Video Advertising Overview

Of the 3 major forms of digital advertising (display, video, and  app), video takes a large chunk off the pie when it comes to total ad spend.

According to a joint video ad spend study performed by IAB and Advertiser perceptions, video ad spend actually exceeded 50% for some brands and is still growing!

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It’s no secret that video plays a significant role when it comes to digital advertising. However, it is also known to be the most difficult to implement and comes with a plethora of inevitable errors. One of the larger aspects of video integration to take into account is the integration of the publisher video player with the advertising exchange. A successful integration on this front means that the publisher video player can successful call for a video ad and show the video ad with the highest bid.

Video vs Display Ads

Below are official IAB definitions on several main aspects of digital ads when comparing display and video. 

Display Video
Impression Counting An impression is counted once the ad content is downloaded to the user’s device. An impression is counted once the video ad starts playing. This ensures a more accurate impression count if the user navigates away from the page.
Tracking Events Impressions and clicks are the primary metrics. Many more metrics are available, such as the number of times the video reached its first quartile, midpoint, third quartile, or completion.See the full list of video ad metrics.
Where the Ad Serves Before a display creative is served, the ad slot is an empty space. The creative is then served directly onto the page. Before a video creative is served, the video player is already on the page playing other video content. The creative is served directly into the player.

Common Video Ad Types

  • Preroll: Video ad that precedes the publisher video content. This is by far the most common video ad out there.
  • Midroll: Video ad that interrupts the publisher video content somewhere between the start and end of the  video.
  • Postroll: Video ad that is shown after the publisher video content ends. This type of video ad is very uncommon. This is because most users tend to click away from the video after it ends, leaving the ad unviewable or not servable at all.
  • Outstream: Video ad that serves outside of the publisher video player. Outstream ads can pop out and expand from any area on the page.
  • Interstitial: Full page video ad that can be closed to exit the ad.

Publisher Integration Base Parameters

In order for a publisher video player to connect to an exchange, it must be mapped correctly with the exchange in order to pass requests and receive information on the video advertisement.

Below are video parameter requirements required from publishers by GetIntent. Although the parameters and their formats may differ depending on the tech provider, the general terms and parameters passed should remain relatively similar. Within this table, we see parameters such as the publisher id, video size, and video duration. All of the common aspects of running video can be passed as the base video parameters. 

Name

Mandatory

Description

Example

pid required The ID of the underlying publisher, registered in the platform. pid=4
tid required The ID of the publisher Tag (Preconfigured in the platform or custom) tid=abc
protocols optional The numeric list of the restricted VAST protocol versions, split by comma.

  • 1 – VAST 1.0
  • 2 – VAST 2.0
  • 3 – VAST 3.0
  • 4 – VAST 1.0 Wrapper
  • 5 – VAST 2.0 Wrapper
  • 6 – VAST 3.0 Wrapper

Unless provided, it will match all versions of the VAST protocol.

protocols=2,3,5,6
size optional The size of the player. 
Unless provided, the size will be taken from the Tag configuration in the platform, if set.
size=640×480
mimes optional*

The list allowed mime types, split by comma. 
Unless provided, the system will try to fill it with the list of mime types in the Tag configuration in the platform. Unless, it will match any mime type.

mimes=application%2Fjavascript,video%2Fmp4
min_dur optional Minimal duration of video ad in seconds. min_dur=30
max_dur optional Maximal duration of the video ad in seconds. max_dur=60
min_btr optional Minimal bitrate of the video ad, kbps. min_btr=128
max_btr optional Maximal bitrate of the video ad, kbps. max_btr=512
pb optional Passback VAST URL, which will be returned in the VAST Wrapper in case no inventory is matched for the given request. 
Unless provided, the system will try to take it from the Publisher configuration. Unless, an empty VAST response will be served.
pb=http%3A%2F%2Fad.content.vast%2Fpassback
vi_format optional Video inventory format. Possible values:

  • 1 – In-Stream video
  • 2 – Out-Stream video

Unless provided or directly set in publisher tag configuration in the platform, an inventory is marked as In-Stream.

vi_format=2
api optional API of the inventory. Possible values:

  • 1 – VPAID 1.0
  • 2 – VPAID 2.0
  • 3 – MRAID-1
  • 4 – ORMMA
  • 5 – MRAID-2
api=1,3
skippable optional Skippability of the inventory. Possible values (case insensitive):

  • ALLOW – skippable inventory is allowed
  • NOT_ALLOW – skippable inventory is not allowed
  • REQUIRE – only skippable inventory is allowed
  • UNKNOWN – skippability is unknown (default value)
skippable=allow

 

Sources

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