Tag: video ads

SoundCloud To Roll Out Mobile Video Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Audio streaming platform SoundCloud is set to introduce video ads on its mobile apps in a bid for higher ad revenue. U.S. users will be the first to encounter those video ads, which will pop up between tracks when the app is actively running in the foreground. Earlier this month, the Berlin-based company received a $70-million investment from Twitter, which is also in the midst of making a strong push for video ads. Launched in 2008, SoundCloud now amasses around 175 million unique monthly users.

What Brands Need To Do
While it is debatable whether it is a good idea to serve video ads on a purely audio-based platform, this move clearly shows that SoundCloud is taking a cue from Spotify, which introduced video ads to its service in 2014. If your brand is targeting music lovers or has a strong music connection, the new ad offering from SoundCloud may be worth looking into.
To read more on video ads and how their lengths may affect their effectiveness, please check out this report on our joint research study with YuMe.

 

Source: CNET

Twitter Partners With Innovid To Offer Marketers More Stats On Video Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter is teaming up with digital video marketing firm Innovid to provide advertisers with more data on its pre-roll video ads. With this new partnership, marketers buying video ads via Twitter’s Amplify program can now access some advanced metrics, such as completion rates and viewability, to gauge how their pre-roll ads are performing. Innovid’s clients, which include Disney, Mondelez, and Toyota, will also gain access to those detailed stats. The microblogging service introduced pre-roll video ads last October and set a viewability standard of at least three seconds with the videos 100% in view.

What Brands Need To Do
This partnership between Innovid and Twitter is just one of the latest examples of social media companies like Pinterest and Facebook teaming up with third-party ad analytics firms to appeal to advertisers’ demand for better measurements. Snapchat, in particular, forged a partnership with analytics firm Moat to also track the viewability of its video ads. Overall, these partnerships should come as welcome additions for brands as they make advertising on social channels more accountable and transparent.

 

Source: AdWeek

 

Twitter Launches New Carousel Ad Unit, Opens Up API For Pre-Roll Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter is launching a new ad unit that borrows some elements from its “Moments” feature to help brand advertisers curate a collection of tweets. Just like Moments, the new Promoted Tweet Carousel features a swipeable carousel of multiple rich media tweets from multiple sources, allowing brands to craft an engaging narrative that gets the brand message across.

In related news, Twitter is also opening up its Ads API to make it easier for brands to purchase pre-roll video ads on its network. The company first opened up its pre-roll video ad marketplace in October, allowing brands to buy pre-roll ads before videos tweeted by popular publishers such as Buzzfeed or Tastemade.

What Brands Need To Do
This new carousel ad product enables brands to escape Twitter’s 140-character limit and use multiple photos and videos to tell an interesting brand story or highlight different aspects of a product. Brands can also use it to incorporate fan-generated tweets into their campaigns to add a touch of authenticity and enhance online community management.

In terms of video ads, Twitter obviously still has a lot of catching-up to do compared to Facebook or Snapchat. While the new API tweak is a step in the right direction, it does little to improve Twitter’s existing video ads. Still, it enables brands to buy Twitter’s pre-roll ads through third-party, automated ad buying platforms such as AdParlor and TubeMogul, which should be a welcome addition for media buyers and planners.

 

Sources: AdWeek & Marketing Land

 

Facebook Now Showing Ads To Non-Users, Testing Shoppable Video Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook continues to take strides toward challenging Google for the top spot in online advertising as the company started to serve ads to non-users on Thursday. Previously, Facebook’s ads on third party websites or mobile apps, powered by the Facebook Audience Network, would not be visible to users that are not logged into Facebook. According to the Wall Street Journal, the social network is using a mix of cookie tracking, its own buttons and plugins, and patterns within its massive user database to help advertisers target non-users with more relevant advertising.

In related news, The Information reports that Facebook is working on shoppable video ads, which will allow users to buy products highlighted in videos on Facebook. One tap on an item featured in a buyable video would reveal more information about the product and another tap would send users to the retailer’s website to complete the purchase. Facebook has not confirmed nor denied this new ad product.

What Brands Need To Do
Facebook has long enabled its Audience Network to reach users outside of Facebook properties, and this change should help advertisers reach even more people across various digital platforms. As Facebook continues to expand its advertising machine, it is important that brand marketers heed the new ad products that Facebook offers and leverage Facebook’s massive reach and targeting capability to connect with their targeted online audiences.

 

Source: TechCrunch & The Information

Facebook Continues Video Ad Expansion

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook continues to roll out new advertising products,  and they are staying focused on video. The social network is bringing pre-roll ads to video in News Feed as well as within Instant Articles. Quick serve restaurant Jack in the Box is one of the first advertisers to try out the pre-roll ads. Also, the social network is extending support for video ads to third-party sites, both on desktop and mobile, via its Audience Network.

Why Brands Should Care
According to eMarketer, digital video ad spending in the US is on the rise and will reach $9.84 billion this year. With these two initiatives, Facebook is expanding the reach of its video ad network while also offering brands more options to advertise in Instant Articles. As Facebook continues to improve its video ad products, brand advertisers should reevaluate their media mix and consider reallocating their ad spending.

 

Source: AdWeek & Marketing Land

Instagram Now Supports Videos In Carousel Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Instagram launched a clickable Carousel Ad unit over a year ago, allowing brands to showcase their products with three to five still images in a single promoted post. Now, brands can cram multiple videos into one Carousel Ad, as the company doubles down on its quest for video ad spending. Airbnb, Macy’s, and Taco Bell are among the first brands to try out the new multi-video format.

What Brands Need To Do
Following the steps of its parent company Facebook, Instagram has been making a strong push for video ads in recent months. It revamped its Explore tab to add “Recommended Video Feeds” last month to encourage more video views and extended the length limit of video ads to one minute in February. By allowing videos in Carousel Ads, Instagram enables brand advertisers to craft a narrative with multiple videos to engage with consumers without cluttering their timelines. For brands that wish to capture attention on Instagram with their video ads, this new update to Carousel Ads should come as a welcome addition.

 

Source: TechCrunch

Videology Integrates Nielsen Data To Enable Combined TV And Online Targeting

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Videology, a New York-based video ad firm backed by Comcast, has added Nielsen data to its platform to help ad buyers target and measure the same audience across TV and digital. Although the integration is not exclusive, Videology says it is “the only video and tech platform that has a true one-to-one integration,” tying TV viewership to online and offline behavior to offer advertisers better ad attribution.

Why Brands Should Care
With its addition of Nielsen data, Videology now offers brands a way to converge TV ad buying with digital video efforts to more effectively reach audiences across platforms. In a similar manner, programmatic ad firm TubeMogul recently tapped Facebook’s API and Nielsen data to allow brands to extend their TV audience targeting to social media. As more digital ad platforms start to incorporate viewer data from Nielsen, they provide brand advertisers with new tools for running data-driven, cross-platform campaigns.

 

Source: Marketing Land

YouTube Introduces Six-Second Pre-Roll Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
YouTube introduced a new ad unit today as it aims to improve the effectiveness of its mobile video ads. Aptly named Bumper ads, this new ad product is an unskippable pre-roll ad with a capped length of six seconds. YouTube will start rolling it out to advertisers through Google’s AdWords in the coming weeks. This new ad unit will appear before YouTube videos consumed on mobile devices only. In related news, YouTube also updated its iOS and Android apps today to offer users bigger thumbnail previews and improved recommendations powered by machine learning.

What Brands Need To Do
At a time where consumer attention spans are becoming shorter than ever, it is important for brand advertisers to engage viewers in an efficient, to-the-point manner. This new ad product from YouTube offers brands a chance to prune away the unnecessary details and distill their messages to capture viewer attention more effectively. Twitter’s social video platform Vine also enforces a six-second limit on its videos, and brands can certainly learn a thing or two from the way popular Vine creators construct fun, engaging content within six seconds. Brands may also deploy this new ad format as a complement to their existing video ads, devising a YouTube campaign centered on a standard-length video and using the brief Bumper ads to reach more viewers.

 

Source: AdWeek

Interactive Video Ads Are Coming To Facebook And Instagram

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Soon brands will be able to engage Facebook and Instagram users with interactive video ads thanks to a beta program launched by video marketing firm Innovid today. British tea and coffee brand Taylors of Harrogate ran a campaign last December to test the format on Facebook with some positive results. The 30-second video ad invited desktop viewers to tap on an embedded button to pull up an overlaid window where they could take a branded quiz, purchase featured products, and sign up for newsletters. Mobile viewers will be able to click on the videos to open a webpage where they can enjoy the same interactive experience.

What Brands Need To Do
According to research by the IAB, interactive video ads drive higher brand lift than non-interactive ones and boast an 8% lift in purchase intent. Similarly, a 2015 study from Innovid which measured global impressions delivered to desktop browsers via its platform in 2014, also found that interactive video ads outperformed standard pre-rolls across almost all metrics. By making its interactive video ads compatible with Facebook and Instagram videos, Innovid is opening up new opportunities for brands to more effectively engage with consumers on social media. Brands should consider trying out this new format to step up their video ad game and move consumers down the sales funnel.

 

Source: AdWeek

Instagram To Ramp Up Video Views With Recommended Video Feeds

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
In its latest update released on Thursday, Instagram overhauled its Explore tab with a slew of new video channels. Among them is a personalized “Videos You Might Like” feed that draws recommended video posts from across the network based on user data. There are also staff-curated, themed channels, for example one for Coachella, and feature spotlights on content creators and Instagram communities, all in hopes of attracting more users to its growing video content.

What Brands Need To Do
Facebook has been making a strong play for video for the past few years, and Instagram has recently started following its parent company’s steps in ramping up its video efforts as well. Just two weeks ago, Instagram extended its maximum video length from 15 seconds to 60 seconds for all users, hoping to encourage more video posts. With video quickly becoming a preferred format for brands to engage consumers across social platforms, it is imperative that brands and ad buyers be aware of the social video channels and use them to reach their growing audiences.

 

Source: AdWeek