Video ad serving solutions are not one size fits all. ScanScout’s founder discusses the keys to seamless video integration.
Matching appropriate advertising with video content was probably the most important technological issue in 2007 for video advertising from both a brand and publisher perspective. Now that we are well into a new year, the latest technologies in video advertising and ad serving can recommend contextual advertising content to a given video with anywhere from 70 to 100 percent accuracy.
As for marketers and publishers who are concerned about advertising content, service providers now offer publishers feeds of safe, brand-only advertisements -- which is obviously great news for marketers.
Those who follow our video segment are finding the advancements in original animated video ad units and interactive video ad formats even more exciting. Some of you may have seen the presidential campaign video ads which end by offering a voter registration form. For marketers, there are hundreds of applications for this functionality alone.
However, as with all emerging technologies, video advertising suffers from publishers, service providers and technology companies not communicating effectively about technology requirements and the advantages of the video medium. Every publisher has different ad serving needs and few really understand what works for video. It’s vital that they keep communicating what works to advertisers.
What are the challenges to video advertising working with my site?
While all the advancements cited above are very exciting, what most publishers really want to know is how the ads will work with their site and how they can monetize it. One challenge publishers face is the vast differences in page-level coding. Most publishers are focused on page-level HTML and JavaScript. Other sites are entirely based on Flash and ActionScript. Some publishers do not accept third-party code in their video players, while others do because they prefer tighter integration.
In-page players are the most common way of embedding video in any webpage. Publishers and content providers favor in-page players because in-page is the least complicated way to display video on a website. It also offers users the added benefit of immediate video playback, and advertisers like in-page since the viewer/user never has to leave the page.
The most popular video player among publishers is the Flash player. Fewer publishers use the Windows Media, Real Player and the Quicktime players. But not all video ad serving solutions work well -- or work at all -- with all of these video players, confusing matters further for publishers. The key for all of these disparate publisher needs is technology partners and service providers that have both in-page and in-player integration options, enabling support for both AS2 versus AS3, and component versus dynamically loaded Flash files. This must be kept simple for advertisers and their agencies, which may provide files fitting only any one of these types.
Integration options mean video advertising for every platform
In-page video ad serving delivers ads directly to the web page and requires minimal ActionScript expertise, which also means it is easier to load, integrate and maintain. In-page video ad serving functionality works with all media players. In-page video ad serving tools are favored by publishers who want to integrate without dropping code into their player.
In addition to in-page ad serving, there is in-player ad serving. When users click on the in-player advertising icon, a video overlay displays within the ad unit, usually at the bottom. One of the benefits of this unit is seamless integration into the player. Best of all for advertisers, in-player technology does not disrupt website creative.
In-player ad serving technology also serves the needs of publishers who employ Flash players. This technology requires minimal coordination between webmasters and developers. Moreover, syndication is also easier with in-player technology. With the ability of online syndication to drive audience viewership without users being tied to one destination, having video advertising that works seamlessly with syndication will be all important in the future.
And as Mike Cassidy noted in his 2007 video status report, whether it is lack of education, oversight or cost, technology compliancy is one of the major hurdles for publishers serving video advertisements who can’t understand how to build their relationships with video advertisers. I would argue that for video to reach its full potential it is the service providers and technology partners that will need to accommodate a wider variety of publisher platforms. Publisher concerns about lack of inventory and inappropriate content become irrelevant when your technology doesn’t work on a site that advertisers want to utilize.
Seamless integration with a variety of platforms will lead to wider use of video as an online advertising medium. But the answer is not for publishers to bear the burden alone. Service providers need to become platform flexible. My prediction: Whether publishers choose in-player or in-page formats, look for new integration options that enable video advertising to be served in every platform by the end of this calendar year. That's what advertisers want -- so it follows that it's also what publishers and third parties will provide.
Steven Lee is co-founder and chief technology officer, ScanScout.