The most influential internet marketing publication, eMarketer projects that web video advertising will grow 89 percent this year to $775 million and is anticipated to rise to $3 billion by 2010. Web Video Report has done some digging and pulled together a great post about the various rate sheets of publications that offer web video advertising. What gives is that web advertising is a measureable form of media and thus far web video advertising response rates are all over the map.
What determines response rates is:
• Originality
• Immediacy
• Quality
• Stickiness
• Viral distribution
These vary greatly, and so do the results of measurements. The most powerful revenue model in web video advertising is though to be original video commercial placement in local search engines.
By combining the traditional advertising power of high-quality video with the interactive possibilities of the internet, web video advertising has the potential to offer businesses an exciting new way to reach customers. The question is: Will web video advertising ultimately provide at least as much value to traditional brand advertisers as they get from broadcast TV?
The Issues
A recent study by IBM, titled The End of Advertising as We Know It found that 40 percent of the 2,400 consumers and 80 advertising executives it surveyed found ads during an online video segment more annoying than any other format. I have talked to ad agency people (interactive and television) and everyone has a differing opinion right now, and often they are too busy fighting in house about who gets to monetize on-line videos (the traditional television side of the house or interactive). They believe that the future of video ads is not in the format but in the delivery of the message with each site/channel allowed to determine what works best for their viewers and advertisers. The whole “Web Video Advertising” industry is based on one thing, “What is the best/least way to upset a viewer’s experience”. The innovators that come up with new ways to monetize video will have the greatest chance of success. “Everyone is grappling with how to improve on the advertising model,” says Will Richmond, president of broadband video research firm Broadband Directions.
Marketwatch’s Bambi Francisco points out that despite web video’s meteoric rise, it still only accounts only “for roughly 2% of online advertising. Social media, online video and games are at early stages of development as advertising vehicles.
The State of Internet Video Publishing
Internet video publishing was one of the biggest trends of 2007. Internet users who watch online videos will rise from 72 percent today to 85 percent by 2010, predicts eMarketer, an online media research firm in New York. News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin anticipates a dramatic rise in Internet video advertising and thinks it “will maybe rival (Web) search as the fastest-growing area of advertising for the next several years. Combine this forecast with another data set released on Wednesday, from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which says that more than 70% of consumers who have broadband connections watch and download video online.” Richard Foan, managing director, ABCe, said: “Viewing content over the internet is becoming increasingly common with the major broadcasters launching online viewing platforms.
TV networks using Nielsen Online’s VideoCensus tool said the service marks a step forward in the field of Web video audience measurement, but they still would like to see a comprehensive system that can count viewers on the Internet. Research into the habits and mindsets of internet video users as they relate to online video, TV and advertising has revealed a wide disparity in viewing habits. Indeed, as computer screens, mobile phones and other devices offer what amounts to billboard space for display ads, video and tie-ins to Internet searches will multiply. With internet video exploding in popularity, business owners must decide if and how they should be adding video to their web sites.
As internet marketing moves from the experimental to the essential, online video is a powerful tool for a variety of different promotional applications:
• Client Testimonials
• Advertising Promotions
• New Product Descriptions
• New Service Introductions
• Press Briefings
• Company and CEO video blogs
The Internet Advertising Bureau’s Video Marketing Handbook details the explosion in popularity of online video and provides an overview of all the current opportunities for advertisers whilst offering an insight into the future of web video advertising.
The single most important thing is that the internet is becoming the central hub of most media and marketing campaigns. We’re using the internet as a source of entertainment, not just a utility, so I’m very confident in the predicted growth rate going forward. However, the biggest new places where consumers are flocking on the Web — social networking and video-sharing sites — are yielding advertising revenue slower than some Internet companies had hoped.
Publicis Groupe, the advertising conglomerate, and Google, the Internet giant are in a pact to jointly develop an approach to digital advertising that is both creative and technologically savvy. As Internet advertising is increasingly precisely targeted to meet consumers’ presumed desires, the trick for advertisers is to sniff out people’s interests and needs without riling their privacy defenses. Ad spending on the Internet is rising steadily while newspaper ad spending is declining. Almost everything on the Internet is fast becoming a moneymaking opportunity through advertising. ”If (Facebook) is not the Big Man on the Internet Campus yet, it’s the handsome frat guy everyone wants to know,” says Debra Aho Williamson, an online-advertising analyst at researcher eMarketer.
Online video has become the fastest-growing category of Internet ad spending in the past year, according to research firm eMarketer — so much so that advertisers now frequently complain about the shortage of video content worthy of sponsorship. To capitalize on this situation, Hollywood’s United Talent Agency and the Internet-based advertising agency Spot Runner have started a mini studio for digital entertainment from established actors, directors and others, the agencies said on Tuesday. These are the standard 15 second and 30 second pre-, post-, and mid-roll that the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) have officially sanctioned as IAB-compliant formats. The way advertisements will be placed on an active network such as the internet will be greatly improved to the mass broadcasting of today.
How To Market YOUR Video Ads
The introduction of new ad formats that lay on top of a video or link to other videos can increase your ad inventory, by layering ads throughout the length of the viewing experience, You need to grab some of the magic of your site, product, or service you promote, to offer the viewers something more than just an in your face marketing message.
New technologies are about to make web video marketing a feasible for marketers. As people become more comfortable with creating and distributing online video, web video marketing will become more of a norm than a “cool new thing.” Also on the radar, Pete Blackshaw’s Consumer Generated Media blog is rapping about buzz surrounding popular user-generated Super Bowl ads and how they fit into a “holistic marketing” approach. Unfortunately, the cost of producing an effective video ad, even of 15 or 30 seconds, can be prohibitive for small businesses. If you go with pre-made clips currently on offer from the likes of SpotRunner or AdItAll aim at a slightly offbeat, humorous approach to marketing that may or may not suit your message, with a focus on live action over motion graphics content in evidence. For more information you might want to check out Scott Kirsner’s excellent list of “sites that pay” or Robin Good’s own recent guide to monetization and marketing for web video. Video SEO and Video MarketingReelSEO features information on video search engine optimization and online video marketing.
In conclusion…
The single most important thing to remember is that the internet is becoming the central hub of most media and marketing campaigns. Web video advertising is projected to grow from $775 million to $3 billion by 2010. That’s the FASTEST of any medium on and off the web.
As computer screens, mobile phones and other devices offer what amounts to billboard space for display ads, video and tie-ins to Internet searches will multiply. If you can combine your traditional advertising with high-quality, viral interactive video, your internet video advertising will give you the means to make you more money than with any other medium.
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