Video

In a video landscape twist, Hulu has made a move whereby its buying model will now more closely resemble that of TV. The platform announced this week that it will now only charge advertisers for video ad views that reach 100 percent completion rate. This is all tied to where the beacon resides on the ad – previously, it was fired at the initial ad play, and now it fires at the end of it. The change impacts both free and subscription (Hulu Plus) offerings.

Hulu ad unit for the Mini Roadster

The significance of this move is twofold:

1. Digital is setting itself up to play in the broadcast sandbox. Digital video companies are taking big leaps to structure their packages in a way that appeals to the broader landscape of “video” buyers. Hulu, and many others, are putting some serious skin in the game. This not only relates to their shift in a more buyer-friendly pricing model, but also in the expansion of content.

On Monday, the New York Times reported on Hulu’s plans to increase investment in original programming – content that will be pitched to the ad community today as part of the Digital Content NewFronts kick-off event in New York (see more coverage over on Adweek). Over the course of 13 days, in the closest resemblance to the broadcast upfronts that we as an industry have experienced to date, the leading powerhouses in the digital content space will showcase their programming line ups. The themes we should expect to see as the digital space tries to compete with its TV counterparts are an emphasis on content, quality and scalability.

2. We still have a long way to go towards standardization. The inconsistencies behind video pricing models and counting methodologies and the slow adoption of commonsense practices (standardized ad players, leveraging the interactivity of digital via ad choice features or charging only for completed ad views, to name a few) pinpoint a hurdle that is yet to be crossed. Google’s TrueView – announced as a test format on YouTube in late 2010 but only recently made official – adopted some of Hulu’s ad features by incorporating viewer choice into the ad experience. However, it also announced a unique “skip-ability” feature (user is permitted to skip an ad, after viewing for five seconds).

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Live streaming broadcasts are nothing new, but when the largest purveyor of online video throws its hat in the ring, it’s time to take a fresh look. YouTube announced today that it has officially launched its live streaming video service, called YouTube Live.

GeekBeat.tv streams live via YouTube

Thus far, the live streaming opportunity is limited to a select group of YouTube stars and popular shows including Revision3‘s, The Totally Rad Show, Dan 3.0 and Destructoid. It doesn’t appear as though any brands were invited to participate as part of the program launch, though an EA Sports Shift 2 Test Video was appearing in the upcoming shows list earlier in the day.

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Image via TechCrunch

YouTube launched the TrueView ad format this week.  The product, which had previously been in beta, gives users the option to skip ads after five seconds.  Currently only available to advertisers with managed YouTube accounts, TrueView is not widespread across the site.  Advertisers can choose whether to activate the option — and they only pay for the impression if the user chooses not to skip the ad.

User control during TV or video viewing is nothing new.  Nielsen reports that over a third of US homes now have a DVR (source: Nielsen Three Screen Report, Q1 2010), up 51% from two years ago.  As online viewing becomes more commonplace, providers, like YouTube, may be seeking to replicate the experience that viewers are used to in their offline viewing.  Hulu, one of YouTube’s top competitors, offers viewers the opportunity to choose their ad delivery method – e.g. watch a longer advertisement at the start of the program in exchange for no ads throughout  or to pick the ad they view from a choice of three.  In September, Vivaki made public the ASq unit, which allows viewers to choose which ad to watch before their chosen piece of video content.  YouTube, along with Hulu, AOL and Yahoo! all signed up as partners.

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There is a lot of optimism around the potential for advertisers to achieve branding objectives using online video because it provides marketers with many of the things we love about television advertising, with the added benefit of online measurement. Online video ads deliver the sound and motion of a TV commercial in a lean-back setting that can elicit an emotional response from viewers. Display ads rarely achieve this, which is why there has been a rocky road to their acceptance as drivers of brand metrics – despite a growing body of evidence that shows they do move the needle on key brand indictors.

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Image by qthrul via Flickr

The most valuable benefit of marketing videos on YouTube may not be the views but what you learn about the viewers.

Last week, we talked about YouTube’s Sponsored Video ad platform and how it’s a complement to, but not replacement for, traditional search engine marketing. If you do find value in driving video views, you’ll be even more excited about what YouTube tells you about those viewers. We’ll review some examples of what Insights tells you and how you can use it.

There are five categories of reports in Insights: Views, Popularity, Demographics, Discovery, and Hot Spots. The first three are straightforward, where you can find out: how many views your video has received over time with breakouts by state, country, and continent; the relative popularity of your video compared to others on YouTube; and age and gender breakdowns for the video’s viewers. The last two require a closer look.

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