BrightRoll, the leading provider of online video advertising services, today released the results of its inaugural UK agency survey. BrightRoll has conducted the survey for the last three years in US, undertaking the first of what will be an annual report of the UK video advertising industry.  The 2011 UK Video Advertisers Report analyses information from 100 leading UK media buyers and advertising agency executives and shows growing confidence in the medium.

The BrightRoll survey shows 38% of respondents predict online video will represent the largest increase in digital media spend over the next year. When compared to US survey results, UK advertisers appear notably more confident than US advertisers, where only 28% expected to see the largest increase in advertising spending on online video.

The ability of online video to reach highly targeted audiences is a key selling point for advertisers, as 37% of respondents agree targeting remains one of the medium's most valuable aspects. However, differences in the UK and US remain: UK agency executives prefer demographic targeting, while US respondents placed a higher value on behavioural targeting. This difference could be attributed to the varying growth stages of online targeting technologies in the US versus the UK. An increased adoption of behavioural targeting practices may be seen in the UK as these technologies continue to develop.

Additional key findings from the report include:

• Ninety-six per cent of agency respondents agreed that research around the efficacy of online video provides value for clients, however, only 42 per cent reported conducting this type of research
• Respondents indicate that pre-roll is consistently more effective (87 per cent), has stronger engagement (83 per cent), and performs better (82 per cent) than its in-banner counterpart
• Forty-one per cent of advertisers feel that online video reach remains the most valuable aspect of the medium, while only 23 per cent of advertisers feel the same in the US
• Advertisers are most interested in basing their ad spend on the cost per impression - CPM metric (43 per cent), followed by cost per engagement - CPE (29 per cent) and cost per view - CPV (18 per cent)

Phil Cooper, European Managing Director of BrightRoll said, "We launched in UK, and recently German, to tap into the growing European market of online video; consumers are already engaged in this area.  This benchmark study will help us provide the service and opportunities in online video that brands need to take advantage of the medium."

"BrightRoll recently expanded its operations into the UK because we can see that it is an especially exciting and rapidly maturing market. The results of our first-ever UK survey emphatically support this belief," said BrightRoll CEO Tod Sacerdoti. "As with our previous US studies, our goal with this report is to contribute to the growing body of research that helps move the category forward by helping to identify what's working and what's not in digital video."

To download a full copy of the results, please visit: www.brightroll.co.uk/2011UKVideoAdvertisingReport