Great post Mark. We've been working with hundreds of clients on deploying and optimizing their video ads over the course of the past year or so. Definitely in banner video drives higher click to views than standard flash banner ads. The performance varies, e.g., bad content and weak messaging can't be saved by video alone, but generally is anyway from 5 to 8 times higher and in some cases greater. A few more points, on length of video, we have not found that one length is optimal. We've seen in banner video ads that are 2 plus minutes long receive 70% average view time. It really comes down to the message. How authentic and informative it is. High production value :15, from what I see, just may not be informative enough and too commercial. On your point about autoplay vs. click to play, similarly, results depend on many factors, not just the informative nature of the video ad but can the viewer get the point of the video ad without clicking, how compelling is the first thumbnail impression and, to your point, the play button. We've tested different color play buttons and found that yellow performs better than red, for example. Lots to consider as we see more and more advertisers move to leveraging video ads. My key point is that we have to dig deeper to understand what makes a particular video ad perform well, beyond play mode and :15 vs. :30 second. And the technology has to exist to enable advertisers to understand what really works...or doesn't.
Sankar Nagarajan
· 1 year ago
This is a great post.I also agree with some of the comments by Glenn Pingul of Mixpo.
Our Belief is while a number of Video player related parameters such as this (Play Button prominence,color,Thumbnail etc)does have an impact,In our belief,here are some of the crucial factors that may lead to higher effectiveness and CTRs
1) Where to deploy the Video Ads? a)Will it reach 50 publishers or 100 publisher sites?
b)Which are the publisher sites?Are they leading /popular ones?Do they attract a lot of traffic?
- A number of Video Ad services enabling companies are not transparent about this to Advertisers.This itself may have a telling impact on the efficacy of the ads.
c) How does one consider the importance of the 'content to delivery context" ie. with respect to the target sites that the Ad will reach? (E.g. It makes more sense for a property/Villa site to reach more property and news sites than generic video sharing or tech sites.
2) Careful consideration of where to position/embed the Video Ads in a website?
- Perhaps positioning to Player parameters related studies or statistics if any may reveall interesting user interactions and behaviours
3) Careful consideration of Video content (media strategy and planning) based on deployment demographics understanding.
4) Creating awareness of all the above things to an Advertiser by Video Ad service companies and Media agencies .
5) Adoption /Deployment of Best practises and Methodology by Online Service providers (like us) that brings the maximum value to advertisers.
Being Smarter
· 1 year ago
Having been in and around the video game for the last 10 years or so, I guess I've always been waiting for this moment - when video finally comes of age online. With bandwidth ubiquitous now - it's going to be about the quality and relevance of video creative now, as opposed to just using video for the sake of it.
Great find on the research - I've linked to this post on my blog.
Cheers
Webmoose
· 1 year ago
from my personal experience as a user,I find am attracted to a flash,video banner than the traditional banner ad.No wonder big businesses employ them with a higher degree with professionalism to defeat any tradtional competitors.The only we dont have as many professionals in the video banner ad design as is the case with traditional design with crams the market
Akash Pai
· 11 months ago
Hi Mark, can you point us to the DoubleClick report citing the CTR for video ad to be higher than banner ads?
All Comments
Our Belief is while a number of Video player related parameters such as this (Play Button prominence,color,Thumbnail etc)does have an impact,In our belief,here are some of the crucial factors that may lead to higher effectiveness and CTRs
1) Where to deploy the Video Ads?
a)Will it reach 50 publishers or 100 publisher sites?
b)Which are the publisher sites?Are they leading /popular ones?Do they attract a lot of traffic?
- A number of Video Ad services enabling companies are not transparent about this to Advertisers.This itself may have a telling impact on the efficacy of the ads.
c) How does one consider the importance of the 'content to delivery context" ie. with respect to the target sites that the Ad will reach? (E.g. It makes more sense for a property/Villa site to reach more property and news sites than generic video sharing or tech sites.
2) Careful consideration of where to position/embed the Video Ads in a website?
- Perhaps positioning to Player parameters related studies or statistics if any may reveall interesting user interactions and behaviours
3) Careful consideration of Video content (media strategy and planning) based on deployment demographics understanding.
4) Creating awareness of all the above things to an Advertiser by Video Ad service companies and Media agencies .
5) Adoption /Deployment of Best practises and Methodology by Online Service providers (like us) that brings the maximum value to advertisers.
Great find on the research - I've linked to this post on my blog.
Cheers