The first thing we need to know about long-form online video is it in its gestation period. There isn't a lot of case studies we can employ to learn much yet.
For identification purposes, long-form video is for the most part considered a video that lasts 30 minutes or longer. It is also usually professionally produced. Some may quibble about the 30 minutes limitation, as many may think anything over 5 minutes online would be considered long-form.
Another feature of long-form online video is it can be viewed in a larger screen than short-form for the most part. There are always exceptions to the rule, but that is a general truth.
From an advertisers point-of-view, I would still label online long-form video as at least 30 minutes long.
Talking to Kelly Egan, VP business development for Swarmcast, Hollis Thomases asked what media buyers needed to ask when looking to advertise on long-form video.
Egan said there were three major questions that needed to be answered.
1. How quickly is the video content streamed?
This is important because it determine the overall viewing experience of the user. If the video experience is poor, the ad spot will probably be considered poor as well. Low-bit streaming doesn't offer a good experience, we need to know what it is.
2. What is the ad spot streaming rate?
This is another problem relating to viewer experience. In the case of the ad spot, it needs to be streamed at the same rate of the video content or there can be a variance in the experience by the consumer and can have a negative impact on how effective the ad is. This is especially important with third-party ad servers.
3. What type of video-serving infrastructure is being used?
Any video content site needs to have a powerful video-serving infrastructure that goes with it. Most of us have experienced those horrible times when constant rebuffering and failed video playback completely ruins the viewing. If a company is unable to stream its own content well, how good will they present ads?
Whether we're media buyers, ad-servers or content providers, these are things we should look at and have solved wherever we're doing business at in the process.
Video marketing is in its infancy, but those that have their act together in these three areas can differentiate from those that still haven't gotten this down yet.
Comment Preview