen and other research organisations which will help to bring more spend

Adap.tv partnered with Digiday (www.digiday.com) in September 2011 to survey nearly 600 agency and brand advertisers, publishers and online video technology providers about their perceptions of the online video advertising industry.

About the author

Brian Fitzpatrick is European managing director of Adap.tv, the company that connects video advertising buyers and publishers directly on one platform. Previously Fitzpatrick was managing director for Europe at The MIG (Media Innovation Group), a WPP Digital company where he oversaw the enterprise from start-up to one of the industry’s most successful agency technology businesses. Previous positions include roles at Lycos Europe, GAME UK Ltd and Mediacom where he helped brands take their first steps in online advertising in 1997 when the medium was in its infancy.

About Adap.tv

Adap.tv builds the technology that makes buying and selling video advertising simple and efficient. The company’s products – Adap.tv for Advertisers, Adap.tv for Publishers and the Adap.tv Marketplace – work in harmony to connect video advertising buyers directly to sellers on a single platform. The Adap.tv Marketplace is the industry’s largest video marketplace for premium publishers and brand name advertisers, with over 6,500 sites selling inventory and hundreds of campaigns running daily. Based in San Mateo, CA and with sales offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and London, Adap.tv is privately held and backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Gemini Israel Funds, Redpoint Ventures and Spark Capital.

For more information, visit http://adap.tv/.