Google Click-To-Play Video Ads for AdWords
Google has just announced that they have found a way to effectively monetize Google Video beyond the Google Video Store model they are currently using. Google Click-To-Play Video Ads will be a part of the Google Adwords content network; in a sense – AdSense Video.
At launch, video ads will be available to AdWords advertisers in the US, Canada and Japan – but we plan to roll them out to other regions shortly.
Like other Google AdWords advertising options, Google Click-To-Play Video ads will compete for placement on sites running Google AdSense Advertising. Instead of sites only running text link or image ads, now video will be an option for the publisher and advertiser.
Google Video Ads can be bought on a CPM basis or bid on via CPC, which Google AdWords advertisers are more accustomed to. The CPM option, however, is more relevant to the buying practices of tradition media agencies.
Google Click-To-Play Video Ads will be targeted by keyword, like the normal AdSense system, or via site – through Google Site Targeting. Perhaps with Google’s targeting, if the advertiser pays enough, a site which serves multiple AdSense ads on its pages could be ‘roadblocked’, with Google Video Ads, Image Ads, and AdSense Text ads – all at once.
In a major breakthrough for local advertisers who rely on commercial spots on television or radio and shy away from search marketing, Google Click-To-Play Video Ads can be geotargeted geo-target to the national or local level.
Advertisements can now offer video tours, normal TV commercials, CALL NOW call to actions (perhaps with an interesting Google Click-To-Call twist), ability to view the video before clicking over to a site, and strong branding via the multimedia spots.
As with most new advertising formats, since Google Click-To-Play Video Ads will be part of the AdSense Network, there should also be some excitement budding among publishers, bloggers, and sites which are video oriented (video blogs, humor sites, sports sites… etc.) which may traditionally serve lower priced and less targeted Ads by Google.
Here’s a description of how the ads will be served and run, via the AdWords Blog:
Finally, unlike some intrusive advertising, users will have complete control. When a page loads, only a static image will be visible; the video will not start playing until the user initiates it. He or she will be able to advance the video, pause it, adjust the volume or click through to the advertiser’s site
Local & New Media Analyst Greg Sterling adds:
This will likely give a much-needed boost to Google’s contextual network, which has been assailed by competitors and is generally regarded as less effective than its search network. It’s also seen as the locus of more click fraud.
In addition, it suddenly gives Google a real product for brand marketers, something the company has wanted but hasn’t really had until now. Yahoo! has had much more to offer brands. It will be interesting to see how many of them will try this out. Google indicated there are a number of advertisers already signed up. They have the same control in terms of where the ads appear as they would with “traditional” ads in the content network.
The videos themselves, from what I understand, are “opt-in.” Consumers will see a graphical ad and then a video player within the ad. The video doesn’t automatically roll. The creative, which the marketer is responsible for, will presumably prompt the user to play the video. Google is apparently accepting all video formats and the duration of the commercials may be up to two minutes in length. (The Online Publishers Assn. found in March that most users would watch pre-roll ads of up to 10 seconds, but almost an equal number were willing to watch ads of more than a minute in length.)
