Premium Online Video Advertising Requires Both Proper Content and Ad Execution

by Jeremy Helfand, Oct 24, 2011, 7:30 AM

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As audience demand for online video content and the channels and devices by which they view it continues to grow, advertisers are increasingly interested in leveraging video content and video advertising to promote their brands. The more advertising they place, the more advertisers become aware of the importance of the quality of that content, i.e. whether that content is considered “premium.”

They are also learning that as important as the quality of the content is the advertising experience accompanying that content. This has been an early pitfall of video advertising and one premium content owners, distributors and publishers are focused on addressing.
To emphasize this point, let’s examine both content quality and the ad experience around that content:

Content Quality

Video content includes the broadcast content we’ve all come to know and love. Broadcast content is generally defined as that traditionally found on television, such as prime time sitcoms, live events, or news -- either in short form or long form, or movies and other studio content.

Advertisers are able to access video inventory associated with this premium content directly from the official content site. It may also be available through third-party aggregators, such as YouTube, Hulu, Dailymotion and others.

One of the great advertising opportunities within broadcast content is the inherent brand value, making it valuable wherever it’s viewed, especially by a loyal audience. However, in the increasingly fragmented world of content distribution, the content experience and the audiences that follow it are becoming even more important.

The online video industry has also seen a surge in views of professionally produced, broadcast-quality, made-for-Web content, driving enormous opportunity in both short and long-form.

For advertisers, professionally produced content can provide both the quality needed for brand adjacency and the ability to deliver relevant advertising at scale. Often, professionally produced inventory is contextually relevant for specific target demographics, e.g. moms or males 18+, allowing brands to take advantage of this content experience.

This type of content is also finding loyal audiences, which makes advertising here relevant and impactful.  

Ad Execution: Premium Ad Experience

Considering the demand for broadcast and professionally produced content, you would think advertisers have an easy path to successful video advertising. However, with challenges around the definition of content quality along with cross-platform ad measurement and execution, advertisers run a risk if they plan around content without considering the ad experience as well.

Advertisers must recognize that content and the adjacent ad experience in which the video ad is shown are both essential.

Premium online video provides an even greater opportunity for advertisers when ad experience considerations are made: type of ad creative (in-stream pre-rolls vs. in-banner), on-page placement (above the fold vs. below the fold), user engagement (user-initiated vs. auto-initiated), sophistication of execution (i.e. collaborative use of both linear and non-linear formats in tandem), and unique device-centric approaches (desktop vs. tablet).

A recent example from one of our large studio advertiser customers demonstrated the importance of the above. Using a highly-engaging Innovid iRoll creative (a pre-roll unit) within premium video inventory, the campaign generated over a 5% engagement rate, 84% completion rate and users spent nearly 60 seconds interacting with the ad - spectacular results by any standard.

When connecting advertisers with the distribution of their preferred broadcast and professionally produced content, the right video partners will have the ad technology advertisers need to provide both premium content and premium ad execution on every campaign.

This combination will ensure content providers can maximize the value of their content and advertisers have peace of mind that their total campaign experience accurately reflects their brand.

While the industry continues to debate what constitutes “premium,” the good news is for those creating, publishing or distributing premium video, quality content has never been in higher demand.  However, advertisers need to become more educated on the tools and technologies employed by content providers to help them deliver premium video advertising experiences.

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