Consumers Choose The Ad Selector as Best Online Video Model
Hulu Model Enhanced by VivaKi’s Pool Process, Laps Pre-Roll
CHICAGO; January 28, 2010— The Pool announced today the results from its first “Swim Lane.” The Pool is a VivaKi-led research initiative designed to align the industry on engaging ad models of the future. The first Swim Lane, focused on online video, has named The Ad Selector the winning model. The Ad Selector, which was created, designed and implemented by Hulu, is a format that allows the user to select a preferred ad from a group of brand messages prior to viewing online video content.
The results conclude a 16-month initiative that brought together clients such as Allstate, Applebee’s, Capital One and Nestlé Purina PetCare with publishers that include AOL, BBE, CBS Interactive, Discovery Communications, Hulu, Microsoft Advertising and Yahoo!. These participants spent over 8,000 hours evaluating 29 ad models and 43 unique executions. Overall, the collective team spent 230,000 hours with over 25 million consumers to determine the Ad Selector as the optimal ad model for advertisers and consumers. Research partners Alternate Routes, comScore, Knowledge Networks and VINDICO also helped facilitate qualitative, quantitative and field trial results.
“We have seen great results from The Ad Selector on our site.” said JP Colaco SVP, Advertising, Hulu. “We are very excited that The Pool has helped us identify a way for a broader array of advertisers to engage people in the video viewing experience of their choosing.”
Compared to the Pre-Roll industry benchmark, The Ad Selector provided click-through rates for advertisers that were 290% higher than for Pre-Roll. Additionally, the lift in consumer top of mind awareness was 288% higher for the Ad Selector format than for Pre-Roll.
“We went into this initiative knowing three things,” said Tracey Scheppach, SVP/ Innovation Director, VivaKi. “Consumers have an insatiable appetite for online video content, they dislike the irrelevant disruption of Pre-Roll and the industry was simply struggling to adapt the advertising model to keep pace with the evolving consumer behavior. The Pool demonstrates the power of industry collaboration to identify more efficient solutions and more effective ways to interact with people.”
“Nestlé Purina believes in the importance of driving innovation. We were thrilled to participate in The Pool to achieve a competitive advantage for our brands while assisting the digital industry,” said Michael Crawford VP/Consumer Communications & Insights, Nestlé Purina PetCare.
In February, Scheppach and VivaKi Nerve Center President Curt Hecht will be publically sharing the complete findings from its online video Swim Lane at the IAB Annual Leadership Conference in Carlsbad, CA. The Pool has also completed the quantitative phase for its second Swin Lane of study, short form online video. The winning ad model for the second Swim Lane will be released to the industry in October 2010. The Pool is also in the process of launching Lanes internationally and will be announcing the next area of study in the coming months.
About The Pool
The Pool is a first of its kind industry program – developed by VivaKi – that unites the financial resources and thought leadership of its clients and a host of content providers to test and create industry standards for new advertising models. By “pooling” insights and resources, this initiative aims to identify future engagement models across a variety of emerging media platforms. Participating clients and content providers are given the opportunity to view and evaluate new advertising models and receive access to all proprietary research ahead of the marketplace.
About VivaKi
VivaKi is part of Publicis Groupe (Euronext Paris: FR0000130577) the world’s fourth largest communications group, the world’s second largest media counsel and buying group, and a global leader in digital and healthcare communications. With around the world activities spanning more than 104 countries on five continents, the Groupe employs as many as 44,000 professionals. VivaKi aggregates the marketplace influence of five autonomous brands, including two global media agencies: Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia; two leading digital marketing agencies: Digitas and Razorfish; and a premiere futures practice: Denuo. On behalf of its agency brands and their clients, VivaKi faces the market to help identify and build technology, message distribution, audience aggregation and content solutions for the future. Sitting at the core of VivaKi is the VivaKi Nerve Center, which serves as a think tank, R&D center and testing ground to activate new pathways for clients to connect with consumers in an increasingly digital world. VivaKi also includes a Talent & Transformation Practice, which leverages the scale of the VivaKi brands to develop and deliver tools and approaches designed to attract, develop, train, motivate and reward the world’s best people. (Website: www.vivaki.com)
