Advertising Age has an article this week “Beyond Pre-Roll: New Options That Could Help Monetize Online Video” that discusses the Web’s lack of an equivalent to TV’s 30-second ad spot. The article touts this lack as “arguably the biggest question hindering the growth of the online video ad market.” And yet finding a one-size-fits-all advertising model for online video–as varied as it is–may not prove the best answer. While consumers may willingly accept the limited commercials that interrupt their viewing of network TV shows—considered premium content–online, some companies believe consumers will respond more positively to non-interruptive ads when it comes to other online content such as shorter video clips and user-generated content.
These companies focus on the idea that opt-in advertising should be contextually relevant. Their ads do not interrupt, therefore annoying viewers far less; rather they entice consumers to click through if the Web publishers get their targeting right.
In order to make marketers happy opt-in ads will truly need to appeal to the consumer to a much higher degree so that the viewer chooses to interact with the ad. The creativity that goes into designing such ads will therefore be as important as getting ad/content context right. Whereas the consumer is accustomed to passive consumption of an interstitial ad, it takes a bit more intrigue to get us to move that mouse away from the play/pause button to the realm of the interactive, click-through ad.
