Video Advertising

The effectiveness of Online Video advertising over conventional TV advertising is very much in the news these days. There are a variety of reasons ascribed to this effectiveness.

In these series of articles, I am going to be discussing Video advertising for what it is, different types of video advertising and why Video advertising is more effective than TV advertising.

To discuss the basics, let’s first understand Video Advertising for what it is and its different shapes and forms.

Websites, especially news websites, routinely have fairly long video clips – either a news item, a discussion on a subject, a chat show – that the internet users can access and watch. This is an excellent opportunity for the advertiser to hit his target market.

Pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll

An online video clipping can plug in an advertisement –

Before the clipping begins – ‘Pre- Roll’

At some point during the video – ‘Mid-Roll’

At the end of the clipping – ‘Post-Roll’

Pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll ads are usually 15 – 30 seconds long and appear before, during or after a video clip. These formats are most commonly used, with the advertiser being able to get data on the user – who is watching the ad, where he/she is watching it etc..Having to view an ad before the clip they wish to see, is a put off for some viewers, however. It is also not interactive.

These types of ads are seen on different sites – msn, cnn, ndtv, ibnlive etc. Among the prominent advertisers who use this format is IBM.

Interactive

An interactive ad is a pre-roll, mid-roll or post-roll that offers some form of interaction – entering a post code, telephone number, playing a game. The ad may go on for more that 15 – 30 seconds, if the user interacts with it.

Overlay

An overlay is a text of graphic that appears at the bottom of the video. On clicking on the text, the user can often go to the advertiser website. This format is not alien to the user – the ticker running at the bottom of the TV screen is pretty common. Viewers can find overlay an irritant and often the view doesn’t recognize it for an ad.

Companion Ads

These are text, display or rich media ads that wrap around the actual video clipping. They come in different shapes and sizes and run along with the video clipping. The main objective of the companion ad is to offer continued advertiser visibility throughout the video clipping. Companion ads can be interactive, allowing the viewer to click thru’ which will result in expansion of the ad allowing the user to actively more interaction opportunities.

This is a bit of a background on different types of video ads. In my next submission, I’ll be discussing the hype and hoopla around video advertising and why it is considered more effective than TV advertising.