Data-driven insights that show the ROI of video ads in PPC

Video has always remained a dominant force in digital marketing, captivating audiences and driving high rates of engagement. From the rise of short-form video to the effectiveness of personalized content, video is an indispensable tool in today’s PPC landscape.

Rates of usage are not looking to slow down any time soon, meaning not using videos in your PPC ads could mean your business becomes lost in the overcrowded world of static images. But often business owners can’t justify the initial expense and investment into video production, without the guarantee of a high ROI.

Hopefully after reading this blog, you will start to see how vital video ads are becoming in PPC, what video marketers currently think, and how users interact differently with video ads compared to static ads.

The numbers speak for themselves, so let’s get into the stats first, then discuss how you can get started with video ppc ads for your brand.

Stats about video online

Let’s first get to grips with the power of videos in general online. Whether it be social platforms, landing pages, video platforms, animation… video is being used everywhere and being seen by (mostly) everyone.

• 55% of all people active online watch videos every day
• 92% of all online users watch videos every week
• This equates to 17 hours of video watched per person, per week
• Over 1 billion hours of video content on YouTube is watched each day
• Online video content has a reach of 92% of the user population

(Source: Invideo, Wordstream, Insivia, Statista)

What do businesses creating video ads think?

If you’re one of the businesses that are yet to take that leap into video advertising in PPC, take a look at the stats below. Huge proportions of businesses have a positive outlook on video ads for PPC, for brand awareness, lead generation, conversions and more.

• 69% of businesses are currently investing in video ads
• 68% that don’t currently use video plan on starting to in the next 18 months
• According to Animoto, 92% of businesses are satisfied with the ROI of their video marketing
• 78% of Marketing Professionals Say Videos Helped Increase Sales
• 96% of marketers, the highest proportion in the past nine years, recognize video as a crucial component of their marketing strategy
• 24% of marketers already using video said they intended to increase their budget by 9% in 2024
• 71% of B2B marketers are using video marketing. 66% of B2C marketers are creating videos.
• 30% of marketers say video content plays a bigger role than their website does
• 15% of marketers who dont use video ads is because they don’t know where to start
• 39% of companies put it down to a lack of time
• 96% of marketers concur that videos play a pivotal role in enhancing user comprehension of their product or service
• This number has stayed above 95% since 2025

(Sources: Social Shepherd, Hubspot, Content Marketing, G2, )

What results does video advertising create?

You might be thinking, well what’s the difference in results that I could be seeing if I were to invest in video ads?

• 86% of businesses say video ads have helped to drive more website traffic
• 87% say it has generated more leads for their business
• Revenue on average grows 46% faster for businesses using video content and advertising
• Video advertising increases conversion rates by 34% compared to static or text-based ads

(Sources: Oberlo, WebFX)

What do users think of video ads

• 72% of consumers say they are more receptive to learning about products or brands if it’s in video form
•  89% of consumers wanted to see more video content from brands
• 65% of video viewers say YouTube is their preferred platform for watching video content
• More than 90% of people discover new brands on YouTube
• 55% of people use YouTube to help them make a purchase decision
• 75% of video watchers prefer vertical videos compared to horizontal
• Video quality impacts the levels of trust that 87% of consumers have for brands
• 54% of email subscribers prefer email that contain video content
• Viewers are 35% more likely to watch and continue watching a video that is personalised to them
• 65% of users skip video ads when they have the option to
• 95% of information is retained on average from a video, compared to only 10% of text-based content

(Source: Social Shepherd, Wyzowl, Invideo, WebFX

What content should video ads include?

To know how to make the most of your videos, you need to know what your audience needs from you first. Below are just a few ideas of what your video ads could include:

• How-to’s
• Thought leadership
• Screen recordings
• Explainer videos
• Product demos
• Testimonials
• User generated

What platforms offer video advertising?

Video ads are offered by both Bing and Google Ads, with key differences between the two.

Google Ads

Google ads is the biggest platform for video advertising due to their access to the YouTube network as well as serving through the display network and discovery ads. Ads can display in a number of formats based on your campaign goals, including bumper ads, skippable in-stream ads and non-skippable in-stream ads.

Microsoft Ads (Bing)

Microsoft ads allow video advertising through extensions to standard search ads (adding a preview to text ads) and through the Microsoft Audience Network showing on MSN, Outlook and Microsoft Edge. Although they provide lower reach than Google, B2B companies may have more success here due to the high number of business users on Bing.

How do I know if video ads are right for my business?

Video ads are a powerful tool for businesses to engage customers in a range of formats, but they work best in specific use cases.

Here’s when you should consider using them:

• To build brand awareness and reach a large audience
• To boost sales by retargeting warm traffic
• To educate customers and build trust
• To stand out in a saturated market

We would recommend avoiding video ads if:

• Your budget is small and you can’t afford video creation.
• Your primary goal is conversions (search ads would be a better solution in this scenario)
• Your sales cycle is short, urgent and impulse driven (for example, a locksmith service where users require an immediate solution)

Top Tips for high performing video ads

1. Goal Setting

Ensure your campaign goals align with your business goals if you are looking to drive awareness, then look to use campaign subtypes that support this, including efficient reach and non-skippable reach.

If you are looking to generate consideration, then utilise video views, target frequency and ad sequence campaign subtypes.

2. Audience targeting

Utilising audience targeting ensures you reach the right users at the right time. Take advantage of demographic groups, detailed demographics as well as using your own data segments and customer match lists to ensure your ads resonate with your audience.

3. Creative

Creative is the most important element of your video ads campaign, even with carefully curated audiences and correct bid strategies, if ads don’t resonate with your audience, the campaign won’t perform. Hook viewers with engaging content at the start of your ad and ensure you make the most of the medium by showcasing your product/service rather than telling users about it as you would with search ads.

4. Test & Optimise

Google isn’t a set and forget platform, ensure you are constantly testing and optimising your ads, whether it be through creative changes, audience changes or video ad formats.

How to measure the success of your video ads in PPC

Measuring the success of your video ads is dependent on the objectives of your campaign, whether it be sales, leads, traffic or awareness and consideration. Each goal requires tracking different key performance indicators to determine how effective your video ads are.

For sales, leads, and traffic driven campaigns, focus on metrics that gauge how well your content is encouraging potential customers to take action. This includes:

Conversions – Conversions are simply the volume of goals driven by your campaign. For lead generation businesses, this could be lead form fills, and for e-commerce businesses, the amount of purchases.

View Through Conversions – Similar to conversions, this is the volume of goals driven by your campaign. However, it only measures conversions that are recorded when users view (but don’t interact with) an ad and then convert later. This is determined by a period of time called a view-through conversion window. This metric will exclude conversions from people who have also interacted with any of your other ads to prevent double counting.

Conversion Rate – Conversion rate shows how often on average an ad interaction leads to a conversion. For video ads, an ad interaction includes users who have viewed at least 10 seconds or have clicked on your video. Conversion rate is then calculated by dividing conversions by ad interactions.

Cost per acquisition – Cost per action (CPA) measures how much you’re paying for each conversion generated by your video ad. This is calculated by dividing total ad spend by conversions.

ROAS – Return on ad spend (ROAS) measures how much revenue you generate for every pound spent on advertising, it’s most effective for e-commerce businesses where value is attributed to each conversion. It can still be beneficial for lead generation businesses if you can attribute conversion value to different stages of your lead life cycle. It’s calculated by dividing your conversion value (revenue) by ad spend.

If your objective is to generate brand awareness and consideration, then focus on softer metrics that show how well your ads resonate with your target audience. This could include:

Average Watch Time – This metric measures the average number of seconds someone watched your video per impression. It provides you insight into engagement levels and indicates how compelling your video content is, low watch times indicate poor video content or poor targeting.

Video Played To – Video played to shows the number of users who have watched your video past a percentage of the video length. This is broken down by 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. Similar to average watch time, this provides insight into the quality of your creative and your targeting, with videos that resonate well having higher figures in the upper brackets.

Engagement rate – Highlights the number of users who have interacted with your ad as a percentage of total users that have seen your ad (impressions).

Avg CPV – Average cost per view (Avg CPV) allows you to see the average cost for each user who viewed over 30 seconds of the video (for in-stream ads). It’s calculated by dividing the total ad spend by the total number of views.

Conclusion

Still wondering whether video ads might be right for you?

The stats clearly show an overwhelming majority of online users engaging with video content daily, and the positive outlook of businesses investing in video ads. Video ads are also generating increased website traffic, lead generation, and significantly higher conversion rates compared to static ads.

While initial investment and production concerns may seem off-putting, the overall data highlights that the benefits far outweigh the perceived challenges. However, to make video ads truly impactful, they must be built on a deep understanding of user preferences, leveraging the right platforms, and focusing on creative, and engaging content.

Want to know more about how PPC can help leverage your brand. Get in touch with us today.

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