Social media is defined as “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content to participate in social networking.” It’s a pretty general definition, but that’s because it has to be. The concept of social media rapidly evolves as new platforms pop up, and existing platforms find new and unexpected ways for people to connect with friends, families, influencers, celebrities, brands, and more.
With Nielsen estimating that U.S. adults spend 22% of their media time on social media, it’s no wonder that buyers are in hot pursuit. eMarketer estimates that $20.31 billion will be spent on social network advertising in 2017.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the different ad environments each of the top social platforms provide.
As these platforms offer different types of ad experiences, it’s not surprising then that they may have different ways of describing and measuring those experiences. For example, there are different definitions of what constitutes a video view. Pressboard and Buffer Social provide a comprehensive overview of what these platforms count as a video view.
Why does this matter? Billing. For example, one platform may charge only for videos that are 50% in view for at least 3 cumulative seconds, while another may simply charge for all impressions served.
To learn more about viewability across channels, environments, and formats, download our guide, Viewability: the essentials.
