Video Ads, Wave of the (Not So Distant) Future
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 at 5:53 pm by Jeffrey Perren, AC Magazine
Video ads are definitely harder to produce than other types. But recent data suggests the struggle may well be worth the effort. According to eMarketer, online video ads get between four and seven times the clickthrough rate of static visuals. Though both figures are low (0.4%-0.74% and 0.1%, respectively), the difference is striking.
Video ads can pump through a lot of information quickly in an entertaining style. The combination of eye candy and useful fact can be unbeatable. Showing an HDTV ad in photo form is a very limiting way of conveying the value of the higher resolution screen. Move the subject to something even more dynamic, such as bicycles or cars, and the potential effectiveness of the two modes becomes obvious.
On top of the visual advantages, video offers sound. You can limit your choice to some music and hope your audience likes what you’ve picked. Or, you can expand the options to include voice over that describes something your audience wants to know about the product.
And, don’t forget, more and more people these days read less and less. True, blogs are ever more popular. But the information passed is in small chunks, quick and easy to digest. They may not have the time or interest to read a whole page of copy. But those same potential customers will often multi-task and listen to and (half) watch a video, while they read email or surf.
Video ads are becoming longer, too. And, surprisingly, studies suggest that viewers are not turning them off, but often watch to the end. That means more than the traditional 30 seconds to put your message across.
With the market for video ads projected to continue to rise for the next few years, and with broadband becoming more ubiquitous, it will soon become the dominant method. Producing a video isn’t as difficult as it may seem to the uninitiated. Inexpensive equipment has made it an option for most.
All it takes is some time to research and a bit of an adventurous spirit to try something creatively new. But those attributes are in abundance in the affiliate marketing world.
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I have been really impressed with what Ken Evoy of SiteBuildit has done with video - really compelling stuff encouraging users of his stuff do do their own videos and spotlighting the best of them as actually affiliate links.
I’m getting ready to do this for www.jesusbranded.com and possibly another client as well