Online Video Ad Format Experimentation

Many, if not most, of the big Web video publishers are experimenting with a variety of ad formats. Everyone is familiar with pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll. These early ad formats have been essential in bridging the comfort gap for mainstream advertisers between traditional TV spots and digital video.

Some of the uniquely digital formats that have been utilized in the past few years are overlays and companion units, of which many are rich media ads. One video publisher has found through its analysis that the more interactive the unit, the better it is perceived by viewers. Complex games with multiple elements perform better than simple games. Simple games perform better than rich-media but non-playable ad units, which are in turn better than static display ad units.

The stories highlighting Hulu's efforts to allow consumers to choose their advertising are exciting. Think "Choose Your Own Adventure Books" in the 80s. What Media Contacts has confirmed with our own research is that there is no single bucket of viewers and their perception of online video ads. Allowing viewers to choose among different spots is nice. What's better is
being allowed to choose between a 3-minute trailer with uninterrupted programming and a show with a few short commercial interruptions.

Online shows have brought back (and in most cases, features prominently) the single-advertiser sponsorship.

Upcoming blogs: Viewer research, Distribution model challenges

Online Video Equals...

Online video might well be equated with user-generated content. Now the next generation of online video is professionally produced content, driven primarily by the massive wave of first-run television content being made available on the Web.

Hence,
Online Video 1.0 = Web 2.0
Online Video 2.0 = Web 1.0