Seven Tips for Maximizing Engagement with Online Video Ads

Online video has grown massively in the past two years to the point where it is no longer just "nice to have," and is instead a vital part of many brands' marketing strategies.

As people are becoming more comfortable watching video online, the power of video advertising is also growing.

To help brands take advantage of this opportunity, social web video platform Ebuzzing has put together seven tips for maximizing engagement with premium video advertising...

1. Keep branding discreet

People have an unconscious aversion to being persuaded, so they are more likely to be turned off by video content that includes huge corporate logos.

Rather than immediately going in for the hard sell and shouting the name of your brand, include logos discreetly.

2. Story matters most

With video advertising, engagement is key. You need your audience to feel involved enough with the content to keep them watching for the entire ad.

Therefore, marketers need to think more about the enjoyment a video offers to a viewer instead of how well it serves the brand.

While product managers may not agree, with online video the story matters more than the product.

3. Kick off with a bang

The window of opportunity for grabbing the consumer's attention is small, so video ads need to hook people within the first five seconds.

The best way to do this is by creating an emotional connection, so give them either joy or surprise. People get bored easily and long drawn-out stories can cause people to stop watching.

4. Build an emotional rollercoaster

Even if your video is quite short, your audience will quickly lose interest if the emotion is constant throughout the ad.

To maintain engagement, the video must briefly remove viewers' feelings of joy and surprise and then quickly restore them again.

5. Have multiple scenes

Having multiple scenes/mini stories is more effective than only having one or two.

Each scene should have its own dose of emotion -- great examples in practice are VW's The Force and Evian's Roller Babies.

6. Surprise but don't shock

While surprising the viewer will help keep them engaged with the ad, people won't share something that is too shocking or crude.

To give your content the best chance of gaining shares online, it needs to be something that people will be willing to have their name associated with.

7. Target people that are prone to sharing and have a voice

Social influencers are often the best people to target when it comes to distribution, as these people have extroverted and egocentric personalities on the social web and are most likely to share content.

(Source: David Moth, Econsultancy, 07/09/12) 

Top Digital Trends for 2012

A recent report from eMarketer lists trends and projections for digital usage and marketing for the rest of the year. Many of the trends have significant impact on broadcast television and other media, with the top trends revolving around mobile and online video.

The top tends for 2012 compared to the year before in the U.S.:

• Smartphone users will increase from 90 million to 107 million. Market penetration will reach 44% of mobile phone users.
• Adult ereader users will increase from 33 to 46 million. 24% of Internet users will use an ereader.
• Tablet users will grow from 34 to 55 million. Nearly one-out-of-four Internet users will use a tablet.
• Online video viewers will grow from 158 to 169 million with 71% of Internet users viewing online video
• Mobile video viewers will rise from 45 to 55 million. One-out-of-three online video viewers will watch on a mobile device.
• Online video ad spending will reach $3.1 billion, up from $2.2 billion.

According to eMarketer, video is the fastest-growing segment of online advertising, and for good reason. The amount of online and mobile video content is exploding, and most of this content is supported by some type of video spot -- typically an in-stream ad or overlay.

Further, non-video content is often supported by in-page video ads that expand when the user clicks on them. Video ads are considered more engaging and effective than static banners.

More Mobile Campaigns Embracing Video

The appetite for watching video on mobile devices continues to grow. New findings from Rhythm NewMedia show views of full-length TV episodes on smartphones and tablets jumped 200% during the second quarter. The rise of video on mobile devices extends to advertising as well, according to the latest monthly SMART report from mobile ad network Millennial Media.

Ad campaigns on the network that allowed users to watch a video after clicking on an ad increased 69% in July, making up 31% of all campaigns on phones and tablets. (Think movie trailers.) Along with downloading an app and signing up for a subscription, watching a video is now the top post-click action that advertisers try to entice consumers with.

Ad efforts that feature some type of social media activity as a call-to-action are also rapidly growing, increasing 34% in July to comprise nearly a quarter (24%) of campaigns. Entertainment, telecom, and CPG advertisers employed social tools in ads to drum up fans and followers on sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as gather feedback on movie releases and new product launches.

In light of the summer vacation season, the Millennial report spotlighted travel advertising trends. App downloads were by far the most popular call to action, turning up in 86% of travel campaigns.

That's because travel brands promote their apps as tools for researching and booking trips, hotels and flights during the busy summer season. When it comes to creating utility and m-commerce applications, the travel industry outpaces all others, according to the ad network.

Travel booking sites accounted for nearly half (47%) of campaigns, hotels and resorts, 21%, and amusement parks, 20%. The mix also included tourism, transit and cruise advertisers.

Looking at the ad-targeting approach across all campaigns, 56% aimed for broad reach and 44% used some type of targeting. In the latter case, two-thirds (67%) were tailored to local audiences, 25% demographically, and 8% according to user behavior. Helping to boost the use of local targeting were finance, retail and restaurant advertisers appealed to customers with a variety of regional promotions to increase foot traffic into their brick-and-mortar locations.

(Source: Online Media Daily, 09/09/11)

The Best Of Both Worlds: Making Online Video And TV Work Together

Many of my agency colleagues, already knee-deep in planning for 2012, have asked for advice on how to think about online video. What's interesting is that these inquiries are coming from both the digital and broadcast realm, highlighting the sea change that is upon us: the online and offline worlds are truly converging.  Video has become the nexus point for this merger, because in-stream video advertising is the primary focus of an audience's attention, much like TV, except with the targeting and interactive capabilities of rich-media display. The next logical step is to ask: How does one plan a video campaign taking into account TV investment and reach?

Think about aggregate GRPs. GRPs (gross rating points) are a divisive subject in the online video world, but despite what the pundits say, the currency of the TV world is not going anywhere anytime soon. This is why it's important to think about GRPs when planning a campaign, with certain caveats.
Consider your buy at total target audience and think about combined reach instead of looking at TV and Digital separately. Understand if you are getting the optimal reach for your target audience by working with video partners and platforms that give you the ability to consider both your video audience and TV audience with an unduplicated reach and frequency. When planning, always be wary of combining multiple datasets from multiple platforms. Pulling differently defined data points from more than one platform can give you a misread on your true reach and frequency.

Understand what you're purchasing. While the lower CPMs of in-banner and in-text video ads can be alluring, both the content and the audience behaviors are drastically different. This is why many publishers aggregate their videos to a separate video page within their portal.  Simply put, in-stream is the primary focus of the consumer. Due to banner blindness, in-banner inventory can drastically lose value depending on where it is placed. While it can be an inexpensive and useful means of increasing reach, you tend to get what you pay for.

Capitalize on creative formats that promote engagement. One of the major differences between in-stream video and traditional TV is the abundance of creative formats and interactive capabilities that drive engagement. Use these interactive techniques to enhance that 15- to 30-second spot. Data collected from these interactive capabilities can help you learn what audiences engage with -- and, more importantly, where you might find incremental "earned media." Using this data, apply display thinking to your in-stream campaigns.

Target, measure, & optimize. Use the tools of the Web to your advantage. Target, measure and optimize your buys according to your campaign objectives utilizing real-time data. Focus your targeting on in-stream video. Use retargeting as a complementary overlay to the stream, but always remember that content and context drive consumer engagement. Behaviors can differ drastically from in-page to in-stream. 

During your campaign, measure and optimize repeatedly. Make use of the various metrics and measuring tools including more advanced tools, such as in-stream surveys. Additionally, you should learn which audiences are engaging with your creative and those who are not, but be wary of placing too much significance on display metrics like CTR. Video is still primarily a branding vehicle, so invest more heavily where you see brand lift.

Respect the new medium. The most important aspect to remember when planning an in-stream campaign is that online video is neither simply an extension of TV nor Display. It is its own unique medium that deserves to be respected, studied and understood. Take note of the subtle and overt differences when you plan and use all of its capabilities to make your campaign truly succeed.

by Brian Mandelbaum , Thursday, August 4, 2011

As video advertising heats up, some radio companies turn to video.

No media is rebounding faster than the internet this year, with recent forecasts of revenue growth in the neighborhood of 13%-20%. While banner ads will remain second only to search for the foreseeable future, video continues to be the fastest-growing online ad format.

It’s projected to surpass classifieds and directories as the third biggest online advertising channel by 2013, with $4.2 billion in revenue, according to eMarketer. “Video advertising continues to attract new ad spending from brands because it generates greater audience attention than other digital ad formats,” eMarketer principal analyst David Hallerman says.

With video advertising heating up, radio brands offering robust video content have an opportunity to go beyond pre-roll ads and grab a larger slice of the marketplace. “Video is by far and away the top driver for websites, followed by pictures,” Digital Tribe founder Dave Presher says. “Radio websites should be all about videos and pictures, games, loyalty clubs, contesting and what music is playing and has played.” Lindahl says video advertising offers the greatest potential for media brands to grow revenue.

“The power of our local brands with expert product execution in our digital channels positions the industry to continue to grow revenue by offering our local advertisers these kinds of video solutions for their campaigns — that’s where the real opportunity lies,” Lindahl says.

INSIDERADIO.COM - Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Why Now Is The Time To Shift TV Ad Dollars To Online Video

The advertising industry's focus is dramatically shifting. Just a few years ago, ad buyer options were limited to print, mail, radio and TV advertising. Today, few campaigns can be considered even remotely relevant or complete if they don't include online, video, social, mobile and more. This is putting a lot of pressure on both advertisers and publishers to create successful online advertising campaigns and programs with measurable return on investment (ROI) and visibility into exactly where ads appear.  
Online video viewership is reaching new highs each month, presenting a perfect opportunity for media buyers to tap into the massive video audience. New research from Nielsen revealed that during April 2011, Americans streamed 14.7 billion videos, a record for the most streams in a month. In addition, non-premium video site YouTube's usage was at an all-time high in April 2011, with viewers watching 8.7 billion streams, up seven percent from the previous month. Yet most advertisers are still only comfortable buying the 10% of premium online ads that offer comprehensive data about their content.
Media buyers commonly believe that online videos can't be measured with traditional TV metrics such as Target Rating Point (TRP) and Gross Rating Point (GRP). Recently, new technology has emerged that can provide the same rating points and can also accurately determine the content of the video, offering a chance for ad buyers to take early advantage of the 90% of non-premium online video inventory, yet to be claimed.
 
Advertisers are also becoming more rigorous in how they target social or viral online video ads and are beginning to turn to more detailed data than audience impressions for measurement. Viral and social online videos often have a much higher niche audience engagement, with successful videos achieving several million views. This content is non-premium, and is therefore much more affordable to advertisers than expensive premium videos. Social media can also offer more detailed metrics than traditional TV advertising, such as how often an ad was passed along on social networking sites and social engagement including tweets, Facebook "likes" or comments.
 
In summary, ad media buyers have been reluctant to buy ad space for online videos as this content hasn't offered the same level of transparency. As a result, ads could potentially run alongside inappropriate or controversial videos, with potentially devastating results for the brand.
 
Now advertisers can have total clarity about online video content and total control through custom channels that allow them to select the exact online videos where they'd like to advertise. From specific subjects such as extreme sports or wine tasting, to exact channels such as ESPN and TNT, advertisers can now target their ads and engage audiences with the same precision for online video that they have with traditional TV spots.
 
A clear opportunity exists for innovative media buyers to shift ad dollars from TV to online video, and claim these devoted, loyal and highly focused online audiences first.

by Mike Sullivan , Wednesday, June 29, 2011