Why the Brain Likes Video
It’s a no-brainer why the average U.S. adult consumes 318 minutes of video content per day. The human brain is biologically wired to process visual information. The visual cortex – located in the brain's occipital lobe – receives, processes, and integrates visual data from the eyes nearly 60,000 times faster than text. Visual memory is encoded in the brain’s medial temporal lobe, where emotions are also processed, creating a powerful connection between what we see and how we feel.
Retention rates increase significantly when visuals are combined with other sensory inputs, such as audio. This rapid processing and storage capacity make video content particularly effective for creating lasting impressions and emotional connections. This is why we are living in the golden age of video – our brains are built to consume multi-modal stimuli.
The State of Video Consumption and Creation
According to reports by Synthesia and Statista, video accounts for over 82% of internet traffic, which makes sense, because there is a ton of it. Almost 4.5 terabytes of new video footage is uploaded daily, creating a highly competitive environment where content creators must capture and retain viewer attention amidst a sea of digital distractions. To put that into scale, if the average U.S. adult only consumed net new video content, they would get through 0.0002% of the content uploaded that day – it doesn’t include the pre-existing 17,000 years worth of video that is already out there.
Contextual Advertising and the Attention Economy
In addition to today’s wealth of video content, audiences are bombarded with an average of 4,000 ads daily, making it crucial for video advertising to capture attention – which is best done by utilizing contextual relevance and taking neurophysiologic immersion into account.
I often ask folks: would you target Ozzy Osbourne and King Charles the same way? They’re both 75, from the UK, wealthy and live in castles, but do they like the same things? If we are sticking with traditional behavioral targeting, we would target them the same way. Luckily, the alternative is contextual targeting, which relates the content to the ad – making the experience more personal and garner greater attention.
In studies where contextual ads are served, users experienced a 43% increase in neural engagement and there was a 33% increase in dwell time, showing that videos which generate high levels of neural engagement are more likely to hold viewers’ attention. Neuropsychological immersion is created through engaging stories and relevant content. The immersion increases viewing time and engagement, making it more likely that a viewer will see and pay attention to the ad content within – explaining the increased 73% in performance with contextually targeted ads, rather than behavioral targeting.
Leveraging Advanced Metadata: Intelligent Video Analytics
To thrive in the attention economy, publishers and content creators must adopt tools that analyze video content in real-time. Being able to value the performance on the content for advertisers is the next frontier for creators. Advanced metadata analysis, along with AI and computer vision technologies, enables content creators to understand and contextualize each frame of their videos. This level of insight creates strategic content positioning for advertisers; offering not just exposure, but alignment with precisely curated content that resonates with the audience.
Beyond product identification, AI technology can now identify mood, genre, sentiment, and tone at scale. When aggregated and correlated against attention metrics, this data reveals emerging trends in viewer behavior and psychology. Intelligent video analytics can drive deeper decision-making for advertisers and publishers, including:
- Moment-by-moment contextual data
- Matching audio category to content category
- Sentiment analysis
- Content and user behavior trends
The Future
Video taps into our neural network in the way that no other form of media can. By creating or sourcing quality content, publishers and media outlets can capitalize on three benefits:
- Loyal Viewership: Viewers are drawn to content and quickly subscribe/unsubscribe based on what’s streaming.
- Monetization Opportunities: Contextual targeting honors the viewer experience, while delivering breakthrough performance metrics.
- Owned Insights: In understanding existing content and its performance, predictive decisions can be made about future content
In prioritizing premium, trustworthy content and leveraging intelligent insights, the power returns to the content creators, as they capture sustained attention from their audience and are enabled to offer premium advertising inventory with unparalleled value through precise contextual targeting.
If you’re interested in exploring emerging in-video ad formats, or in contextual AI technology, you can reach out our Founder & CEO, Zack Rosenberg, at zack@qortex.ai, to learn more about how we’re approaching video advertising through the lens of science and technology. Zack also writes a weekly newsletter on AI & Advertising every Sunday.
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