An inventory of information flow video advertising formats!

With the development of the times, users' immunity to advertisements is constantly increasing, and at the same time, the number of advertising platforms is also increasing.

In order to survive, the advertising formats of major platforms are constantly changing.

From video interstitial ads to short videos, and then to creative mid-roll ads, Taobao has become a buy-while-you-watch platform. Not only is it marketing, traditional short videos also seem to have undergone a wave of innovation.

With the support of technological updates, content empowerment and channel changes, video advertising has become a dark horse in the advertising field, and "videoization" of everything is becoming a new marketing trend.

But for most bidders, they may not have a deep understanding of the newly derived information flow videos.

So, today let’s take a look at “ what are the derivative forms of information flow videos ”.

Video patch ads

Video interstitial ads refer to video ads that appear before the video content is played on video and content sharing websites, and are mainly brand ads. Website members or paying users can choose to skip ads.

Advertisers can place targeted video interstitial ads based on specific video content and audience tags.

For example, the picture below.

▲ iQiyi’s video interstitial ads

Applicable Platforms

Mobile video clients such as iQiyi, Youku, Tencent Video, etc.

Advantages

1. Highly targeted and precise targets

2. Anti-interference: When the advertisement ends, the content officially begins, and there will be no advertisements in between, so the user’s memory of the advertisement is not easily disturbed by other information.

3. High number of plays and high reach. Compared with other types of ads, users are relatively passive, cannot be skipped, and are not easily ignored.

Disadvantages

1. Compared with other forms of mobile advertising, the price of patch ads is relatively expensive.

2. Since users view ads passively, it is difficult to control the effectiveness of the ads.

In-feed video ads

Information flow video ads refer to information flow ads in video format. That is, it is interspersed in the information flow content, and the entry material is a 15-second to 1-minute video advertisement, which plays automatically or after clicking. As shown below.

▲Toutiao’s video feed ads

According to the platform attributes of the advertisements, we can further distinguish between the advertisements placed on non-video websites and the advertisements placed on video websites.

01 Information flow video ads on non-short video platforms

It means that the platform where the ad is placed supports displaying ads in video format. Advertisements are inserted into information streams in the form of short videos. As shown below.

▲Video information flow ads in WeChat Moments

Applicable Platforms

Such as mainstream social/information platforms such as Toutiao, WeChat Guangdiantong, WeChat Advertising, Momo, UC Toutiao, and video website platforms such as iQiyi/Youku/Tencent Video.

Advantages

Compared with static advertising, the displayed content is richer, more impactful, and more attractive to users to click. Currently, more platforms are gradually opening up the delivery of video information flow ads.

Disadvantages

1. Compared with video platforms, the video content ecosystem has not been formed, video ads lack originality, and users are more focused on obtaining news and information, so their consumption habits for video content are relatively weak.

2. The content format is relatively simple and tends to be display-oriented. It does not support functions such as comments and likes, and is unable to form corresponding interactions and resonance with users.

But this will also improve as the short video content on these platforms becomes richer.

02 Information flow video ads on short video platforms

Short video ads, that is, information flow ads placed on short video social platforms, support horizontal/vertical video display, support comments/likes and other functions, and also support jumping from video ad clicks to the landing page set by the advertiser, helping advertisers achieve their marketing promotion goals.

In the era of mobile video, the trend of video information and video socialization has become increasingly clear, and has also further driven product development to a large extent.

Short video marketing has become a powerful tool for many brands to achieve "win" sales.

▲Game ads on TikTok

Applicable Platforms

Short video platforms such as Tik Tok, Kuaishou, and Meipai.

Platform Features

Users are younger and pay more attention to novel, creative, interesting and trendy content. The platform's video content is highly entertaining, with a focus on "grassroots" and "the present moment". It uses a combination of filters, shot-cutting and other special effects, and carefully crafted background music to create 15-second "magical" short videos.

Advantages

1. The platform has high user activity and high user stickiness

2. In terms of advertising, it can be more in line with users’ fragmented consumption habits based on the platform’s data.

3. Strong social attributes, strong user interaction, more willing to share, and high spread of interesting content

Disadvantages

The requirements for advertising quality are high. Pure product display videos and monotonous and direct advertising promotions do not meet user needs and have a low conversion rate.

Rewarded video ads

Rewarded video ads refer to game video ads that are embedded in the process of using the platform. Users can receive corresponding rewards while watching the ads.

Generally, rewarded video ads are more frequently displayed on gaming platforms.

▲ You can get game coins and other rewards after watching

Applicable Platforms

Since this form of advertising is displayed more frequently on game platforms, we would like to recommend several game platforms here so that everyone can choose according to their needs.

Unity Ads, Vungle, Applovin, and Adcolony are the largest and most comprehensive video advertising network platforms in the global gaming industry. Among them, the Unity Ads advertising platform is the largest video advertising network in the gaming industry, currently with more than 1 billion global players.

Advantages

1. Users are more receptive to advertising. According to a third-party research report, approximately 60% of players are willing to obtain virtual rewards by watching videos.

Disadvantages

High requirements for advertising. Advertisers need to put a lot of effort into video format and conversion.

Interactive trial ads

Interactive trial ads refer to ads whose complete display format is “user click – interactive feedback – trial play – diversion and download”, which allows users to decide whether to stay or leave after experiencing the product, thus solving the pain point of “poor delivery effect”.

Applicable Platforms

Applovin

Advantages

Users are highly proactive and interactive, and they experience the app before downloading, which effectively improves user retention rate.

Disadvantages

There is no big problem with the advertising format itself, but the industries that can be targeted are relatively narrow.

The development model of video marketing will become inevitable. In the future, with the widespread popularization of 5G communication technology, high-efficiency transmission modes such as VR and AR 360° panoramic photography will further open up new territories for "video marketing" and bring about earth-shaking changes.

But no matter how the form changes, it is still content-driven marketing. As for us at present, we should pay more attention to video marketing and plan video marketing in advance.

Author: Houchang College

Source: Houchang College