• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, April 23, 2012

Nearly two-thirds of marketers say they consider online video as a complement to TV rather than a replacement for TV, while only 10% look at online video as a replacement, according to Adap.tv’s just-released state of the video industry report for the first quarter of 2012. Those are reassuring data points for the advertising business in general because they suggest that neither medium is cannibalizing ad dollars from the other, and that the two - online video and TV - can work together.

What’s more, nearly half of buyers say they plan TV and online video buys jointly, and another 25% say they’ll plan in tandem within the next twelve months. “That means that, within this buyer cohort, nearly three quarters (73 percent) of all online video buyers will be planning TV and interactive video together by 2013,” the report said.

About half of buyers say unified TV and online video metrics are “very important” to them. Keep an eye on developments that marry TV GRPs to online video and vice versa.

Among newer platforms, about 59% of online video buyers say they’ll add mobile video to the mix and 57% will add tablets this year. Smart TVs are hot too; 38% of buyers will add connected TV sets to their video media mix in the next 12 months, with ad spend on connected TVs projected to rise 20% in 2012 over the year before. “It could be precisely the yearning for metrics that unite television and interactive media that are pulling advertisers into connected television: something that looks like traditional television, but that has all the interactive proof-tests of online,” the study said.