Video advertising is heading for the kind of growth rates that have not been seen since the fledgling days of the mobile channel.
Recognising the surge in popularity of video marketing, ad intelligence and digital media solution provider Exponential Interactive has launched a range of new formats for video advertisers to take advantage of.
Some companies draw comparisons between TV advertisements and those in the internet era, but Exponential prefers to look at video advertisements on desktop and mobile devices in a different way.
Interaction driven
Each of the three new formats, supplied by Exponential’s video and mobile audience engagement divisions in Firefly Video, Adotube and Appsnack, expand when a viewer interacts with them.
Blaze grows from full-size video to complete page takeover while Ad Engage is a pre-roll format with a peel-back option that can include additional information for the product being advertised.
Lastly, Video Snackbar allows advertisers to play a teaser snippet in the lowest part of the screen. If a user interacts with the ad, it will transition to a full-page presence on the device.
Think beyond TV
Doug Conely, Exponential’s chief strategy officer, believes these new formats are what video ads would be like if they were not invented so many years ago. He also emphasised that marketers should be moving on from the traditional school of thought.
“The aim is to get viewers to spend as much time as possible engaging with your brand but this isn’t possible if you think like TV.
“Firstly, it must be opt-in, then draw the viewer in gently, give them options and set their expectations. If you don’t do these, people will drop out quickly or won’t engage in the first place.”