Affiliate Classroom Blog

Measuring Video Ad Effectiveness

Friday, June 30th, 2006 at 6:17 pm by Jeffrey Perren, AC Magazine

Just as with email campaigns, or any other form of advertising, it’s not enough to just throw it out there. You need to measure the results so you can track your efforts against conversions and sales. Ultimately, you want to measure ROI (Return on Investment).

Video ad effectiveness measurements are in some ways similar to other ads, but they also have their own unique metrics. At minimum, you need to measure clicks, views, and viral.

The effort put in to producing a video ad isn’t solely to provide entertainment, though that helps create search engine rank and traffic. Measuring clicks helps you determine popularity, and as with other kinds of ads, forms one component of a conversion calculation.

Unlike traditional online ads (but similarly to page views) you also want to measure the length of time viewers spent watching the video. In a 30 second video, did they ‘change the channel’ or go get a beer from the fridge after 10 seconds? That gives you a good idea about how compelling the content is, and forms another piece of an objective measurement of conversion.

Similar to email campaigns you want to measure viral quality. Did they recommend or pass the ad onto their friends? Word-of-mouth, after all, is still the most effective form of advertising by far. Nothing beats a recommendation from a trusted source.

Nielsen Buzzmetrics, and many other similar services, can give you one set of tools to make sure your video ads are doing what they’re supposed to: draw traffic, create views, generate clicks, and — the ultimate name of the game — help garner sales.

If it isn’t measured, you’re flying by the seat of your pants. And, in the hypersonic jet age, that’s a dangerous method of navigation.

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