“The key to
successful video advertising is not thinking about it like TV advertising”
Marketers now have access to a new range of highly engaging video ad formats to harness the growing popularity of online video across different devices, courtesy of Exponential Interactive, the global provider of advertising intelligence and digital media solutions.
All three new units are perfected video ad formats that expand when a viewer interacts with them. ‘Blaze’ is an expandable ‘billboard’ video format, ‘Ad Engage’ expands within in-stream video players, and ‘Video Snackbar’ is an expandable ad for mobile devices.
The units come from Exponential’s video and mobile audience engagement divisions Firefly Video, Adotube and Appsnack, respectively.
“The key to successful video advertising is not thinking about it like TV advertising, which the industry seems intent on moving towards. In fact, these new units are what video advertising should have been if it hadn't been invented more than 50 years ago,” says Doug Conely, Exponential’s chief strategy officer.
“The aim is to get viewers to spend as much time as possible engaging with your brand but this isn’t possible if you think like TV. Firstly, it must be opt-in, then draw the viewer in gently, give them options and set their expectations. If you don’t do these, people will drop out quickly or won’t engage in the first place."
Firefly Video’s ‘Blaze’ is a billboard video format that expands in different stages – firstly to a full-size video then to a complete page takeover, depending on how the viewer interacts with it. Results have shown that viewers are far more likely to expand and spend more time interacting with content using Blaze than other Billboard display formats.
Adotube’s ‘Ad Engage’ is a pre-roll ad featuring a “peel-back” option enabling viewers to interact with the ad in different ways, such as accessing additional video and product information. Internal A/B testing revealed viewers are 20x more likely to expand this format than other interactive units and spend 50% longer with the brand than normal pre-roll ads.
Appsnack’s ‘Video Snackbar’ format for mobile devices enables advertisers to play a specific ‘teaser’ part of their video at the bottom of screens, which transitions to a full-page video ad if the viewer interacts with it.
Conely concludes: “The IAB revealed UK video advertising grew over 60% last year to £325 million¹ but it should really be growing faster than this. These improved formats should help accelerate it by helping advertisers to engage much more cleverly and successfully with consumers, whether it’s on PCs, tablets or mobiles.”
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