Adjustables Debuts Video Ad Service at ad:tech Chicago
The growing ranks of online marketers gathered this week
at ad:tech Chicago. Big technology players like Google, DoubleClick, WebTrends,
Omniture, and Advertising.com were present, along with email
marketing firms, large online agencies, and whole raft of smaller
players with new tools for RSS, mobile, and
video advertising.
The coolest new tech company I found there was from the Netherlands: Adjustables. They were showing, for the first time in the U.S., a patent-pending technology for placing non-intrusive ads within video streams - instead of those annoying pre-rolls or banners surrounding the player.
No More Pre-Rolls?
The company's Windows-based "AdDesigner" is a tool that lets you create
adverts for your online video streams, in any of four
different types. AdDesigner automatically saves your Adjustables to the
AdServer. You also need the company's "AdScheduler," which places the
Adjustables you created within your videos. Software for both products
can be downloaded from the company's site for free.
Adjustable's ads are clickable, so the viewer can interact with the video at just the right moment. The default is that, when clicked, the video pauses while the viewer goes to the advertiser's site. The intregration of the ad with the streaming video happens on the viewer's computer. Ads can be targeted by geography or behavior. I was impressed with the look and minimalism of the ads. Not too distracting and about as tasteful as ads can be in this medium.
"Is anyone else doing this?" I asked cofounder and VP marketing, Menno Biesiot. He said that YouTube and Metacafe are working on something similar, but his firm sees this as validation and hopefully it will lead to standard-setting in this area of much-needed innovation.
Adustables is a recently VC-funded startup based in the Netherlands (with a new office in SF). They announced their technology at the ad:tech conference in Hamburg in May. The software is available now for download at the company's site, and a demo is available there.
Graeme Thickins is a blogger and tech marketing consultant based in Minneapolis. For more coverage of ad:tech Chicago, check out his blog Tech-Surf-Blog.com.
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Websites select the services they want - ad placement in videos, a virtual video store, etc - from a click menu on Brightcove's network
http://www.songtexte32.com/
I don't think there's going to be a one size fits all approach with video advertising. We served over 14m video ads of 30 seconds or more duration during July, and our users seem to accept them as a fair trade off for the content.
I guess that the key is always going to be striking the correct balance of how annoying and intrusive can the ad be before it is considered an unfair trade off for the free content, in the mind of the user.
Good point, Jack. But what do others out there think about in-stream video ads in comparison to pre- or post-rolls? Will consumers take to it?
Graeme
videoegg.com is doing this for some time
VideoEgg has what they call "ticker ads." Adjustables offers advertisers four types of in-stream video ads: logos, banners, picture-in-picture, and ticker texts.
I agree that there won't be 'one size fits all' solution for online video advertising. However, viewers should never be underestimated in what they accept or not. It could well be that intrusive advertisements will be accepted for the short term, that's because the viewer wants to see the content and has no alternative to see it without (intrusive ads).
But why shouldn't ads be made less intrusive by targeting the ads and make them part of the video? On the long term the viewer determines the standard!