As sight sound motion expands to a seemingly endless array of emerging platforms, the challenge of defining engagement in a way that pleases all video buyers remains profound. According to the recent State of the Video Industry Report, the biggest surprise in cross-platform growth was connected TVs – up 20 percent from 2011. Furthermore, 39 percent of buyers say they will add smart TVs to their media plan within 12 months.

We will likely add a question to find out what accounts for this large jump in anticipation for the medium, though we suspect a large measure of it may be the rumored Apple TV. Conversely, 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.

Tags: ad budgets, ad spend, Apple TV, connected TV, research, video advertising