This week I attended the DigiDay Online Video Conference and wanted to jot down some thoughts/impressions. Note that this post is coming from the perspective of an advertiser (since that’s what my clients are) – and not a content producer.
1. TThe room where the conference was being held was mobbed – standing room only. That in itself says something. I’m not going up to @dTech next week, but I’m willing to bet it too will be packed. Online Video aside, if you judge “Internet froth” by both the amount of conferences taking place in the space and the number of attendees , then at least from my perspective we are getting into some pretty frothy times. Maybe not at the fever pitch of the late 1990s…but it’s starting to feel eerily similar.
2. OOnline Video advertising is being utilized by big name advertisers with their online agencies to shift a chunk (not a big chunk at this point…but it’s a start…) of their TV budget over to this medium. Makes sense – it’s more accountable, and everyone wants to learn if it can do something for their brand/sales. Further, they are also using it to extend the reach of their TV buy (the extended screen idea) – effectively going further into the same audience that would have watched their show on the telly.
3. FFormats and standards (and metrics for evaluation) are still being worked on by various players – while that complicates things it’s not stopping players from stepping in and getting their toes wet.
4. JJust like in other forms of online advertising, people are exploring targeting via demo, behavioral, and context/content affiliation.
5. FFor most advertisers, being in a brandsafe location matters – and since that can be risky even when someone isn’t buying UGC, companies like ScanScout are building businesses to enable customers to sleep better at night concerning where their ads might show up.
6. WWhile UGC video is the predominant video on the web, no one has yet cracked the code on advertising with it versus spend on places like Hulu. That will change – but the change hasn’t really picked up steam yet.
7. AAdap.Tv has built a GoogleTV like bidding engine for video placements on their network. Good idea – and gives users the same sense of control (over a limited inventory) that GoogleTV currently provides in the DRTV space.
8. TThere are A LOT of Online Video Ad Networks. A LOT. And it’s very hard to differentiate the offerings. And all of their marketing sounds the same. Similar to the display ad network/exchange space. So finding the places to buy is as usual best done with some great references, some hard negotiating, and a solid testing strategy.
The most certain (and obvious) thing I can say is that because a broadband connection at home has finally hit the tipping point we’re going to see more and more video at home. And that means more and more advertising being included. So we’ll see real growth in the coming months. But everything else (who brings it to you, what formats, where it plays, what gets wrapped around it in terms of interactive/e-commerce functionality, etc.) is far from being pinned down – yet.