The Video Void: Where Are All The AdSense Video Ads?

[integramed]

AdWords Video Ads have been out for a while now. I've posted several requests for feedback from anyone actually using the adwords video format. Nothing. Nada. I'm still very interested in this feature from Google, but am I the only one?

We hear that video is huge, with such sites as YouTube getting massive traffic, yet there is no apparent use of AdWords Video Ads. What's happened? Could it be that video ads are already old.. a bit like TV ads ;-)

So far I rate my Google ads like this:

1) Text. They rule. Wickedly good.
2) Radio. Maybe.
3) Video. Is anyone home?

Please post if you are using AdWords Video ads!

[Discovery]

I don’t know integramed, I too am very curious about the video ad, but have not done any testing myself.

For what its worth, here's my thoughts on why theres a lack of advertisers in this space.

A video ad in my view would only work if it’s for the correct product/service where funny/stupid/obscene is appropriate. I believe much of the video that creates buzz is often VERY off color, Dark humor, People getting their nuts shot off and so on, you know the usual unusual. It's the voyeur, rubber Necker, and morbid curiosity in all of us that want to see these videos anonymously that drives the mega traffic. Sure, there are a lot of family friendly video clips that are great, but I don’t think this is what is creating all the traffic to sites like YouTube. So can a video advertisment create this kind of interest?

Sports and News are different animals - in those industries if you own video content and keep it from being pirated you can make a FORTUNE. IE: The headbut seen round the world. But again that’s not really a video ad.

So between the cost of creating a great funny/or off beat vid ad and having it not offend most of your customer base really thins out the pool of potential advertisers.

With that said, perhaps I need to open my eyes a bit wider... can financial services be funny? off color?... say Capital One commercials... they're funny ok but would I seek it out online? Now the Nextel Commercial with the 3 geeks break dancing around a boom box when the boss walks in.. now that one is really, VERY funny.

How about a series of ads that depict the Top 10 Darwin Awards which could promote xyz Life insurance company.

Or a Bill Gates look alike putting dollar bills into envelopes, whilst checking off names on a huge email list sitting in front of him. Great for a Norton Anti Virus ad. Or AOL newbie spot.

Or Sebastian and Discovery with purple Y Mohawks on their heads, air guitaring and drumming to Van-Halen's Panama - Now that would sell!

Random thoughts I'm afraid, however I think that with so much still to conquer with just PPC its hard to find the time and take the risk on Video Ads at this point.

Discovery

[integramed]

..however I think that with so much still to conquer with just PPC its hard to find the time and take the risk on Video Ads at this point.

I'm beginning to think you're right. Good old teeny text ads can work like gangbusters if done right. (They certainly do for me!) So, do we need video ads? Real video ads would be like TV ads.. and it's beginning to look like TV ads are the last thing the Web wants. That's not my analysis, it seems to be a fact from the level of interest out there.. people are voting on video ads with a loud...... yawn. Interesting. The web never fails to surprise. TV ads and video ads are 20th century... and I guess, for better or worse, we're now in the 21st ;-)

[AdWordsRep]

A very interesting discussion, and I hope it continues. I'd like to pass this thread on to the Video Ads team. ;)

AWR

[AdWordsRep]

A very interesting discussion, and I hope it continues. I'd like to pass this thread on to the Video Ads team. It's not often that I get to quote myself, heheh.

Anyway, I just did pass the URL for this thread on to the Video Ads folks. Here is your chance to have your opinions/comments/irritations/suggestions regarding Video Ads heard by exactly the right folks. ;)

AWR

[Rational Beaver]

Let me start this post by saying that I think that video ads have potential. You just need the right video and the right audience. That said, here is why we haven't used video ads (yet) for our clients:

In order to produce a good video ad you need someone, possibly several people, who knows how to make good videos. You also need equipment and a studio.

In order to produce text ads you need me. I pick keywords and write ads. Cheap, simple, virtually risk free. If an ad I write sucks, I can whip up a new in in five minutes and try it out right now. That's the beauty of AdWords, it's fast and effective direct marketing. That's how we sell it to clients and, I might ad, the firms that sell it best are generally the best equipped to take advantage of the medium (and not really equipped for video productions).

Video is a whole 'nother ball game. Because it costs more (at least in time and effort if not cash) it's riskier. If we recommend it to a client and then it sucks, we can't just jump in and tweak it to improve performance. That risk is a major barrier to entry.

So, something that might help us (and everyone else) get into this would be some guidelines about what works and what doesn't with video ads (Google folks, I'm looking at you). Should we go long and informative? Short and hilarious? Where should we be looking to syndicate this thing? Would you let us do a test? Are you looking into something like SpotRunner to help the masses create cheap video ads?

[integramed]

The cost, time and expertise required for video ad production *may* be a reason for the slow uptake. Certainly it was the first thing I suspected. Also, it's not clear how much distribution is already in place. I mean, how many websites in the Content Network are carrying these things? We have no way to judge.

My feeling is that this may spawn/require a whole new production "industry" or style. Certainly we should not think of these things as an extension of TV ads. Maybe they should be 10 second spots, maybe 5 second spots?

And they are small format, so maybe they *should* be shot in a whole different way with low cost equipment, and yes, by amateurs. So, one 30 second shoot would yield six 5 second ads, which are then split tested.

Example: We have 130 docs in our network. I wonder how many would like a 5 second "video bio ad." We could shoot and upload that kind of stuff almost instantly.

Just a few ideas.

[AdWordsRep]

I'll be passing your comments on later this evening in the Advertiser Feedback Report, and have already passed them on the folks most connected with Video Ads.

Thanks very much - some thoughtful comments here.

AWR

[integramed]

AWR, glad we could help. Thanks for passing our comments along.

I'm going to poll our network (I run Internet marketing for a national network of Fertility Clinics) to see what kind of interest exists in the doc community. I know there may be some interest, because I recently posted one of our videos on video.google.com and the docs loved it and are giving the URL to their patients!

Question now is does this translate into the next phase.. AdWords Video Ads for the docs/clinics themselves.

Umm.. healthcare is big, there are lots of docs in the world. It's a start ;-)

[abbottsys]

Well, it seems AdWords *text* ads rule. Maybe there will be a role for video ads down the road. Or radio ads maybe. But, from where I stand today, it's text, text, text. I'm not complaining, AdWords text ads work like gangbusters for me!

What's in a word?
Would not an ad in another format work as well?
Err.. apparently not.

Is this just a transitory phase? Or, does it tell us something fundamental about the way consumers use the Web?

[yizmo]

Check http://www.hollywoodtuna.com/ for a "video by Google" advertisement

[lizcamps]

As it turns out, I'll be conducting a video ad test for our client Big Apple Circus this October. (They're a traveling non-profit circus troupe that donates most of its profits toward the cause of children with cancer and other serious illnesses.) I'm very curious about how well our video campaign will perform and will let you know what happens.

By the way, video ads get a wider distribution than you might think. They are not limited to sites which specifically deal with video. Rather, they will be distributed to *any* contextually-relevant Adsense site that accepts ordinary banner ads in sizes such as square or leaderboard.

Plus your video may appear on Adsense sites in lieu of the usual text ads. According to Google, "...video ads will compete in the same auction against all other types of ads that are eligible to appear on sites in the Google Network, including cost-per-click and cost-per-thousand-impression priced text and image ads."

This means Big Apple Circus' visually dynamic video may beat out text and/or banners that would otherwise run in that space. It remains to be seen - we all know Context Targeting doesn't generate nearly as high a Click-Through Rate as keyword-based. But that may only pertain to text-only ads.

I wonder if the opposite will be true when image and video are used for Contextual instead of text? I guess I'll just have to find out for myself and let you know!

[Searchagent]

I've actually used it for one of my clients on a very "low tech" basis in the franchise development space. Really just wanted to see what kind of traffic (impressions and CT's) it received. Seems to be pretty slow right now as I doubt too many sites are letting them run. That could change quite a bit from industry to industry though, depending on what sites are included.

On the visitors I've received, there haven't been any conversions, and about a 1.7% play rate. Like I said though, this was VERY low-tech and a vague (at best) message for the visitor. I really just wanted to put something out there to see how much traffic was available for this medium before we put any real money into production. So far, I don't see enough to make it worthwhile.

For the last 15 days of August, these were the impressions for the campaign:

Text Ads: 18,417
Video Ads: 358

This was a small geo-targeted campaign, but showed pretty clearly that the volume isn't there yet to warrant a full (expensive) video production yet.

[Robert_Charlton]

Check ****hollywoodtuna.com for a "video by Google" advertisement

It's hard to say whether this page was actually trying to load malware onto my system, but my browser refused to respond after enough time that I had reason to be concerned. I'm not sure that we should trust a url from a first time poster, at any event.

Sorry for the less than gracious welcome, yizmo, but I feel I should alert people to what I experienced when I clicked your link.

[integramed]

Check http://www.hollywoodtuna.com/ for a "video by Google" advertisement

Is this a real Google Video ad? It does not appear to be in one of Google's standard video formats. Also, I could not get the "Ads by Google" link to work. Something may be wrong here. It would be helpful to get the URL of a website that's running regular AdWords/AdSense Video Ads?

[AussieWebmaster]

It is actually a real Google video ad... and he is well backed up with his alternative ad in case they do not have the video ads.... interesting

[huebdoo]

We need to remember that not every SEM company has an in-house VMG lab (Video Motion Graphics) to create these ads, we have one and we have two guys full time working in it.

However... that being said I am still very hesitant to go the way of the Google Video ads as I need to see adoption from serious and qualified sites that I would have these ads running on.

I would rather spend my coin making a Floating Eyeblaster or expandable 120x600 and have those placed on high traffic / high qualified sites than waste my time and money on portal sites that have Google video ads in ROS

I Would like to see a list of what sites and what placements these video ads live at ... anybody have one handy? anyone seeing any good CTR's on these ads?

I can get a 5% CTR on an Eyeblaster Floater ... so Google will have to bring it before I spend serious billing hours creating a video ad that will only end up on some kids Blog in ROS.

[integramed]

However... that being said I am still very hesitant to go the way of the Google Video ads as I need to see adoption from serious and qualified sites that I would have these ads running on.

Perhaps that sums it up. Unlike text ads, video ads have a significant production/cost barrier of entry. So, folks are reluctant to do this until they know a more about the distribution. And that means two things: the extent of the distribution and some feeling for typical CTRs.

[Discovery]

This article posted on SEW uses the title "Online video advertising is building momentum (http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3623362)"

How video is being deployed ranges greatly.

This example of video advertising is more like an informercial website. Menopause treatments (http://knowmenopause.com/) An interesting use of video and content, but as the post makes clear this is more of a video website, or an early entry into interactive tv/web/wireless device.

Another example from the same post is from Nortel shaver by Philips campaign (http://www.shaveeverywhere.com/)
In this "spot" the ad is more like what we have seen in the past with interactive flash sites. Yet it is loosely being called a video ad. I would call it more of a flash intro and my personal feeling is that this would cost a lot and deliver very little.

Now here is an interesting example of PPC and video advertising that I came across this weekend. This is the closest to what I feel is the "compact video ad" that best resembles what a PPC video ad would look like. The ads are served by IntelliTXTPop PPC video and text ad (http://www.dodgeforum.com/m_554028/tm.htm) Go to the second post and mouse over the double underlined word "car". (Note: a quick look around in this Dodge forum and you know exactly why Danny, Marcia and Elizabeth are so valuable here.)

This ad example shows more of a banner animation, but I have seen video used as well, and it did catch my eye. Oddly, if I were to read about a concept where words would be double underlined and ads could pop up I might think its a bad idea, but seeing it in action, I wasnt too offended. Actually it was a nice deviation from the top, right, and bottom ad columns.

I could see this type of ad being a video ad teaser, which if clicked could lead to an interactive short video ad, which could lead to a full blown interactive video website...

Are there any standard definitions of the various uses of video ads being deployed today? Having standard definitions would help move this conversation forward with direct comparisons.

I would love to see more examples of online video advertising that you have come across.

Discovery

[huebdoo]

I would love to see more examples of online video advertising that you have come across.
Discovery

Well Discovery I have a ton ...

I use the Eyeblaster system rather than PointRoll (competitive ad serving companies) - but both have fantastic material for ads to run

The best Video ADs I have seen are really multimedia than anything

here are some good ones
http://demo.eyeblaster.com/demos/ford_ex/start.htm

http://demo.eyeblaster.com/demos/eyeblaster_demofiles/aol_vs/launch.htm

http://demo.eyeblaster.com/demos/eyeblaster_demofiles/NikeFreeStrip/start.htm (http://demo.eyeblaster.com/demos/eyeblaster_demofiles/NikeFreeStrip/start.htm)

Now these can get pretty pricy for CPM rates go > especially the floating video ads + a Road Block campaign as the video ads will normally dissapear

Good stuff though ... but they are expensive to create unless you have a VMG lab in-house

[Discovery]

Thanks huebdoo these are nice examples.

Seems that the advertiser better have a high ticket, or a lot of money to be spent on Branding. Hence, you see a lot of car campanies or global brands using these types of ads.

I wonder what format will win the day for the small business advertisers, with niched products and services?

Discovery

[huebdoo]

Well I have found that the increased CTR's will counter act the CPM rates... dont be scared of a $30-$40 cpm as I have seen 9% CTR on some ads - compare this with a .17% CTR you are lucky to get with a simple 728x90

Here is our Example Ad - this floater pulled in 9% CTR on Disney

http://raremethod.com/flash/sectionImages/case_studies/html/eyeblaster_fake.html

But yes - you will need to get a client that:

a) has the trust in you to build out these ads and the costs occured with the design

b) Sites that deliver "Qualified traffic" that will see your ad - if you are advertising on the wrong site - you are basically pouring money and effort down the drain

Unless you are Vonage or Classmates.com - then rock on

[integramed]

If you're running a Google AdWords campaign that uses the new Video Ad format could you please share your experience/stats with us. I'm looking for concrete examples of Google AdWords Video Ads in action. We're very interested in using this format and would like to hear from anyone who has real world experience with Google AdWords Video ads.

[Michel74]

- as a short film maker, I am also looking for video ads samples and real experience !?

- meanwhile, you can have a look to some samples that I publish on top of google maps at my new mashup site: http://www.alpes-video.com
it's in French, just browse the folders on the left and click on the "film" icons (those starting with the name " Takamaka ..." for example)

I think that those video ads will have to be much shorter to be compatible with adwords

- any +/-feedback very welcome

[RBM Morgbert]

... we talked about it with Google yesterday and I complained about the very low impression rate with the videos, and poor click through as well. He said it is definitely more of a branding tool, which is really what everyone says when their advertising message is poor at getting actual results.

I don't want to share client's numbers, but let's just say that the comparable impression counts shown above are what we are seeing right now as well. It's not just that people don't click or watch... it's that not enough sites are running the videos.

[abbottsys]

... it's that not enough sites are running the videos.

Good point. I think distribution is the fundamental problem right now. But since this thread was started Google has acquired youtube. I'm wondering if that will somehow change the outlook for video ads?

[RBM Morgbert]

YouTube and video advertising slots are fundamentally different channels. If Google tries to inject straight advertising into YouTube people will turn from it and it will lose its value.

[abbottsys]

.. If Google tries to inject straight advertising into YouTube people will turn from it and it will lose its value.

My feeling is that google must and will place advertising on youtube and probably soon. But as you mention they do need to be careful. So, the exact way they go about it should be interesting to watch :)