One Small Step for Video Ad Standards. One Giant Leap for Creators and Brands.
One of the factors that has limited the growth of online-video advertising is the production and traffic work. Mike Shields of Mediaweek reports that the Interactive Advertising Bureau this week introduced a set of guidelines to standartize online-video advertising and make the medium “easier for advertisers to buy.”
The new guidelines cover three basic forms of online video ad formats: linear ads — interruptive video spots which are typically of the pre-roll variety, non-linear ads — which include the increasingly popular ‘overlay’ ad units, and companion ads — bannerlike ads that appear alongside video as it plays on the Web.
The guidelines, writes Shields, are the product of work conducted by the IAB’s Digital Video Committee, which is composed of 145 leading media companies, including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. “This is a historic day,” IAB president and CEO Randall Rothenberg said, likening the announcement to a similar set of landmark guidelines put in place for banner advertising in the late 1990s. IAB senior vp David Doty said he thinks leadership and marketing, predicted “seismic shifts” would occur in the online ad business as a result of their adoption.
So while the viewer in me isn’t too excited to see the new “interruptive video spots,” the creator and marketer in me looks forward to the possibility that this may unlock some of the potential of this medium.
In related news, tech writer Leah Messinger writes about other sites beyond YouTube that offer advertising models brands can consider.
Fascinating. I wonder what kind of meat product they served at the banquet they no doubt held to celebrate the new guidelines. Perhaps spam?
Good one Sukatra! You know I’ve…(Please visit http://www.spam.com and be sure to visit the Spammobile link!)…always thought inlay ads were annoying!
:o)
Hi Nalts!!!
LOL, sukatra! Even though I hate “LOL”, I just had to throw that out there.
Glad to seeing you posting again, Nalts.
I find pretty much ANY ad intrusive. I am an ad person’s worst nightmare. I DVR everything so I don’t have to watch ads on TV. Any time I watch something live, I mute the commercials. When watching content on the Internet, I always have 2 windows open so I can click away from the ads that you can’t avoid (like linear ads, or the ads the stick in the middle of “The Office”). I know I don’t make your job any easier, Nalts, and I know that ads are what make non-cable TV free (I am not a cable subscriber), and allow networks to post TV shows on the Net for free, but most ads are so mind-numbingly boring or insulting to my intelligence that I strive to avoid them at all costs.
But that’s just me.
Good News for those content creators who get cut into the ad dollar. Many media companies will not buy media without some standards; now that the IAB has blessed some sizes media agencies will have one less barrier to cutting in people like yourself and may nof your readers
I don’t know what really works in advertising except what I saw on N@N on Bewitched, but if there is too much flash or the ads are too obstructive I’ll slide my browser over or shrink it; if I really want to watch the vid. Too much bling and I start back-buttoning. Note to partners with banner options: don’t make them animated next to your videos, they distract the viewer from your content.
Pre-rolls are tolerable, if you can mute the sound without stopping the stream. If they insist on streaming each time I watch without re-loading the page I’ll plug-in TIVO!
I still think they should pay content creators to make ads with an unintrusive banner on the side to click. If I’m willing to log-in and rate your video I’m willing to click an advert’s banner along with the stars. Of course that’s not proof I will buy what they are selling, but the point of advertising is to seep into my subconscious for a later date in hopes that I will blurt out the brand when engaging in casual conversation with other folks.
People buy products recommended by those they trust, or a familiar face, didn’t Mr Whipple prove that already?
Hey Kev, did the people at Kelloggs ever send you a case? If not they were fools!
Let’s hope they don’t “nof your readers.”
It’ll be very interesting to see if people tolerate videos being interrupted.
The preroll ads are similar to Tv ads…..entertaining,and after a while,annoying,but very effective!
What they really need is a player that plays your latest YouTube videos as a playlist and gives you a linear ad in between the first and second videos, and maybe hits you with another one 5-6 videos down the road (if none are skipped).
video
15 second spot
video
video
video
video
video
30 second spot
more videos
I find it very hard to believe people would get terribly pissed over that.
Hi,
I’m a web 2.0 entrepreneur from Israel and I believe I’ve formed a video content platform that supports the main concepts of this article and its feedbacks. I will be happy to receive your comments as well:
imcandy.com – video portal that pays creators
adRoyalties.com – video-ad builder for small businesses
Thanks,
T