By Jake Hugo
Instream videos are the ads that you see before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll), and after (post-roll) streamed content like videos, animations, and in games. They can appear in live, downloadable, or as archived streaming content, and are generally between 5 and 15 seconds long. The popularity of instream video ads as an advertising medium has grown at a rapid rate, and they account for 35% of all digital advertising spend.
Video ads appeal to people because they are able to deliver a message that is multisensory and emotional. Videos trigger feeling and in so doing, elicit a response. This makes video ads extremely powerful as an advertising medium because they are able to turn the people viewing the ad into customers. Instream video ads are an excellent way of connecting with customers and potential customers as well as of stimulating brand loyalty.
You just have to look at the statistics of instream video ads to see what extraordinarily powerful medium video is.
- On YouTube, video consumption on mobile doubles every year.
- 90% of people who stream video say that they feel watching videos about a product or service assists them to make their decision.
- 64% of people are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video about that product.
- Almost all people using (over 90%) will share videos with family, friends, and community members;
- The conversion rate of websites which have video on their home page increases up to 20%.
You get skippable and non-skippable instream video ads. The non-skippable ads generally appear mid-roll. Skippable ads tend to be far more effective because the ad is not being forced on the user. They are given the choice as to whether they want to watch the ad or not. By giving the user the choice they tend to have a less negative attitude towards the ad and a higher tolerance for instream video ads.
Advertisers pay for the number of times an ad is viewed. This is called cost-per-view (CPV) and the rate charged is per complete view of the video ad. In order to increase the number of complete views of an ad, advertisers need to ensure that their video is captivating from the very first second.
Mid-roll ads have a higher completion rate than pre-roll or post-roll ads because the viewer is already engaged with the video they’re watching or the game they are playing and are more likely to let the ad run than they would be at the beginning of the video when they just want to get on with things and watch the video they’ve selected.
Instream video ads are content strategy heros and can be used to maintain or improve visibility and increase engagement. With good creative you can set your business or brand apart from the rest, as well as increase your rankings on the search engines. Video ads enable advertisers to engage with their customers in their preferred medium, video, which makes them critical to the success of your business.
