Aug 22 2007
New ads for new media
Pre-roll ads annoy viewers. Contextual ads which appear on the web page beside the video don’t annoy viewers - they ignore them. This annoys advertisers.
In an effort to keep everyone happy Google has introduced overlay click-through ads to Youtube. Revenue will be shared with content creators.
YouTube’s new ads will appear as translucent, graphic overlays and animations on professionally produced videos, as well as some user-generated videos.
Compared to traditional advertising, YouTube product manager Shashi Seth said these ads had a higher response rate. Up to 75% of users watched the ad until the end.
Advertisers will be charged $20 per 1,000 views, regardless of whether the user clicks on the ad. Video owners can choose to decline specific ads or all ads, and will share part of the revenue with YouTube. via editorsweblog
As the model continues to show results expect to see a lot more content creators jumping onboard.
The real question is why did this take so long. A big part of the answer has to be that content creators/providers still have no simple or uniform method to measure audience participation.
With many online video distribution schemas a video registers as “watched” even if the viewer clicks out halfway through the pre-roll. The most compelling push towards mor effective ad strategies will be better metrics.
[BONUS LINKS] Contextual ads do not work: Banner Blindness: Old and New Findings from Jakob Nielsen.
Pre-roll ads are annoying - beet.tv
First this wasn’t Google’s idea. Video egg has been offering this for over a year. Second the idea that Google have come up with a way to keep everyone happy is absurd. As Nick Carr says “That’s like saying that being hit on the head once with a hammer is a pleasant experience because it’s not as bad as being hit on the head twice with a hammer”.
Videoclix were promoting their very sophisticated click through functionality back in 2000. The functionality has been built in to QT and flash for years. Video Egg are surely not claiming to have invented the technology?
The notion that embedded ads are just as annoying as pre-rolls will have to be tested by the market. My opinion is that Nick Carr is flat wrong in this instance.
. Google claim to have data to show that embedded ads do not cause viewers to click out of the video. Pre-roll ads do cause a lot of viewers to do just that! My experience supports this.
Web video is not TV or the movies. Before wasting my time with an ad, show me you have something worthwhile to offer. IMHO the same thing goes for elaborate introductions and long-winded establishing shots. They might be part of the movie/tv lexicon but they don’t work on the web.
Smart move by youtube, and not just for the obvious reason. This is going to give youtube contributors a real incentive to up the quality of their work and stop using copyrighted material. One thing we know for sure is that advertisers don’t want to be associated with low quality video or copyright violation.