• April 16, 2012

Kia's Germany division is first in the water with a new cost-per-engagement pricing model for video advertising, via contextual advertising firm Vibrant Media.

The program involved contextual (in-text) ads for the auto brand directing viewers over to Kia Motors Germany's Facebook fan page. The effort, which ran for several weeks,  included an interactive element featuring a Facebook contest with a chance to win a weekend trip to uber-hip Euro ports of call like Prague, Amsterdam, and Paris.

Thorben Bockwoldt, media planner for Kia at Media Contacts Germany GmbH, said about a third of viewers watched the video content to the end. The engagement-based pricing model jettisons the traditional-media cost-per-impression basis which prices ads on what might be called a  horizontally paradigm -- on sheer volume of impressions -- versus a vertically one based on depth of engagement.

Vibrant, citing comScore 2012,  says it gets about 250 million unique users. Clients include Vodafone, BMW and AXE.