The Future of Video Marketing: 10 Questions Answered

BBE’s leader discusses the continued evolution of pre-roll and long-form advertising, as well as the brands that are succeeding — and struggling — in the realm of video marketing.

There’s little doubt that consumers are hooked on online video. Whether it’s a viral video of a cat playing the xylophone, the latest episode of “The Office,” or professional video created exclusively for the web, people are watching. Yet despite the undeniable popularity of online video, many marketers and publishers continue to struggle with the monetization question. How best can brands reach consumers via this dynamic and engaging medium?

To answer this and other questions related to the future of online video marketing, iMedia reached out to Matt Wasserlauf, CEO of digital video authority BBE, for his insights into where video marketing has been, where it’s going, and what marketers need to know in planning their campaigns. Here’s what he had to say.

iMedia: In addition to being a video ad network, BBE syndicates content across its network, creates originally produced branded programming, and provides advertisers, content suppliers, and website publishers with a variety of dynamic services, including digital ad-serving, tracking, reporting, and contextual and behavioral content distribution. So, with that in mind, who does BBE consider to be its biggest competitors?

Matt Wasserlauf: The real competitors to BBE’s business include Tremor, BrightRoll, and YuMe, even though there are specialists that produce original programming or syndicate content only.

iMedia: One area where BBE doesn’t currently operate is in the realm of user-generated video content. Is this an area of future interest?

Wasserlauf: UGC is an area of future interest, as the category still represents a large portion of the total video volume. UGC will emerge as an area for achieving rate efficiencies and should help advertisers, such as direct response marketers, achieve pricing objectives. Ad-serving efficiencies will grease the skids for UGC.

iMedia: On the advertising side, BBE deals in multiple online video ad formats, including pre-roll, overlays, hot-spots, etc. Based on the data your company has gathered, what can you tell me about the effectiveness of these various formats? In what situations and ratios does each works best?

Wasserlauf: We’ve seen success across all formats for all categories of advertising. Specific ratios for online are not all that different from traditional forms of media. We utilize the breadth of the BBE network to maximize reach across demographics and optimize frequency dependent upon the specific client’s objectives.

iMedia: With video, a common complaint among marketers is that the number of metrics that can potentially be tracked is overwhelming. In your opinion, what are the key measurements to be tracked when dealing with basic units of video advertising, such as pre-roll and overlays?

Wasserlauf: Key measurements in video include reach, impressions, CTR, and time spent.

iMedia: Where is the future of video advertising going? For example, do you think pre-roll will continue to play a dominant role in the future? Are there new formats that you expect will come to be the standard in online video advertising? If so, what are they?

Wasserlauf: Pre-roll is not only here to stay, it will become an increasingly important format going forward. More and more attention will be devoted to optimizing the creative for a new online viewing audience. Advertiser developed content will also accelerate in the future as better distribution methods are created to provide standardization and scale in the evolving syndication model.

iMedia: Tell me a little bit about the role you see long-form programming playing in the future of video marketing. What types of long-form programming are most viable?

Wasserlauf: Long-form programming will grow, but there is more to be done in this area in terms of standardization and scale. A final barrier that will need to be overcome is the overarching model as costs associated with content creation and ROI need to be better understood. Long-form programming will continue to evolve in the coming 12-24 months as an experimental effort.

iMedia: What brands are currently using online video most effectively in their marketing mixes? Please provide a few examples of campaigns that got it right.

Wasserlauf: The CPG brands such as P&G, Kraft, and Unilever are doing the best work in digital video. The recession has only enhanced their leadership as other major marketers have pulled back. The CPGs have, at a very early stage in the industry, gained scale, price leadership, and critical learnings that have allowed them to move traditional dollars into more targeted and effective means of digital video advertising.

iMedia: Tell me about one or two specific examples of where a brand went wrong with its online video marketing efforts.

Wasserlauf: Direct response advertisers have experienced early pains in the digital video industry. With a lack of optimal creative, sophisticated back-end targeting, and pricing inefficiencies, DR has been a painful experience for marketers such as Geico and Vonage. As inventory grows and technology is laid in, this area will become a major growth area for the industry going forward.

iMedia: More and more, we hear online marketers saying that to be successful, companies need to be producing and reaching consumers through branded video entertainment rather than traditional video ad formats, such as pre-roll. What options are available for companies who feel they can’t afford to produce their own branded video content?

Wasserlauf: Branded entertainment will continue to be an expensive avenue for some time until better distribution methods evolve. The next 12 months will be an important stage for this area to gain traction, and companies such as BBE will have a lot to do with their evolution.

iMedia: Aside from the current financial crunch, what seems to be holding some companies back from branded video content?

Wasserlauf: Guarantees. There are few companies that provide the assurance of guaranteed reach against branded content. At BBE, we’ve perfected that model and continue to educate the market on how to best achieve objectives and create successful branded entertainment campaigns.