Video retargeting a digital media campaign can be a big waste of time and ad impressions, according to a new survey.  It is a better bet is to determine consumer “sentiment.”

Over half of all ad impressions could be wasted with traditional video retargeting, according to IPG’s media intelligence group, Magna; the IPG Media Lab; and ViralGains, a digital video ad-technology platform.

On average, 59% of ad impressions were wasted with standard video retargeting — which comes from responding just to exposure of an ad.

But “sentiment” — considering a viewer’s interest in the ad — yielded better results. Those ads were nearly three times more likely to cause consumers to search for the brand and two times more likely to visit the brand’s website.

Employing “sentiment-driven journeys” resulted in 85% of consumers agreeing that the ads were interesting, while 76% agreed the ads were relevant and 66% agreed the ads were informative.

To get these results, two video advertising efforts were tested among 6,000 consumers in the third quarter of 2018.

One group of consumers received a series of video ads based on sentiment — each viewer’s level of interest in the first video ad. This data was gathered immediately after the ad. The second group received a series of videos based on exposure only.

Advertising executives say wasteful, standard video retargeting can be fairly inexpensive, compared to other forms of advertising.

In addition, retargeted advertising can be at least 75% more likely to be clicked than traditional banner ads.