After an uncharacteristically quaky second quarter that led TubeMogul to lower its guidance amid mobile measurability challenges, market dynamics may be on the upswing.
TubeMogul’s total Q3 revenue reached $56.1 million, up 21% year over year, despite a slow ramp-up in mobile video demand due to what the company claimed was a lack of comprehensive third-party measurement on mobile.
“Brand advertisers are still hesitant to purchase mobile video at scale without independent third-party measurement,” TubeMogul CEO Brett Wilson said Wednesday during the company’s Q3 earnings call.
But with rising demand for more accountability in mobile ad viewability and the Media Rating Council issuing formal mobile viewability guidance this summer, TubeMogul is optimistic that mobile will reach greater parity with desktop supply.
Wilson cited substantial growth in mobile in-app video due to an increasing number of mobile exchanges and suppliers installing the Moat SDK in the last three months and support for VPAID JavaScript, the line of code enabling mobile video viewability measurement.
As a result, the mobile video measurement factor may become less pronounced within the next couple of months.
Although TubeMogul used to be predominantly focus on desktop pre-roll video, over the last couple of years it has diversified its media mix substantially.
Around the time of its 2014 IPO, only 5% of advertiser spend came from non-desktop video formats. Now, 49% of advertiser spend is derived from mobile, social, display and programmatic TV.
The company believes that shift indicates more agencies and brand buyers are consolidating their media planning tools amid new sell-side convergence.
“We saw clients [wanted] a display product that delivered performance, but without sacrificing the brand safety metrics [they were used to with video],” Wilson said. “We began to see advertisers consolidate more of their spend through our software.”
TubeMogul’s client demand for harder performance-based metrics continues to spur new product development, including an attribution tool dubbed Ad Swap, which lets marketers run conversion lift tests using each other’s campaigns as placebos.
Also, in Q3, total advertiser spend reached $138.3 million, a 34% increase YoY. Advertiser spend from “platform direct,” or self-serve clients, grew 38% YoY to represent 75% of total spend on TubeMogul.
