Worth the time: Co-founder at Blinc Digital Group and friend of State of the Screens, Brienna Pinnow details how Facebook is shifting its video ad strategy to fit into the upfronts.

Why this matters: If TV networks plan on invading Facebook’s territory (targeted advertising), then it makes sense for Facebook to return the favor (age/gender reach).

Core changes Facebook is making for the upfronts:
1) Premium content
2) Fixed/negotiated price
3) Age/gender targeting
4) Verification through Nielsen’s digital ad ratings

Facebook delivers brand safe video content to ≈ 100M users in the U.S.

Social video ad spending by year (% growth) according to eMarketer:
1) 2017 — $5.7B
2) 2018 — $8.2B (↑ 45%)
3) 2019 — $10.4B (↑ 26%)
4) 2020 — $12.5B (↑ 21%)
5) 2021 — $14.9B (↑ 19%)

Flashback #1: Video Swells to 25% of US Digital Ad Spending

Digital video ad revenue by year according to eMarketer (YoY growth):
1) 2018 — $27.8B (↑ 30%)
2) 2019 — $33.6B (↑ 21%)
3) 2020 — $40.1B (↑ 20%)
4) 2021 — $45.3B (↑ 13%)
5) 2022 — $50.6B (↑ 12%)

Flashback #2: Social Networks’ Video Ad Revenues Balloon

Social video = Facebook: Facebook currently accounts for 84% of social video ad spend and their share is growing!

Facebook share of social video ad spend:
1) 2017–84%
2) 2018–86%
3) 2019–88%
4) 2020–87%

Social video currently accounts for just under 1/3 of digital video ad spend.

Social share of digital video ad spend:
1) 2018–28%
2) 2019–29%
3) 2020–29%

TV still dominant: Add TV to the mix, and the share of total video ad spend for social drops to 8%.

Facebook share of total video ad spend:
1) 2018–7%
2) 2019–8%
3) 2020–9%

More: Social Media Use in 2018