Digital video advertising
As technology improves and evolves, people are presented with new ways to consume content. From all of them, video seems to consistently top the charts. Busy, hectic and mobile lifestyles need formats that allow people to enjoy content and information on-the-move in more condensed and accessible ways than blocks of plain text. The popularity and appeal of video content in this regard is undeniable, meaning that video ads are well on their way to become the main character of online advertising in the coming years. According to the 2019 Video Advertising Spend Report from IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), digital ad video spend grew from $12.1 billion in 2017 and $14.2 billion in 2018, to $17.9 billion in 2019, an increase of 25% year over year. According to their 2020 report: “2020 has been one of the most challenging years for the advertising sector since the Great Recession of 2008. However, among all the paused and cancelled campaigns, digital video remains relatively stable, driven by Connected TV (CTV)*.”
Digital video advertising is the process of displaying promotional content either inside online videos or as standalone ads. According to IAB guidelines, there are three types of video ad formats: Linear video ads, these ads are presented before (pre-roll), in the middle of (mid-roll), or after (post-roll) the video content is consumed by the user, in very much the same way a TV commercial can play before, during or after the show you are watching; Non-linear video ads, these run concurrently with the video content so the users see the ad while viewing the content; and Companion ads, which are commonly text, display ads, rich media, or skins that wrap around the video experience.
Types of Digital video advertising on a website
At this point, we need to mention that these types of formats are also capable of displaying non-video ads and that the definitions are based on platforms like YouTube or websites where video is the main form of content. For the purposes of this post, and to better understand the classification, we will consider an article in a newspaper website with a video about the article’s topic. Not a YouTube video embedded in the article but an original video segment from the newspaper.
If the newspaper decides to place ads before, during or after the video, this linear video ad will be considered also “instream”, as the video advertisement is placed in correlation to the original content a consumer decided to watch, inside of the stream of the original video content. The main benefit of this type of video advertisement is that the viewer is already captivated, watching and listening. They are in the right mindset for consuming video content and if you’ve employed the proper targeting strategy, the advertisement should feel like a natural fit with the video subject matter.
Following the example, our newspaper could also offer non-linear ads that will typically blend on-page with the content. The user will be already actively consuming it and won’t realize that the video that loads between two paragraphs isn’t associated with the content they are engaged with. In this case, the proper targeting strategy is even more important. This video will be considered an “outstream” video ad, also referred to as ‘native video’, and will auto play in a large format player whenever a user navigates to it within, in this case, a news article. It’s a video ad that plays on-page and full-width after a user has read or scrolled to a certain point down the page. Our newspaper could even offer this type of ad for articles without video content, as the video ad will play blending in within the text content.
A “floating” video ad is a type of companion ad, that appears uninitiated, superimposed over a user-requested page, and disappears or becomes unobtrusive after a specific time period (typically 5-30 seconds). This is a very common type of ad for newspaper websites as it can be placed within and around text, it’s not invasive and gives the user the possibility of easily going back to it.
Going back to the IAB’s 2020 report, which includes statistics pre and post Covid-19, digital video ad spend remains relatively stable, with Connected TV has proved to be resilient during the global pandemic, taking share from traditional TV budgets. Average CTV spend for the year is expected to reach $16 million, an increase of 8% y/y. Amongst the challenges the advertising industry is currently facing, social distancing measures and filming restrictions in place due to the Covid-10 pandemic seem to be the bigger ones. Because many of the familiar options such as live interviews or films are now much more restricted, more brands are open to giving animation a try. Animated video commercials are a fantastic format that allows us to tell complex stories in a simple and engaging way. In a very dynamic industry, Samsa Videos is proud of being able to combine art and technology to reshape video advertising following the latest trends.
* Connected TV (CTV): any television or device that allows you to connect to the Internet and stream video content.
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Digital video advertising
