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RSSA month later, AOL and PointRoll were credited by the trade press for their innovation in "developing the video ticker ad platform," but just as quickly dismissed by eWeek as "the latest alternative to pre-roll and overlaying ads that tick off users." One day, YouTube's use of so-called "lower third" ads is predicted to become industry status quo; the next day the blogs are calling these ads intrusive, unintuitive and stale. And the most recent contradicting report from Tremor Media shows, "Pre-roll is still hot... Twenty-seven percent of all video ad spend is in pre-roll, and we don't see that ratio moving dramatically to overlay technology or other alternatives."
What's a Web publisher to do when consumer behaviors indicate pre-rolls, overlays and other new ad formats are not producing the desired and promised CPMs, and it's still unclear what will achieve mass appeal? Many publishers have been led to believe they must deploy engineering resources to execute complex and expensive technology updates -- such as building custom applications for advertisers and modifying player technologies -- in order to deliver whatever new fly-by-night ad formats and styles of avails Madison Avenue has developed to entice their advertisers and consumers. This process is costly, time-consuming and does not guarantee results.
I believe it's not about gazing into a crystal ball to predict what ad format will produce the greatest CPMs. In an industry as exciting, creative and fast-moving as ours, it seems we are all becoming as distracted as the consumers we are trying to attract. But we need to remember the basic premise that advertising is communication of valuable information. And for it to be effective, we need to communicate the message multiple times in multiple ways; we especially need to recognize that every time the message needs to be a fresh exciting experience that engages and resonates with target customers, motivating them to take action. David Ogilvy once said, "What really convinces consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form."
I'll take Ogilvy's statement one step further and say this: Successful advertising in online video means combining the right ad avails, with the right experiences, at the right points in time. The winners will be publishers who recognize this will lead to returns for their advertisers -- and while the ad format is key to maintaining high consumer engagement levels, the "newness" shelf life of information and formats is miniscule. They must be able to change ad units and ad formats fast.
Working this quickly requires partnering with a technology provider who works with them to remove engineering obstacles -- such as separating engineering from ad sales so new advertising vehicles can be rapidly deployed outside of the engineering development cycle. Also, giving publishers the control to sell advertising against their video no matter where the content is being distributed across Internet sites and video platforms.
The revolution in video distribution and consumption is challenging networks, publishers and advertisers to find new monetization models. The ability to create, deploy, change, and incorporate any existing or new advertising format across all major video distribution points in minutes is the requirement to ensure engaging, effective and valuable advertising for a winning monetization strategy and advertiser offering.
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This is an exact match to Real Time Content's technology: we can deliver highly customised online video ads on demand, so we can immediately adjust the end-user/viewer's experience to make it better for each individual!
http://www.realtimecontent.com
For each content provider, the nature of how their users perceive video and the messages they are receiving is going to be different. There is no quick fix, there is no sure thing. We hear that overlays are the next big thing, only to find out they're not really all that great.
Pre roll, for some time to come, represents the best method of getting a return, and has to be the major point of focus for advertisers UNTIL something clearly better is available. We cannot afford to gamble on untried technologies and ideas. The promise of "behavioral targeting" remains elusive in practice. It is probably something useful for the larger sites (Google/Yahoo/MSN/AOL), but smaller niche sites have their behaviors baked in naturally, so behavioral targeting is really just redundant.
The future of the web isn't buying large numbers of cheap eyeballs. It's buying valuable space in highly concentrated spaces of loyal users - small sites with good content who cater to their users needs and desires regularly.
Large sites can make a change and claim it was mandated "by the users", when in fact it's more likely engendered by a focus group and management decision. Who's going to fight them? Smaller sites make decisions that coincide with their users' desires because it keeps them happy and coming back.
Smaller sites offer much more value, and regardless of how that message is provided (overlay, pre-roll, bottom third, etc.), as long as it fits within the comfort zone of the sites' users, the message will be seen and valued.
It's about the site and its users - not how the message is delivered.
Online Video ads are confusing to consumers, advertisers and publishers. This contributes to the ongoing malaise in ad rates earned against online video, in both short tail (“hits�) and long-tail. This includes consumer generated, which is most at risk of falling into an “enthusiast� category, not the juggernaut and revenue driver it was first imagined it would become.
We worry that absent some big shifts in publisher and advertiser behavior, even the “short tail� is destined to consolidate back up into just a handful of aggregators and re-distributors, leaving the rest of “online video� to the above-mentioned “enthusiast� category (also called “cottage industry�) and spelling and end to the “revolution� as we see it.
The vision of consumer control, ubiquitous content, egalitarianism of content creation, and support for both mainline media and new media living together, may be at risk. Why can’t Viacom, Disney, Fox, IAC, Hulu, Sony and TW all live together in a single consumer experience with FaceBook, MySpace, NextNewNetworks, Joost, Revver, Veoh, Bebo, Dailymotion, YouTube, et al?
My six-year old daughter thinks so. What’s wrong with the rest of us? Hold on a second: “Tag. Stop. Save. Rewind. Share. Take along. Mash-up. Skip. Subscribe. Favorite.“ Can we all really grasp the baseline control paradigm that today’s consumers desire?
We agree with you that it is the confluence of experience, timing/insert spot, and ad message. We call that “advertising at the point of relevance.� (SM)
The reasons the biggest publishers are taking a go-slow approach are obvious: -No Consumer switching costs: If Publishers get it “wrong,� consumers will surf elsewhere. -Lack of data: With so little inventory being made available it is difficult to sort out what is happening. How much can you learn from a pre, post and a single or even two mid-rolls? There are too many variables and not enough engagement data from consumers. -Consumer impatience is being confused with resistance to ads. With so many poorly placed spots and badly targeted messages, consumers justifiably get annoyed. We should have adequate information to do a better job of targeting and presenting relevant messages. As an industry we’re still a bit immature. -Impression Based ads suck: We all know that CPMs are the default while we get better at action-based (and revenue-tied) advertising matures in the online entertainment sector. However this does not help boost ad rates, as our advertiser community has come to expect accountability and ROI for “online� advertising. We need to catch up, fast.
Who will solve this mystery? Is it ad form? Length? Size? Frequency? In our opinion the firms to watch are Google, with their $1.65 bil “incentive� – and an unlimited budget to “figure it out� before their viewers surf elsewhere. Also look to VideoEgg, with their great portfolio of clients now experimenting using their new ad network (by the way, “tickers� from VideoEgg pre-dated other similar ad forms). We’d also look to some of the social networks, with their ability to gather preference and feedback data quickly from lots of members, if they could get out of their own way and make that data available to the resident apps that trigger the ads.
But it will be a bumpy ride for everyone this year. Even today there are huge and exciting distractions from CES and related content “candy� machines and systems. What “is possible� is not what “is optimal.� So we’ll have to let that shake out. Additionally, cable and satellite operators are finally progressing in their efforts to disintermediate the Networks’ online presence. Comcast.net for example, is slowly tooling up for full-on combat. Yahoo! is said to be looking for a full-on TV partner, and even Time Warner is playing nice with AT&T, who may end up calling the dance for everyone. Cisco and Microsoft can’t be counted out, as the opportunities are too large. This will play itself out in the boardrooms as stockholders push towards the “known� evil of the old distribution systems, upfronts, and lower payouts, instead of the increasingly chaotic, (wonderfully chaotic to us), and uncertain online entertainment business and ad model. Unless we help them.
For consumers, as long as they have to pay $30 to $75 + per month for “all� the content they desire – (receiving only a sliver of it, on others’ terms) --there is hope for “the revolution� to continue.
We’d like everyone to prosper in the post-revolution period, however. And it should not be so hard to do.
EyeTMedia, is one part of the solution. We help advertisers and publishers find and engage their consumers more effectively, using a suite of services tailored for each of them. Consumers gain control over their content, as well as over their advertising stream. Publishers get tools to manage their customers more effectively and defend their ad rates across all types of ads (including CPA). Advertisers get data they can believe, helping them target more effectively, and confidently present real ROI results to their organizations and clients. Content owners get fairly paid.
What’s wrong with the online video (and music video) advertising scene is not that consumers don’t want or won’t tolerate ads. To the contrary, they will welcome them (even request them) when, as you point out, they are relevant, presented in the right place and using the right messaging and communications options. This includes “save for later, skip and share� for the ads.
We’d like to invite everyone to join us in focusing first on the consumer, next on the advertiser/publisher duo. Only then will the ad rates surge, revenue flow, and consumers get excited. They do, after all, make our world go ‘round. It’s time we let them drive.
Let’s all declare 2008 the year of pro-sumer entertainment, online, offline, wireless and broadcast.
As we exit stealth mode, you will see EyeTMedia breaking old online ad rules, in favor of consumers having control. Instead of threatening the old guard, this drives success for both advertisers and publishers, and jumpstarts the process of true “pro-sumer� online entertainment, which we define as the confluence of -Content -Control, and -Community.
Keep up the great work.
“See� you online.
Matt Weeks CEO EyeTMedia 650-520-8808 mweeks@eyetmedia.com www.eyetmedia.com