Video advertising is fast-becoming the “hot topic” in digital advertising, but why? Arts marketers who want to drive more engagement, calculate accurate ROI, and improve their patrons’ mobile experience should take note!
Video ads are more engaging than traditional media and allow for more advanced targeting and reporting. These advanced targeting methods result in better ROI and are more cost-effective than traditional media ads.
Video ads come in many forms. Let’s start with some of the major ones:
Instream Video
Instream video is any type of video ad that plays inside of another video unit. Instream video ads are categorized into two types:
- linear (before or after another video) and
- non-linear (running at the same time as the original video content).
Pre-roll Video
Pre-roll video ads are one of the most commonly utilized forms of in-stream video. Normally ranging from 15-30 seconds in length, pre-roll video ads are so named because they precede a piece of normal video content. They tend to “overtake” the full video player space. This means that the viewer is required to complete watching the video before they can proceed to watching the original video content.
In-Page Video
Sometimes called “in banner” video, these video ads would run in any of the standard web banner spaces a normal digital ad could run online. They may or may not “expand” if the user clicks on them.
Facebook Video
Facebook video advertising is specific to Facebook and only runs within the Facebook network. However, it’s quickly becoming an integral part of video ad strategies for many organizations.
Should Arts Marketers Use Video Ads?
If so, which types? Advanced digital marketers will carefully consider their organization’s objectives and budget before making the call. Regardless of what type of video advertising you choose to utilize, it’s clear from patron behaviors and digital marketing trends that savvy arts marketers will take notice and give video a try. Here’s why:
1.Video ads have higher engagement than traditional ads
More eye-catching than a static banner ad, video ads are also more engaging than traditional TV ads. Generally speaking, online videos tend to increase user engagement in a number of ways, even if they are not advertisements. First, they tend to naturally increase the amount of time the user spends on a page. If that page happens to be a landing page for one of your events, that means your patrons will be more likely to engage with other parts of your website. Second, many people prefer watching a quick video to reading text. Finally, videos tend to encourage sharing and website visitation. This has a lot to do with video’s mobile appeal (see #3 below).
2. You can track, target, and measure the effects of viewership on your patrons
Video advertising combines the sights, sounds, and motion of traditional TV ads with all the benefits of measurable digital advertising. For the arts especially, this seems quite fitting. Advanced marketers are shifting mass amounts of their traditional media budgets to online video, simply because they are able to calculate a more accurate ROI. Advanced digital marketers are looking for ways to incorporate different types of videos into their digital strategies, and tracking conversions and revenue.
3. Video is “best friends” with mobile, and your patrons are mobile.
In the U.S., 60% of all time spent online is spent on mobile devices. There is also a growing percentage of people who are “mobile only,” meaning they only access the internet on mobile devices (tablets or mobile phones) and not on desktop. According to YouTube, mobile makes up about 40% of all watchtime on their site, and according to Google, mobile video ad viewers are almost one and a half times more likely to watch a video than a desktop viewer.
Arts marketers – give video a chance, if you haven’t already. Increase both current and lapsed patron engagement, track, target, and measure your results, and complement that mobile strategy you worked so hard to craft. If you’re currently using video ads, tell us in the comments section below what kind you use and what kind of results you’ve measured.