When the digital advertising era first dawned, most publishers started monetizing their remnant space on their websites by serving image, text, or link ads. Little by little, the publishers became more digitally savvy. And as their monetization efforts evolved with time, so did the digital advertising methods, formats, and technologies.
Today, publishers can display various ad formats on their websites, from traditional banners to rich media to video ads. Because now, people don’t just want the content to be read; they prefer content to be video.
Due to the higher engagement rate of videos, it has become a new format of choice for publishers and advertisers. So, to help you get started with video advertising, Adhub team has collected all the relevant information so that you can get answers to all the questions in one place.
What Are Video Ads for Publishers?
Video ads are a form of digital advertising that use video content to promote or advertise a product, service, or brand. These ads can be displayed on various digital platforms such as social media, YouTube, or websites. Video ads are a popular and effective way for businesses to reach their target audience visually, engagingly, and interactively.
Today, most video ads are sold by programmatic means, and a lesser volume of video ads are directly sold. Let’s have a quick overview of both:
Direct-sold video ads: As the name suggests, these ads are sold to direct advertisers based on inventory volume, CPMs, and duration of ad campaigns. Direct-sold video ads require human efforts to satisfy the advertiser’s needs, and the advertising process is completely manual.
Programmatic video ads: Programmatic video ads are sold with the help of automated technologies to direct advertisers and third-party advertisers. In contrast to traditional direct-sold ads, programmatic video ads require less manual work and offer several benefits, such as advanced targeting options and so on. Here’s a guide on programmatic videos that you will find useful.
Types of Video Ad Formats
Before you start with video advertising, you must determine the format of the video ad you want to serve. Check out the three video ad formats categorized by IAB below:
Linear Video Ads: Linear video ads are the ad formats that can be sandwiched between the organic video content much similar to TV commercial ads.
It can be divided into three subcategories: pre-, mid, and post-roll ads. A pre-roll ad is played before the organic video content is displayed, while a post-roll ad is played as soon as the video content ends.
Non-linear Video Ads: Non-linear video ads aren’t video ads. They are typically images that overlay the video content. Such ads can concurrently run with the video content so the users can view the ads’ content and video content simultaneously.
Non-linear video ads can be served as static image ads, interactive rich-media ads, and more.
Companion Video Ads: Companion video ads and linear and non-linear video ads can be served. Companion ads can come in several sizes and shapes, typically alongside the video player. However, a companion video ad cannot be served alone, and it must have a master video ad (i.e., linear video or non-linear video).
Types of Video Ads for Publishers
This section will walk you through different types of video ad units defined by IAB. In general, video ad units are categorized into two types:
In-stream video ad unit: In-stream video ads are played before, during, and after the video content. The publishers use such video ad units to monetize their video content and can be played inside short-form and long-form videos. In general, in-stream video ad units are used in three types of video content:
- News content,
- Syndicated or distributed content, and
- User-generated content.
Out-stream video ad unit: Out-stream video ad units enable the publisher to display video ads outside the content. This is the key difference between in-stream and out-stream video ads. The latter can leverage the standard display ad units to deliver a video experience.
Moving forward, out-stream video ads can be divided into four categories:
In-article video ads: Such ads are loaded between the paragraphs of editorial content and can be dynamically loaded when the users scroll through the page.
Native video ads: These are the promoted video ads that can be of various types – in-feed unit, paid search, promoted listing, recommendation widget, or custom. Native video ads consist of a headline, description, and context for the ads.
Interstitial video ads: Such ads are generally used by app publishers and appear when the user clicks on the app. Interstitial ads cover the entire screen of the user’s device.
In-banner video ads: In-banner video ads are ads within a banner that leverage the banner’s size. It has lesser demand than other out-stream ad formats, and publishers aren’t recommended to use it. We have a detailed guide on in-banner video ad units to help you understand the reasons behind them.
Overview of Video Advertising Technologies
Now that you know different video ad formats and units, the next step is understanding how video advertising happens. But before that, you should know the technologies involved in video advertising.
Video Ad Networks: A key function of video ad networks is to bring video demand for the publisher’s video ad inventories. They can also help set up ad campaigns, optimize video ads, and more. We Adhub is a notable and reliable Ad Network partner. We can support publishers with ad tags and variable sources of demand.
Video Ad Server: The video ad server is used by publishers to help with video ad serving, ad management, campaign management, ad trafficking, reporting, and more. Publishers can use a first-party (proprietary) video or third-party ad server.
Video Player: A video player is one of the most important technologies involved in video advertising. The interface helps create a path for communication between the video content and the user. Also, a video player can pass users’ data, store engagement data, and coordinate with the page to display companion ads.
A publisher can build a video player from scratch or get a third-party player from companies such as Adhub, JW Player, Primis, etc.
Note: Adhub also provides a video player. So, if you decide to go with us, you don’t need to integrate a different player.
Video Tags: In video ads, there are two types of ad tags: VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) and VPAID (Video Player Ad Interface Definition). Both protocols act as a bridge between the video player and video ad units and instruct the ads on how to get played inside the player. Additionally, a video network can help you set up the inventories’ tags.
Benefits of Video Ads for Publishers
Video advertising can be a gold mine for publishers to reach and engage audiences and increase ad revenue. Publishers are seeing video advertising as an opportunity because:
Video ads get higher engagement rates.
Video ads have tightly framed subjects and unique and interactive visual elements. For this reason, video ads get higher engagement rates than display ads, yielding higher purchase intent and favorability for advertisers.
Video ads boost CPM rates.
Due to the higher engagement rates and scarcity of video content, video ads usually have higher click-through rates than any other ad format. That means higher CPMs and, thus, more ad revenue.
If you are ready to start monetizing your inventory with video ads, Adhub is more than happy to help you with that journey. Or any further questions are bugging your mind, we are here to help.