Video ad gap widens as production surges

The data indicates that producing video does not necessarily translate into deploying it at scale.

Brands are producing video advertising at a significantly higher rate than they are distributing it, according to analysis of more than 300 brands by Bannerflow.

The findings suggest that as video production becomes more accessible, marketers are facing a greater challenge in deploying existing assets across relevant audiences and channels.

Analysis of anonymised data from brands active on the Bannerflow platform between 1 January and 31 August 2026 found that 78 percent produced video during the period, while only 46 percent served video impressions. The brands collectively produced 2.33 million creative assets, delivered 155.1 billion ad impressions and generated 166.8 million clicks.

Video production outpaces ad deployment

Video adoption was broad but represented a relatively small share of overall creative output. While 78 percent of brands produced at least some video, the format accounted for 10.5 percent of all assets created. Static creative represented the remaining 89.5 percent.

As creative teams gain greater access to video production capabilities, the ability to connect those assets with distribution and audience targeting is becoming increasingly important.

Sector performance varies across video campaigns

The analysis also found substantial differences in impressions and clicks across sectors. iGaming generated 76.1 percent of all impressions in the dataset but accounted for 63.8 percent of clicks. Travel, by contrast, generated 11.0 percent of clicks from 4.3 percent of impressions.

Telecom recorded a blended click-through rate of 0.208 percent, compared with the platform-wide rate of 0.108 percent. Video accounted for 24.1 percent of telecom impressions during the period.

Travel records highest click-through rate

Travel recorded the highest click-through rate at 0.274 percent, more than 2.5 times the platform-wide rate. Video represented 12.5 percent of travel impressions, while the sector accounted for 4.3 percent of total impressions and 11.0 percent of clicks.

Jamie Day, Head of Marketing and Lead Generation, Bannerflow: "Marketers have solved the first half of the video problem: making the assets. But production is not the same as adoption. If 78% of brands are producing video but only 46% are actually serving it, then output alone is no longer a meaningful measure of whether a video strategy is working."

Connecting creative and media workflows

Day also highlighted the need for closer coordination between creative production and media distribution, arguing that brands should plan deployment alongside asset creation and make greater use of existing video content.

Jamie Day: "The opportunity is to connect creative and media workflows more closely, plan distribution alongside production, and put existing video assets to work for the right audiences. Campaigns must also be assessed against their objective: broad-reach and high-intent campaigns do different jobs, so reach and click-through rate need to be interpreted in context."

www.bannerflow.com

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