February 27, The Westin Dubai

Rounding off the month, we participated in the second Breakfast Briefing of 2020 that focused on the power of video. Held at The Westin Dubai on February 27th, our Deputy GM, Nader Bitar, took part in the first panel of the morning, examining the most effective ways to measure video ads in this evolving media landscape.  

Joining Nader to discuss ‘Who’s Watching?’, Johannes Larcher of Digital Shahid, Brayden Ainzuain from Snapchat, Maram Aboueita from BPG MAX and Majd Abi Ali from VICE Media all set about debating who was sitting on the other side of the screen. 

From traditional television to interactive social media, the panel looked at different viewer demographics, the process from pre-planning to gathering meaningful results, and finally, what it takes to create a successful campaign in today’s disruptive climate.

Nader’s perspective focused on the move away from vanity metrics to how brands need to invest in emotional engagement and attention when it comes to measuring success. His argument was that an emotionally powerful ad creates brand favorability that can lead to a conversion, but that won’t happen instantly, which is why we should look at factors like dwell time as a way to build long-term sustainable value. 

The move away from cheap clicks is already happening, says Nader, as brands look to attention, affinity and action as better ways to determine success. Attention can be measured through viewability, dwell time and ad engagement. Affinity looks at how much the audience likes the content though measurement solutions like social listening and sentiment analysis, whilst Action focuses more traditional conversion tracking. 

Ultimately, the industry is still trying to figure out the best way to leverage video to provide a point of difference, and as consumer habits continue to change, there’s a good chance our KPIs will evolve with it. Stay tuned…