Big advertisers need reach in their online video media buys, and instant messaging ad units could be the best way to get on audiences' radar screens.

At a recent event in New York about video advertising, Jeff Minsky, director of digital Media at OMD, summed up the close relationship between big brands and reach when he said, "We represent very large brands, we target a very large numbers of folks. It's a million to 2 million uniques. That's where it starts."

If the floor for big brands is 1-2 million unique users, where's the ceiling?

It very well could be in instant messaging applications. The leading IM applications share an overall audience of 53.8 million unique users, according to data from Nielsen//NetRatings (NetView, U.S. Home and Work, June 2007). The data break audiences down by application, with MSN at 24.4 million unique users, AOL at 22.3 million unique users and Yahoo! at 20.4 million unique users. Taking into account an overlap of users among services, that’s a whopping 33.7 percent of the internet population that can be reached via an IM application.

If you are part of the crowd gravitating to the shiny new messenger services boasting the fastest growth rates, you might not have noticed the arrival of video ads in IM applications. Instant messaging leaders AOL, Yahoo! and MSN have effectively monetized their applications with custom ad units. Younger services like Meebo, IMVU and Google Talk are only recently crossing the threshold into the minimum reach territory. However, with Nielsen//NetRatings reporting growth rates ranging from 149 percent (Google Talk) to 354 percent (Meebo), the time is near for IM providers to start thinking about going the route of today’s IM leaders.

For advertisers, the time is now to take advantage of the ad units being offered by these major portals. AOL Buddy List, Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live Messenger each offer ad units that are variations of a custom rich media expanding ad. In the initial state, the ad units display a small rectangle (either 120x90 or 234x60 depending on the IM client). Upon mouseover, the ad units expand to a 300x250 panel. In the expanded state, advertisers have a pallet large enough to deliver their message in rich media or video.

In the example shown here, New Line Cinema (working with their agency, Carat Fusion) created an ad for the AOL Buddy List format for the September action film titled "Shoot 'Em Up," starring Clive Owen and Monica Bellucci. In the left image of an AOL buddy list, find the 120x90 animated gif that sits atop the buddy list. As the user rolls over the ad, it expands to broader, higher-impact video and user-selected audio (see right image). The user then has the option to click on the link bringing him to a trailer page. Instead of a typical buddy list ad, in which the ad sits statically until the user clicks on it, New Line’s ad offers multiple levels of interaction -- from static all the way to fully engaged.  

AOL, Yahoo! and MSN all support in-banner video in their IM ad units, which is where things get really interesting for media professionals. Today, to get broad reach on a video campaign, all media planners and buyers need to do is include one or more IM placements in the media buy. One IM placement gets an active reach of 12 to 15 percent. Add the other two into the mix for today's maximum active reach of 33.7 percent.

As another pro for advertisers, the medium comes packed with metrics. Like any in-banner rich media ad format, the metrics that can be tracked include impressions, clickthroughs, expansions, video midpoints, video completions, average video view time, mutes, replays and custom metrics.

Next time the IM client is open, mouse over the ad. You might just find it's the perfect place to get your target audience to chat with their friends about your new movie trailer or television preview.

Sally Cole is the senior product marketing manager for rich media and emerging at DoubleClick. Read full bio.