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Blinkx launches new online video ad format
Blinkx, a San Francisco-based online video ad company, has introduced a new ad format it developed in-house called the "un-roll." The ad unit provides a complete branded experience around professional content, including a branded video player and a branded "curtain," which announces the online video's sponsor while the video buffers.
Once the video begins to play, Blinkx's patented ad serving software AdHoc places contextually relevant overlay and interactive advertising points throughout the video. The video is followed by a call to action that contains links to the advertiser's site, which could bode very well for conversion rates for this format. Blinkx reported that Shell Oil and MediaCom were first adopters of the innovative ad strategy.
"Although click-through rates for pre-roll advertisements tend to be positive, some viewers are reluctant to watch 30 seconds of advertising for videos that sometimes last only one minute," Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO of blinkx, told MediaPost.
Blinkx reportedly tested about 40 variants of ad formats before selecting the "un-roll," which was chosen due to high interaction rates and low "annoyance factor" in testing scenarios.
The company reports click-through rates in the tests between 2 and 12 percent, and it said it hopes to maintain rates in the 3 to 5 percent range as it rolls out this format to other advertisers.
Highly targeted ad formats such as the "un-roll" should see significant traction in 2009. Targeted in-stream online video ad providers like KeyStream and white-label video providers have already begun experimenting with different levels of branding over content. We'll see which format reigns supreme as advertisers see the benefit of a more controlled, highly interactive ad experience. Such innovations are a crucial step in the optimal monetization of professional online video content.
For more:
- see the MediaPost article here
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Comments
Posted by Ian D. Miller | January 5, 2009 - 2:32pm
While I encourage creativity in finding new ways to monetize video, I don't think this ad product will get very far. First, it seems to begin playback of the video while the curtain is still being drawn back, which could conceal critical content. Second, the effect just feels a bit hokey, like something from the early web of the mid-90s. Thirdly, the brand gets destroyed a bit by "dividing" the graphic (the curtains) in two. It's a novel display, but I think a more plain, linear experience (what many are calling a pre-plate) of displaying a graphic (could be animated) and then displaying the video (without any animated reveal) is a more acceptable experience and preserves the brand.
Hulu currently uses a "pre-plate" like this on most of their videos. On Hulu they include a voiceover "this video brought to you buy X" but that isn't necessary (though it increases value, brand awareness).
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