The Skinny On Pool's First Dip: Users Want To Pick Their Own Pre-Roll

After 16 months of testing, more than 230,000 hours of analysis and untold sums of research funding, VivaKi's so-called Pool made its first splash this morning, unveiling its long-awaited "model of the future" for online video advertising. Its breakthrough finding: That consumers like to select the videos they watch.

The winning format, dubbed "The Ad Selector," was conceived by Hulu, and allows users to choose which ad they watch prior to viewing online video content.

While VivaKi's breakthrough sounds like a basic variation on the industry's standard, but highly detested pre-roll advertising unit, Tracey Scheppach, the VivaKi executive who oversaw the initiative, stated, "The Pool demonstrates the power of industry collaboration to identify more efficient solutions and more effective ways to interact with people."

That collaboration, VivaKi said, included some big Publicis clients, such as Allstate, Applebee's, Capital One and Nestlé Purina PetCare, as well as big online publishers like AOL, BBE, CBS Interactive, Discovery Communications, Hulu, Microsoft Advertising and Yahoo, but it did not include rival advertising agencies, or marketers that are not part of Publicis client roster.

Moreover, executives familiar with the Pool approach, have said that VivaKi charged the publishers hefty sums to participate in the project.

Detailed findings were not disclosed his morning, but VivaKi said they would be presented publicly at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Leadership Conference this month in Carlsbad, CA.

The Pool said it selected Hulu's format after evaluating "43 unique executions" utilizing 29 distinct advertising models that were exposed to more than 25 million consumers.

Research partners Alternate Routes, comScore, Knowledge Networks and VINDICO contributed qualitative, quantitative and field trial results.

MEDIA magazine recently named Hulu its "Media Supplier of the Year" because of its innovative and industry-leading role in helping to develop a professional online video advertising marketplace.

1 comment about "The Skinny On Pool's First Dip: Users Want To Pick Their Own Pre-Roll".
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  1. Andrew Ettinger, February 4, 2010 at 10:29 a.m.

    Seriously? This is the big finding? Am I candid camera?

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