Dentsu Says Advertisers Are Underinvesting in Video for Brand Building

Why It Matters

The findings give advertisers a data‑backed reason to shift brand spend toward digital video, promising long‑term sales lift while preserving reach, and they pressure broadcasters to innovate beyond traditional TV formats.

Key Takeaways

• Digital video can lift sales 1‑5% per exposure over three years
• Connected TV matches linear TV in brand‑building effectiveness
• Attention beyond 20 seconds adds little incremental brand impact
• Advertisers still favor linear TV for major brand pushes
• Research urges marketers to allocate more budget to digital video

Pulse Analysis

The advertising landscape is at a crossroads as brands grapple with the legacy perception that linear television is the sole conduit for long‑term brand equity. Dentsu’s newly released "Brand Reset" study challenges that dogma by quantifying the contribution of digital video—including short‑form and connected TV—to sustained sales lift. The research estimates a single video impression can generate a 1‑5 percent sales increase over the next three years, a figure that rivals traditional TV’s multi‑year impact. By grounding these insights in attention‑economy data, Dentsu provides a data‑driven counterpoint to the performance‑first bias that dominates many media budgets today.

The study’s attention analysis reveals a diminishing return after the 20‑second mark, suggesting that longer TV spots are not inherently superior to concise online videos. This nuance reshapes how planners think about creative length: a well‑crafted 15‑second digital ad can achieve comparable brand recall to a 30‑second broadcast spot if it captures sufficient viewer focus. Moreover, connected TV performed on par with linear TV, confirming that the convergence of streaming platforms and traditional broadcast does not dilute brand‑building potency. These findings give agencies a metric‑based framework to justify shifting a slice of brand spend toward programmatic video inventory.

For marketers, the practical takeaway is clear: rebalancing budgets to include more digital video can unlock multi‑year growth without sacrificing reach. Brands that continue to rely exclusively on linear TV risk missing out on the efficiency gains and granular audience targeting that programmatic ecosystems provide. As advertisers internalize Dentsu’s evidence, we can expect a gradual reallocation of spend toward connected and short‑form video, prompting broadcasters to innovate ad formats and measurement tools. Ultimately, the shift reinforces the industry’s move toward a hybrid model where performance and brand objectives coexist, driven by attention‑focused creative.