Digital advertising has evolved dramatically since the internet’s early days. And while people are now conditioned to ignore traditional formats like banner ads, video has an undeniable ability to capture audience attention — and help you drive more ad revenue. 

If you’re not yet capitalizing on the video advertising trend, you’re missing out on a tremendous opportunity to diversify your monetization strategy. Here are a few reasons why:

• People love video. Thanks in large part to social platforms like TikTok, the demand for content has shifted from text and images to video — and online video consumption is growing fast.
• Advertisers love video too! In May 2022, IAB predicted that spending on video ads would exceed $49 billion in 2022 — a year-over-year increase of 26%. 
• Video ads offer higher CPMs. Brands are willing to pay a premium to reach an engaged audience, which is why video ads tend to command a higher rate than other ad types. 

Understanding video ad formats

If you’re considering video advertising as a revenue stream, one of the first decisions you’ll have to make is the type of ad you want to use. In general, video ad units are divided into two categories:

1. Instream ads

Appear within existing video content. Instream ads typically run 10-60 seconds and may be placed at various points within the main video content:

• Pre-roll instream ads appear as soon as a video starts playing. 
• Mid-roll instream ads appear at some point during the video, as determined by the publisher.
• Post-roll instream ads appear after the end of the video.

2. Outstream ads

Standalone videos that are embedded in non-video content, like a blog post or article. These ads appear on top of the content — in other words, “outside the stream” of content on the page. This is commonly seen as a sticky overlay in the footer. There are many different types of outstream ads. Some start playing automatically when the player comes into view and pause when the user scrolls away. Others follow the user as they scroll down the page, and then switch to a larger video player size.

Last fall, the IAB released new ad format guidelines for high-quality video needs for cross-screen video advertising in mobile, desktop, and connected TV. The guidelines can help publishers communicate requirements and specifications for their video ads.

Pros and cons of instream ads

Instream ads are an attractive choice for many reasons. One major advantage is that they offer higher CPMs than outstream ads. Advertisers know that instream ads will only appear within existing video content, where users expect to see ads — so they’re likely to stick around and watch the entire ad. 

That said, instream ads also come with a few downsides. They can only be used with existing video content — and many publishers lack the resources to create a rich video library. You’ll also need to choose a video player to host on-page video content, which can be a daunting decision. (We’ll dig into options for video players in a future blog post.) Additionally, instream ads can be intrusive to the user experience — depending on how they’re used:

• Pre-roll ads have the greatest reach because they appear immediately when a user tries to watch a video. Because they appear right away, before the user is fully engaged with the video content, the user experience is relatively positive.
• Mid-roll ads tend to have a high completion rate because a user is unlikely to leave when they’re already engaged with a video. However, mid-roll ads are highly disruptive and may harm the user experience.
• Post-roll ads offer the best instream user experience because they don’t interrupt the video content. However, they’re also the least lucrative because few users will stick around to watch them.

Pros and cons of outstream ads

Outstream ads hold a few advantages over their instream counterparts. Most importantly, because they can run anywhere, any publisher can use outstream ads — even if they don’t have video content on their website. Outstream ads also tend to be more visible because they’re located directly on the page, rather than being embedded within another video. 

However, outstream ads also have some flaws. They require large video files, which can slow down your site and increase load times. They can be less memorable than instream ads, because outstream ads are required to play with the sound muted by default. And as we already noted, advertisers tend to pay lower rates for outstream ads. 

5 tips for effective video advertising

As a publisher, earning revenue is all about delivering a great user experience — and keeping your audience coming back for more. Video ads can enhance the on-site experience if they’re done properly, but it’s a delicate balance. Here are a few tips to help you get it right:

Get started with Sovrn today!

While video ads present a valuable opportunity for publishers, they’re also more complex than traditional online advertising. That’s why you need a partner with the tools and expertise to help you modernize your ad program and maximize ad revenue. Fortunately, the Sovrn Ad Exchange supports both instream and outstream ad formats, across a wide range of ad networks and video players. 

Already partnering with Sovrn for advertising? Contact support@sovrn.com for help adding video ads.

Not yet working with Sovrn? Contact sales@sovrn.com to learn more about our video ad capabilities. 

The post Thinking About Monetizing with Video Ads? Get Started Here! appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

While brands still use social media to market directly to consumers, social media influencers have become an important strategic partner across almost every sector. Influencers are uniquely positioned to close the loop between a brand and potential buyers, because they bring a tremendous amount of their own brand power to the table — as well as a loyal and highly targeted audience.

If you’re a content creator (also called a “publisher”), you probably already operate social media accounts across several channels, to drive traffic and engagement among your readers. Those same channels provide a valuable opportunity to grow your revenue through affiliate marketing.

Every touchpoint is an opportunity

Today’s most successful publishers are seen as trusted, knowledgeable sources of information. They develop a close relationship with their audience, and social media channels are the perfect vehicle for monetizing that engagement. 

Adding affiliate marketing to your social strategy is just as easy as building commerce-driven content on a website, if not more so. Any channel that allows you to include a monetized link in a post, description, or profile is an opportunity to earn — especially if you already have a highly engaged audience. Affiliate links can be:

• Shared in Tweets
• Posted to Facebook pages or groups
• Added to YouTube video descriptions
• Included in your Instagram profile
• Embedded in pins on Pinterest
• And so much more!

Sharing affiliate links on social media gives you the opportunity to supplement any sponsored content or other direct brand deals you may have in place. And you don’t need millions of subscribers to make affiliate links worthwhile. If you get your affiliate marketing strategy in place from the start, you’ll see your earnings grow along with your subscriber base.

Getting started with affiliate links on social media

The possibilities are endless when it comes to affiliate links in social media. But sometimes it helps to have specific examples of how it’s done. Following are some tips for getting started with two of the most popular channels for affiliate links: YouTube and Twitter.

1. Youtube video descriptions:

Shopable product reviews, product recommendations, and product launch videos are a great place to get started with affiliate links on YouTube. Start by including an affiliate link (or several affiliate links) in each video description. Here’s an example of a YouTube channel, The Sole Brothers, sharing monetized links in a video review of basketball shoes:

This video description is doing everything right with their affiliate links. The links are clear and prominent, and they’re placed “above the fold” — so they’re visible even before the description is expanded (see below). In addition, it’s clear from each CTA that you can buy the product directly using the link.

2. Tweets

Twitter is a unique channel, in that it provides access to a fast-paced environment where you can build a focused audience that will voraciously consume the content you publish. The important thing to remember is to remain on-brand and stay authentic to your audience, while still providing value.

Product launches are a great opportunity to include affiliate links in your Tweets. Content tied to a product launch is inherently promotional, so dropping in an affiliate link seems natural. As you continue to build affiliate links into your social strategy, your followers will start to see you as an authority in that space — increasing your opportunities to earn.

Just remember — Twitter is meant to be conversational, so only include affiliate links where it actually makes sense, or you risk alienating your followers.

3. Instagram

Instagram boasts more than one billion users per month, and 81% of people use Instagram to research products and services. With numbers like that, Instagram is a natural choice for affiliate marketing — and there are countless ways for publishers to generate revenue on this popular platform.

Lifestyle and inspiration blogger Better After 50 takes an easy approach, by simply including a permanent link to her website in her Instagram bio. Many of her blog posts include affiliate links for fashion and wellness products, and her site also features a curated shopping section.

Other publishers prefer to include URLs and promo codes in the comments of each post, or utilize Instagram Stories to highlight a particular brand or product. Instagram has also released tons of new features that make it easier for publishers to monetize their traffic, including shopable posts, live shopping, and new tracking and analytics functionality.

Ready to start earning with affiliate marketing?

While affiliate marketing is simple and accessible, getting started can be daunting. And even if you’re already making money through affiliate marketing, you may be looking for new ideas and ways to enhance your strategy. 

In this blog series, we’re digging into the various ways you can capitalize on affiliate marketing and monetize your high-quality content, including:

• Creating commerce-driven content
• Monetizing search traffic
• Shopping discovery through apps
• Offering curated shopping experiences

We’ll also share some important tips for building your affiliate marketing strategy and optimizing your earnings. 

If you just can’t wait for these future blog posts, download our free ebook, 5 Ways to Make Affiliate Marketing Work for You in 2021. You can also visit our website to learn more about Sovrn Commerce, the fastest and easiest way to start earning through affiliate marketing.

The post Affiliate Marketing Strategies: Sharing Links on Social Media appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

CH – Thanks for meeting. Let’s talk about what’s happening in the current industry for video. The stats say video views and advertising is increasing significantly but what’s the story behind this. What is really happening?

KG – Digital video is increasing rapidly because it’s easier to consume video, it’s easier to connect. Data is cheap to buy and mobile phones – which many people watch video on  – are relatively cheap to get. Combine this with the fact that video as a whole is just a more effective storytelling media. A lot of people like this. While people still watch on desktop, a lot more people are consuming video on mobile devices. This is where the growth is, that’s the takeaway here.

Now on mobile, latency is an issue. Yet, in the future, this will be overcome with the transition over to fiber. Both DSL and cable usage are in decline.  So, fiber is a cool thing. The jump in speed compared to fiber from cable is just enormous. The one takeaway there is if we look at connectivity speed with fiber, latency is going to be a thing of the past. Waiting for a video to load has been a major frustration for viewers. You develop and design for the intake of viewers and readers but once fiber takes over the slow factor will be gone.

CH – Talk a little about the type of content consumed on video. Are there trends here?

KG – If we look at content consumption, like what types of consumption per device that people like to consume such as on TV, more long form content or on tablets, it’s a mix of long form and short form. Yet, on phone it’s completely short form. If you are targeting mobile, keep it short and sweet; from zero to five minutes. PC is still kind of short form, but there is of course some long form in there.

As a publisher, you have to be aware of your audience’s consumption habits and your video speed or Mbps (megabytes per second). As the Mbps increase, the video minutes per viewer increases. That’s a really awesome takeaway, so with an increase in Mbps, internet video viewership increases and we see more eyes going towards video mobile, and it’s just going to continue to go up into the right.

CH – You’ve talked about how more people are watching videos because it’s more accessible, latency isn’t so much of an issue and it’s more engaging as a storytelling platform. How do these trends impact advertisers?

KG – Yes, there’s all these stats around why video is so effective. As a result, a lot of advertisers love video and they want to sharing their brands and products in this engaging format. Because of these reasons, advertising dollars are going to continue to go toward video.

For U.S. digital ad spend, mobile is the fastest growth rate. Desktop is growing, but not as much as mobile.

If we break down digital ad spend to just look at video spend specifically and you look at that versus display, that’s a really interesting graph because display is decreasing over time. Video ad spend is increasing and we think that’s because of these increase speeds and better tech.

CH – How much investment do you think it would take for a publisher to create their own videos?

KG – That’s a good question, because essentially you could do it for free, right? It’s the time. And that’s where it gets frustrating and challenging for publishers and content creators out there. It’s because they don’t have a lot of tools and a clear path and way to host video and display it online, right? There’s not a clear, easy thing to do. They have to go download a free player that they have to learn code to, install, and then they have to go host their video somewhere, and they have to then tie in advertising. There’s a lot of steps. If they go with one solution, a lot of publishers lean towards YouTube because they’re familiar and it’s easy. But then they don’t get advertising revenue and they lose control over their content essentially because they’re putting it into a walled garden.

CH – For publishers who don’t have their own content, is there a way to include video ads on their site?

KG – Yes, that’s where outstream video advertising comes in. It’s where we can deliver video advertisements to publishers that don’t have video content so that they can monetize and kind of dip their tail into that video experience.

CH – How hard is it for publishers to get outstream on their sites?

KG – Super easy. It’s just as simple as copy and pasting a tag. It’s as easy as that.

CH – It is as easy as creating a display tag?

KG – Yeah, that will be like the first kind of process that we’re doing with our publishers. It’s just allowing them to grab a tag with and place that wherever they want that outstream unit to show. Wherever they place this tag, that’s where the outstream unit will show. And what it will do is fit the width of the container that it’s placed in. So, if it’s placed in the header, it will take up the header. Same with the footer. If it’s placed in the body, it will match that width and display the ad.

CH – So what’s some hot technology within outstream video advertising.

KG – That’s a good question. The focus of outstream is to be for the viewer so that it is very viewer friendly by giving the viewing controls to them.

There’s a lot of user actions specific for the outstream video that are specific around ads. You can close and eject players, you can play and pause the content and you can unmute and mute. Some outstream vendors do this, some don’t have all these features. Some people will let you replay the advertisements, learn more and click through to the ad. A lot of outstream vendors are doing this to keep the video in use so it will pause when it’s out of view.

CH – One of the key concerns with outstream is that fits the interest and context of a webpage. Where do you think outstream is going to go in the future to match the content of a publisher’s site?

KG – I can see people evolving these units to scrape the page content, maybe take keywords, and kind of use that as keywords in the bid request to send to advertisers so that they fill contextually relevant ads. And maybe publishers can have some option there to select content relevancy as well, so that’s another option.

If we could want to make it more automated, I can see scanning the page and do it in that way, maybe scanning images as well. That will make the ads more contextually relevant, but with the user targeting nowadays, targeting on the cookie or email address or whatever have you, to fingerprint this viewer. That ad will be completely relevant to that reader, but maybe not to the content of the site.

Giving the publisher options to choose what they want to advertise, is a little more the direction. I think always, viewers want to have more control, but they don’t want it to be so complex. They don’t want to have to mess with code to get it to do what you want, right. So, making something with a really good user experience for both the publisher and the content creator, but also the viewer as well is very important.

CH – Thanks for sharing your insights on how video in general and more specific, video advertising, is evolving in our marketplace and beneficial to our publishers.

The post What’s Trending in Video Advertising: An Interview With Kevin Gentry appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

If you agree with that statement, you are not alone. In fact, video viewing on mobile devices is projected to account for 66% of all mobile traffic by 2017. It’s no surprise, considering that crazy growth, that advertisers are investing more than ever in this highly coveted channel. Mobile video ad spend is growing faster than any other digital ad format; jumping 25% from 2015 to 2016 and from $7.7 billion in 2015 to $9.59 billion in 2016.

So let’s get down to brass tacks: what are the best tactics for monetizing those video-craving, smartphone-wielding readers of yours?

1. Ditch YouTube – for good

Bet you didn’t see that one coming, huh? Hear me out. Posting your awesome video content to Youtube has killer SEO benefits, but what Youtube doesn’t provide is money in your pocket! Other video players like JWPlayer give you control over advertising on your videos and put money in your pocket for each video play.

A great compromise? Post your videos both on Youtube and within an HTML5 player on your site. You get the reach from Youtube and the moolah from your player.

Now, there is a requirement here for moving your video content into an HTML5 player: your content needs to be HTML5 compatible. Luckily, compatibility is simple.  Just make sure that your mobile video files are MP4s or WebM.

2. Select an ad plugin for your player or go rogue

To run mobile video ads you’ll need a HTML5 Player and an advertising plugin. Some companies like JWPlayer combine these two features in a real turnkey solution, but you will have to shell out some cash to get started.  Some of our more tech savvy readers can roll up their sleeves and go open source with a player like Video.js and install an ad plugin themselves. Talk about scrappy!

3. Know your video acronyms: VAST, VPAID and MRAID

Every time your videos are played and a video ad is eligible to serve, an auction takes place between multiple advertisers. In the video advertising world, there are three different types of ad tags that determine where that auction actually occurs and the type of video ad that is served.

VAST: “Video Ad Serving Template” is a piece of script that tells video players which video ad creative to play, when, and for how long. VAST script allows publishers to use different ad servers for their video ads without having to totally rearrange their ad stack. The catch? Well for one, many video players haven’t made the jump to support the newest versions of VAST as new video technologies have come along. Also, VAST was really developed for the desktop advertising world.

VPAID: “Video Player Ad-Serving Interface Definition” is another script that runs within video players and enables interactive features like clickable call to actions to the ad. Advertisers love VPAID ads because they provide more opportunities for user interaction and thus give advertisers more information about how effective their ads are. VPAID code can deliver multiple advertisers to the player and conduct an auction within the player instead of on the ad server, which can cause page latency issues. Again, like VAST, VPAID was really built for a pre-mobile, pre-app world.

MRAID: “Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definitions” is a standard created by the Interactive Advertising Bureau for rich-media ads that run in mobile apps. In March, the IAB updated MRAID standard to include some of VPAID’s functionality.

Sovrn provides mobile-friendly VPAID and VAST advertising solutions for publishers of all sizes.

4. Partner with at least three demand sources

As with display advertising, building a solid demand partner set up is key to mobile video advertising success. It’s best to start with two to three video advertising partners: a high CPM solution at the top of your stack, a mid-tier partner in the middle, and a high fill partner for backfill. Vet potential video advertising partners by the following criteria:

1. Is their serving mechanism compatible with your strategy? Are they serving VAST, VPAID and/or MRAID ads?
2. Do they have strong video performance metrics? Look for a partner with high CPMs and one with high fill to round out your stack. Ask about their VPAID error rate as well, as VPAID errors can substantially impact fill and overall revenue.
3. Do they have mobile-specific demand? Don’t just hope that your desktop video ad partners will have strong performance with mobile traffic as well. Make sure you have partners that specialize in mobile video ads. You might even have your own separate mobile video ad stack.
4. Which video formats do they offer?  The most lucrative video strategies are multi-pronged, so explore the various flavors of video formats and make sure your partner can support and help optimize your approach.

Choose Sovrn as one of your video advertising partners for high quality, high CPM video ads.

5. Give Outstream a shot

All of the money flowing into the video advertising space means advertisers and publishers are hungry for new video advertising formats. However, creating custom video content is a big investment, so there are many publishers who simply don’t have the resources or expertise to add video to their strategy.

Enter: Outstream video advertising. Outstream allows any publisher to monetize their website with video ads on desktop and mobile even if they don’t have their own video content or player. Outstream ads are and relevant and high quality, adding interactive ads to the site without sacrificing user experience. This new(ish) format is also highly viewable and is therefore sold a premium to savvy advertisers looking to get the best return on their investment.

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Why are advertisers so hot on video ads? The average click-through-rate (CTR) of video ads is 1.84 percent, the highest CTR of all digital ad formats. Viewability is also high. People who watch video on their smartphone typically give it their full attention.

Mobile video ads are in high-growth mode now because we have better technology to improve the mobile video viewers experience. High-speed 4G mobile networks that reduce latency make mobile video easy to watch without the video freezing over and over.

Getting in on mobile video ads can open up a new revenue channel for publishers – one that is sure to grow.

When starting to test mobile video ads here’s a couple things to remember. Stick with high quality videos. You’ll need a video player to serve the videos, but you’ll obtain much higher CPMs. Set up video tags with high demand. These include sizes larger than 300×250, ideally medium sizes (480x360px – 639x479px) and large player sizes (640x480px+) video are the most desirable. Small player video can go for anywhere from $2.50-$5+, and large player usually goes for anywhere from $4-$12+ depending on the quality of the site, the content, the player size, and the request type (HTML5 vs. flash). Lastly, above the fold video players get higher CPMs from demand partners than below the fold players do.

Let your Publisher Advocate know about your large player content so we can align you to our premium video chain partners.

Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/peggyannesalz/2016/01/12/why-mobile-video-advertising-will-eat-the-world/)
http://www.pointsgroupllc.com/online-video-trends-2016/)

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2)     Select a video player that is VPAID Compliant.
The majority of video campaigns are now developed to VPAID specifications and if a video player is not compatible, then a large revenue opportunity could be missed. VPAID, stands for Video Player Ad Interface Definition and has established a protocol and an API to guide and track user interactivity with video ads.  Additionally, it provides advertisers greater granularity about the video inventory.

3)     Consider using a video player that sits outside an iFrame, as they often block the origins of the ad call. iFrames solve for the issue of latency or slow load times on a page by allowing the page and the video player to render separately of each other. Unfortunately, they often create an environment in which information cannot be passed regarding the website, such as the domain, and this is imperative for monetization.
We hope this is helpful and please feel free to contact at us at videosupport@sovrn.net for any additional questions.
Cheers,
Sovrn Video Team

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