• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, June 20, 2017

As marketers compete vigorously for consumers’ attention and more consumers engage in immersive video experiences including virtual reality (VR), Tremor Video on Tuesday launched 360 video ad units. Tremor said the ad units are designed for use on all screens — mobile and desktop — and will offer consumers greater control over their ad experiences.

The 360 units differ from the ad units that Tremor already offers because consumers are able to to pan around the video to view the content at different angles — up, down, left, right — all the way around for a 360-degree viewing experience.

Tremor said the new ad units will offer consumers an experience that is similar to VR without the need for a headset. To create the videos, advertisers can send their 360 video assets to Tremor and the company will run them as standard pre-roll with the ability to pan around, or add on interactive ad features such as galleries, where-to-buy buttons and sharing functions.

The company also said it will offer a service to manage all aspects of a brand’s creative vision, from concept to design, production, and testing. It will work with marketers to turn any 360-video assets into ad experiences.

The offering includes unrestricted video length, the ability to toggle between gyroscope and swipe modes on mobile, and compatibility with VR headsets and cardboard viewers.

“While Tremor Video has a history of creating interactive ads, we’ve never before offered advertisers the ability to use 360 video assets. Our ability to do this at scale is a differentiator from our past offerings and also a differentiator compared to custom 360 activations brands sometimes do directly with publishers,” Lauren Wiener, president, buyer platform, Tremor Video, told Digital News Daily via email. 

“Video is already an impactful medium, but now audiences are looking for more interesting and unique ad experiences,” Wiener said. She cited 360 video used by The New York Times’ Daily 360 as an example of a user-controlled experience.