This week, AOL introduced two new ad formats for publishers: Out-Stream and
SideView.
Real-Time Daily caught up with Robert Leon, head of AOL publisher product commercialization and solutions, via email to find out more about the new ads.
Real-Time Daily: Adweek reported that AOL claims the ads will be "more viewable for advertisers and more user-friendly for consumers." Can you talk about those
points?
Leon: Viewability has been a challenge for publishers and advertisers alike. Consider that 60% of marketers are only "somewhat confident" in the viewability of their ads. With today’s Out-Stream and
SideView launch, we’re helping publishers increase viewability standards across their brands and properties, which will only drive greater results for the advertisers they partner with.
On the consumer side, Out-Stream and SideView are built to feel organic within the on-site experience. They’re not disruptive and don’t snap the consumer out of what they’re
reading or browsing. The ads are user-friendly and feel natural, even though they elevate viewability. Also, in the case of Out-stream, the path to content for consumers is more direct, with that
player only loading when actually in view. This eliminates load times for pages, as well as those moments when phantom audio and video play somewhere on a page, with a user not knowing where
it’s coming from.
RTD: How do these formats play into programmatic inventory?
Leon: With Out-Stream and SideView, publishers can choose to
sell programmatically or go direct sale with clients. They have flexibility here.
RTD: Could you describe the new ad formats and the industry feedback that led to
their development?
Leon: With spending on digital video advertising expected to hit nearly $7.5 billion this year, it is clear advertisers are continuing to put
video at the center of their digital media plans. Part of our goal with ONE by AOL: Publishers is to provide an end-to-end unified video activation platform that enables publishers to syndicate and
distribute premium content, create new inventory, increase viewability and drive revenue with responsive, cross-device and customizable video players.
For Out-Stream, the player lives in the body of the article and expands to reveal itself and starts playing only when over 50% of it is
visible on screen. It pauses when under this limit and will reinitiate if the 50% threshold is met again. At the end of playback, the player will automatically collapse and hide from view, keeping the
Web page experience nice and clean.
SideView is a new feature enhancement within ONE by AOL: Publishers’ in-line video player that allows a publisher’s audience to continue to
freely explore the page while maintaining contact with video content in a viewable, non-disruptive session.
As viewers scroll, the video automatically resizes and pins itself elegantly to the
side of your content at a location of your choosing, following the user yet never obstructing text. SideView maximizes viewability as video content remains on screen independent of audience behavior,
ensuring delivery for campaigns billed on viewability. Internal testing of the feature yielded an average viewability rate of 90%.
Here's a live
demo of the in-line player with SideView, and, today, SideView is now activated as a default across all video on AOL.com.