Online video advertising has been around for almost a decade, but in the last few years, we have seen it rise in importance as a marketing medium. The astronomical growth in youtube traffic tells us that consumers are actively partaking in online video content, but how best should marketers use it.?

There are a multitude of streaming ad formats around. It can be all too tempting to just throw your 30-sec TVC up into a banner and get double the reach for the same production cost, however I do question if this is the most beneficial approach for the brand. Forcing someone to watch your ad before they can see the content they really want is basically the same model as the commercial TV stations have been using for decades and while this model still has some strength from a publisher perspective, it does not really take into consideration the fact that most people who watch online video, are operating in a pull mentality, not push.

There are a lot of more innovative ways that companies can use video which seem to me to offer both more creative options and more opportunities for engagement. Long form video content has increased dramatically in recent years with Nielson estimating an increase of 129% last year alone. Some even predict that this will be the driving factor in the growth of digital video advertising over the next five years.

Online video is very close to the television experience and gives brands an opportunity to add real value to viewers. Whether it be through entertainment, ‘how to’ instructional information or experiential content that really gives a consumer a deeper sense of a brand, the really exciting thing about this is that you are no longer limited by the time frames that restricted commercial TV spots.
The challenge however, is cost. Quality video production can be expensive. How brands can justify the ROI comes down to how efficiently they can measure the quality of the interaction and the conversions that they receive.

There are a plethora of metrics that one can observe, but how many advertisers are approaching this medium in an analytical way? Where you embed your videos, how you channel consumers through a conversion path and how you monitor and optimise your content based on observed viewer behavior needs to become part and parcel of the equation.

I might not have all the answers here but the issues will be discussed in this panel discussion at ad:tech: Reviewing The Real Marketing And Advertising Opportunities That Video Presents
How do you commercialise video? (Tuesday 16th March, 4.05pm). The panellists are:
Kerry Field, Mindshare
Matt Hunt, RedLever
Karen Stocks, YouTube Australia & New Zealand
Ian Gardiner, Viocorp

And they’ll be talking specifically about:
What formats of video are most beneficial for your brand
Where can you not live without video?
How can video help merge the on and off line brand experience?
What is the publishers’ vision for video?