Tips for placing video information flow ads!

" Video is the king ", if you use one word to describe this year's media industry, these four words are the most appropriate.

Whether it is video websites transforming into blockbuster harvesters and continuing to lead the entertainment trend, mainstream information media gradually becoming video-based, or short video platforms such as Tik Tok and Xigua emerging as a new force, all prove that the era of video consumption has arrived.

As users' attention shifts more to video platforms, short video marketing has also seen a boom. Because of its silent but crazy sales effect, many advertisers have shifted their budgets from graphic marketing to video information flow. According to the editor, in the Xigua Video APP, brand advertisers’ advertising share on video materials has reached more than 70%.

However, the rapid transition from pictures and texts to short videos has also left many sponsors lost. In order to seize new traffic channels, they moved the materials for patch placement directly to the short video platform without scientific research and targeted adjustments. The title, length and theme are forced into one, and the result is that the forced melon is not sweet!

Just as video websites have creatively developed creative interstitials that suit their media environment, short videos, as an emerging media, also require advertising formats that match them.

What problems have been encountered in the delivery of video information flow ads, and what is the correct way to open it? At the critical juncture of fully embracing the era of video advertising , TOP Jun, after consulting with product managers in charge of related businesses at Toutiao and Xigua Video, summarized the three cruxes and two solutions of video information flow delivery.

Three major problems in video information flow delivery

1. Old wine in new bottles

A big reason why the effect of video information flow is not as good as expected is that advertisers do not fully realize the particularity of short video platforms as emerging media. That is, although the media is evolving, the evolution of advertisers' concepts, advertising formats and creativity is relatively lagging behind.

Many people directly put TVC ads into information flow, but they don’t realize that in the native information flow scenario that emphasizes matching with user interests, if the title uses the form of hard advertising instead of valuable content, it is very likely to cause users who were originally interested in the video content to give up clicking because the title is not attractive enough. In addition, when switching from a large screen like a TV to a small screen like a mobile phone, the subtitles previously located at the bottom of the screen will be reduced in proportion. If not processed properly, the presence of the text may be zero in a quick browsing situation, but it originally plays a very important guiding role. In short, as short videos are a new media carrier, the advertisements that match them must evolve simultaneously in creativity and form. Whether it is the title, copy, or story or plot, corresponding adjustments must be made . If it is simply "old wine in new bottles", it is natural that the effect will not be good.

The left picture is after optimization, and the right picture is before optimization. The subtitle size is obviously different.

2. Bound by traditional concepts

In our stereotype, video advertising seems to be equivalent to TVC or micro-films. From planning to shooting, editing to online release, it must take months of meticulous craftsmanship. Such stringent requirements have directly led advertisers to mistakenly believe that video ads must have a long production cycle and high production costs.

But the fact is, in the " fast content consumption " delivery environment such as video information flow, in addition to large-scale TVC-like productions, you can also try video advertisements with shorter production cycles and more " short, flat and fast " content presentation. For example, a travel advertiser combined exquisite pictures of tourist destinations with animated text to produce a lot of high-quality videos that perform just as well on Xigua Video as those with high-cost production costs. In addition, advertisers can also make full use of media platforms such as Douyin that have built-in filters and special effects. If there is sufficient pre-planning, it is entirely possible to create a very effective video within a few hours.

3. Only rely on own delivery experience for iterative optimization

At present, since most media have not issued video information flow placement suggestions for advertisers to refer to, advertisers still rely more on their own experience. They usually place ads based on campaign needs, summarize their experiences, and iterate on materials and delivery strategies from their own perspective. Although such a strategy is effective, it is still too slow for the pursuit of fast and efficient video information flow delivery .

In this case, it is necessary to take advantage of the media's data advantages and its historical experience based on a larger sample pool, such as their creative production suggestions, audience targeting tools, and industry comparison data obtained through placements or questionnaire surveys. Specifically, the platform's help includes the following three aspects: First , based on data and experimental research, provide advertisers with creative production suggestions to reduce the exploration and trial-and-error costs during the cold start of brand promotion; second, through user targeting and population package delivery tools, accurately and quickly lock in the target population , and continuously optimize the targeting of the target population; third, use the delivery data or questionnaire survey data provided by the platform to compare the current campaign with the same industry to carry out focused optimization .

Two major solutions for video information streaming

According to the editor, although there are many problems in the delivery process of video information flow advertising, at present, except for the two major video advertising product solutions, LighTVC and NativeV, launched by Toutiao and Xigua Video, no other platform has a corresponding solution.

LighTVC and NativeV are two creative products developed for video information flow . As the name suggests, the former focuses on the rapid delivery of video information in a short period of time, while the latter focuses on the penetration of native video content. According to the product managers in charge of these two products, there are three reasons for developing LighTVC and NativeV: First, we want to help customers who started placing video information flow ads in 2016 or earlier to break through the bottleneck of placement , so that the video information flow placement can be traced; second, to provide guidance for new advertisers who poured into the video information flow field in late 2017 and early 2018 , saving them time and energy in optimization; third, starting from the industry, we hope to promote the improvement of the overall level of video information flow placement in the industry through the establishment of standards, and ultimately help brands achieve better results with their video advertising.

LighTVC and NativeV are not products developed behind closed doors. Instead, they are based on the media attributes, delivery scenarios, advertising formats and creative characteristics of short video platforms. They were jointly launched after multiple rounds of testing, through joint research with third-party organizations such as AdMaster and Nielsen, research on eye trackers and physiological indicators with the Human Factors Engineering Research Group of Tsinghua University, and inviting 5 industry advertisers to collaborate on experiments. Data shows that when the original ads and ads optimized according to the suggestions of LighTVC and NativeV were simultaneously released, the latter's click-through and playback-related indicators increased by more than 20%, and the improvements in brand preference, pre-order rate, and communication of key brand information were also obvious.

The two products closely match the native and precise characteristics of information flow advertising. Through different forms of creative material combinations, they are suitable for a variety of information flow delivery scenarios, and balance the contradiction between the readability/watchability of the content and the transmission of the core information of the advertisement as much as possible.

1. NativeV: Native penetration of brand value

NativeV, also known as native video information flow advertising, is suitable for video advertisements that excel in storylines and brand value delivery. It is the most suitable carrier for scene marketing and emotional connection. Its duration is generally less than 90 seconds. It is recommended to be placed in a media environment of pure video information flow, such as the video channels of various media and pure video platforms like Xigua Video. For NativeV, it is more accurate to say that it is valuable content than an advertisement, because in the information flow waterfall, it is not obviously different from other information, and users click on it purely because they are attracted by its content.

If you want to win by content, first of all, the advertisement itself must have a strong story, be native and have very contagious content . Its creativity must be clever, the shooting must be excellent, the emotional penetration must be strong and it must be able to implicitly convey the brand's unique selling proposition; secondly, it is necessary to cooperate with optimization tools to further increase clicks . The key to NativeV optimization lies in titles and subtitles. The titles need to be refined to resonate with people. For example, the New Year brand advertisement "Let's Get Blessed by Dove Year After Year" shot by Dove and Ma Sichun was optimized to "In these 3 minutes, Ma Sichun took off all her acting skills", and the click-through rate was close to 6%. In addition, the subtitles also need to be converted into large subtitles suitable for small screens; finally, it is necessary to carry out targeted delivery in appropriate scenarios and optimize according to the background click and forwarding data.

In summary, if advertisers want to launch NativeV, they need to grasp three points: first, introduce the character's background in 10 seconds to arouse interest; second, tell a story with a plot that arouses emotional resonance within 90 seconds; third, convey positive and optimistic brand values ​​that can inspire reposts, comments and likes.

2. Light TVC: Quickly reach the core message

Compared with NativeV, LightTVC has two distinct characteristics: one is that it is short in duration, and the other is that it is straightforward . Its duration is generally 6-15 seconds, and its function is to quickly convey the core brand information. Because it is short and concise, it can be placed in any information flow scenario including pictures, texts and videos.

Because of the short time and heavy task, the production of LighTVC must pay attention to skills. Its materials are generally TVC clips or picture collections. Due to the weak story, the pictures need to have a strong impact. In summary, the following four points are very important for making LighTVC: First, the first 3 seconds of the picture must be eye-catching , such as using a celebrity/visually impactful picture at the beginning, or using large-character posters with questions to stimulate thinking and attract attention; second, the picture must be fresh , and similar/redundant pictures should be deleted; third, the text must be prominent , and the subtitles that were previously told must be condensed into the most core keywords, and added in large text to the blank space of the picture; fourth, the selling point must be clear , and the picture and subtitles should focus on one core selling point, with the aim of strengthening the user's memory point and guiding them to actively search for more information later.

LighTVC is suitable for any advertiser, and is especially applicable to the e-commerce industry, which has rich and rapidly changing image materials. It can quickly convert image materials into video materials by providing advertisers with tools for converting images to videos. In addition, in order to meet the huge demand for LightTVC, Toutiao is also actively helping advertisers find partners for video advertising production, further lowering the production threshold of video advertising materials and improving efficiency.

NativeV and LighTVC, as models of innovation in domestic video information flow advertising, although there is still room for improvement, for the short video industry, it has already been a transformation from nothing to something . The videoization of information and advertisements has become an irreversible trend. As advertising practitioners, it is important to remain sensitive to new media and advertising formats. In order to make the delivery effective, it is imperative to innovate advertising formats.

A good cook cannot cook without rice. The innovative products developed by the platform require the support of advertisers in terms of mentality and actions. Compared with the previous self-deployment, whether the effect is good or bad can only be known after trying. After all, practice is the only way to gain true knowledge.

Author: TopMarketing

Source: TopMarketing