Commentary

We Need More Ads! Someone Get Us More Ads!

Mars needs women, and the online video universe needs more ads. That was the startling opening salvo from yesterday's OMMA Video conference here in New York. Tania Yuki, comScore Director of Product Management, kicked us off with a stat that bowled most us over. While watching TV, up to a quarter of time spent is with ad media, when it comes to online video viewing, only 1% of our streaming time is spent with ads. To be sure, the way-unmonetizable inventory of low-quality user-gen media skews the averages. But even when you look at high-end "professionally produced" entertainment sites with TV content online, the share of time spent with ads only amounts to 8%. In other words TV is monetizing so much more effectively than the Web in part because it is leveraging much more inventory.

Web video needs more ads, and there is some evidence to suggest that the consumer can bear more ads here than we have led ourselves to believe. In comScore's user survey of people who watch TV content online, only 38% cited fewer ads as a primary reason to do so.

And by the way, the relative dearth of online ads (compared to TV) is not resulting in superior attentiveness to the ads people do see online. Many assume that the lean-in medium has superior engagement for ads than does TV. There are fewer distractions online. People don't leave the room during pre-roll commercial breaks, etc. Not necessarily true Yuki argued. It turns out that people don't pay closer attention to the ads online, and, in fact,  are slightly less likely to watch commercials online than they are on TV. I am not sure what mechanisms people use to avoid ads in the videos they watch, but I know my habit is to deliberately click away from short clips that have the audacity to throw a :30 in front of a 2 minute clip.

Yuki's point is that the Web audience can likely bear more ads and almost certainly needs to expand the ad load in order to realize the kinds of monetization it deserves. I agree, but I also think that in an interactive environment there is naturally more of a quid pro quo sensibility to video watching. I don't mind the pre-roll, but there has to be proportionality and a blend of formats. I already know which content providers tax me with pre-roll units that are way outsized for the video I am consuming and I avoid them or just work in another window while their familiar repurposed TV ad is running. I know other publishers who blend their ad units so that the pre-roll hits you on your first video viewing during a session but then overlays kick in on subsequent videos.

But I think a more meaningful and ultimately impactful ad load would combine frequency with brevity. Some of the most memorable ad campaigns I have seen approach subliminal advertising. They are five second or shorter pre- or mid-rolls that reiterate across several video viewings. The best mobile video ads I have seen for instance (also online) are the 7-second Windows 7 ads with fast-talkers touting a favorite feature of the new operating system. They made enough of them to rotate different creative to the viewer if he accessed multiple videos from the site.

Okay, go ahead and increase my ad load, but keep in mind users are doing their own back-of-the-envelope calculations on what share of their consciousness to give in exchange for that free video.

5 comments about "We Need More Ads! Someone Get Us More Ads!".
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  1. Eric Steckel from Turnpike Digital, June 16, 2010 at 2:50 p.m.

    This is great insight. Might I also add a point:

    Simply "repurposing" a TV ad is not sufficient to needs. If you plan to use the same creative for TV and Internet, it's most effective to think of them as two different final outputs from the very beginning. What you can say in :30 is going to be quite different than what you can say in :07 or :15, so don't think that you can simply re-edit. They can be part of an integrated campaign, but come up with a strategy where both media work to their strengths.

  2. Bill Hildebolt from Expo Communications, June 16, 2010 at 4:09 p.m.

    Didn't see the presentation but the juxtaposition of TV ad time vs. online was an interesting one that seemed to underplay the possibility that there's just way too many ads on TV. It's gotten so bad that I now find myself annoyed at the length of time it takes to fast forward through them all. That only 38% are shifting their behavior to avoid ads is surprisingly low...but its still a big number (how about if I said it this way: 40% of your consumers are fleeing to an inferior product because simply because you are showing too many ads)

    The answer for online lies in innovation not saturation.

  3. Mary Spio from Next Galaxy, June 16, 2010 at 5:16 p.m.

    We Need More Branded Content! Someone Get Us More Engaging Customer Experiences!
    While audiences are averse to advertising that interrupts their valuable ‘me’ time, they embrace content that offers them value. Well integrated branded video content consistently delivers high engagement no matter the target. I’m looking forward to seeing more brands creating impactful customer experiences and fewer interruptions. See www.gen2media.com/our-company.php for a slew of highly successful and impactful branded experiences.

  4. Mark Burrell from Tongal, June 16, 2010 at 5:44 p.m.

    More creative video ads? We say this every day.

  5. Corey Kronengold from NYIAX, June 17, 2010 at 9:51 a.m.

    Self serving comment, but appropriate to the story.

    At Innovid, we enable publishers to offer, and advertisers to deliver, a deeper, more engaging brand experience within the player environment, similar to a microsite.

    Our iRoll (interactive pre-roll, unrelated to Apple's iAd) enables advertisers to deliver a shorter pre-roll with the option for a user to opt-in to the deeper experience, or simply ignore it and get to your content after the pre-roll.

    Publishers keep their audiences on their pages rather than kicking them to a new page when they click on an ad. Our iRoll offers all of the rich media functionality of a multi-tabbed expandable banner or microsite and stays within the player. Its not just "repurposing" an ad, but leveraging your assets as the building blocks for a deeper brand experience.

    I'd also agree that we could definitely increase the overall ad load if we reduced the amount of time users are forced to spend with ads that aren't relevant or targeted. Shortening the length of the pre-roll by offering the user the option to opt-in for more info has proven to be tremendously successful for our advertisers.

    The industry at large also needs a wider variety of video ads in order to leverage the targeting capabilities available to us. Whats the point of using contextual and behavioral targeting if you are going to deliver the same ad to a 49 year old BMW driving exec as a 22 year old red-bull-and-vodka guzzling recent grad?

    Oh, and Steve -- multiple browser tabs are a great way to avoid an ad if you absolutely have to. Just sayin'.....

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