PadSquad: Blog: The PadSquad Perspective

New Research: Interactive Video Creates Untapped Opportunity for Brand Engagement

Written by Liz Cerrone | 6/10/25 7:45 PM

Interactive video advertising, positioned to capture a significant share of the $191 billion digital video advertising market, is transforming how brands engage audiences by turning passive viewers into active participants through shoppable elements, personalized content, and clickable features that drive measurable business outcomes.
To understand how brands and agencies are leveraging interactive video capabilities, Padsquad, in partnership with Digiday, surveyed 90 brand and agency respondents about their current video investments, performance outcomes, strategies for interactive video campaigns.

As traditional video formats lose effectiveness in an oversaturated media landscape, brands are seeking solutions that create participatory experiences and generate actionable insights. The study found that interactive video represents a critical opportunity for advertisers to transform passive viewers into active participants, creating deeper engagement and driving measurable business outcomes through shoppable, personalized, and clickable experiences.

"Interactive video fundamentally changes the relationship between brand and consumer by creating participatory experiences that generate measurable engagement and actionable insights.

– Lance Wolder, Head of Strategy, PadSquad

 

 

Key takeaways from the report include:

1. Video delivers proven business impact

80% of brands report increased brand awareness and 51% achieve higher conversion rates from their video advertising efforts.

2. Interactive adoption is accelerating

52% of respondents expect to include interactive features in at least 26% of their video ads in 2025, up dramatically from just 12% in 2024.

3. Shoppable formats lead the way

58% of brands currently use shoppable overlays and commerce integrations, followed by personalized dynamic creative (38%) and clickable hotspots (37%).

4. Open web presents untapped opportunity
While 76% of advertisers run pre-roll programmatically across the open web, only 16% invest significantly in this channel, representing a major monetization gap for cost-effective video advertising.

What does this mean for video budgets and interactive creative investments?

Find the answers in our latest State of Interactive Video report. This comprehensive study explores how brands and agencies are leveraging interactive video capabilities and the push for more measurable outcomes.