Marketers plan to increase ad spending on video created specifically for digital media by 50% this year to $4.5 million, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said in a new report Monday as the Digital Content NewFronts began.

Overall, original digital video content now accounts for 44% of a typical digital video budget, up from 41% when compared to the previous year, according to the report, which based its results on an online survey of 194 marketers and 166 agencies. The IAB organizes the official NewFronts schedule, which this year includes events this week and next from YouTube, Yahoo, AOL, The New York Times, Vice, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, Hulu and others.

Additionally, 68% of marketers and agency executives said they believe original digital video will become as important as original TV programming in the next three to five years, according to the study.

"Marketers and agencies are telling us they clearly see great value in original digital video programming," Anna Bager, senior VP and general manager of mobile, video at the IAB, said in a statement. "This study demonstrates that the NewFronts has the ability to move ad dollars."

Of those surveyed, 80% said their attendance at last year's NewFronts resulted in increased spending on original digital video content in the 12 months that followed, with 64% of buyers who mostly focus on TV saying they spent those extra dollars at the NewFronts itself and 49% of primarily digital buyers saying the same. The others spent more than they expected as a result of the NewFronts but later in the year, according to the report.

The research was conducted by Advertiser Perceptions, which surveyed executives online from March 14 to March 25, 2016. The executives needed to be involved in digital video or TV advertising decision making at a company responsible for more than $1 million in total ad spend in 2015.