In 2021, the average person watched around 100 minutes of online video per day. With all those eyeballs on digital videos, advertisers are pushing for video inventory more than ever.

That means video ads present publishers with an enormous opportunity for profit.

Publishers looking to increase their revenue are jumping onto the online video ad bandwagon en masse. Even those who are already doing video are looking to increase their ROI. As they refine their video strategies to enjoy the benefits of video ads, publishers are also encountering some of the challenges of video ads.

In this post, we examine the benefits and challenges of video ads for publishers. Read on for more information, and reach out to Playwire for help RAMPing up your revenue through video ads.

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5 Benefits of Video Ads

What do publishers stand to gain from video? A lot. The potential benefits of video ads are immense. Let’s take a look at a few of these benefits.

 

 

1. Video Ads Bring in More Money

For most publishers, this is the bottom line. Money can be tight in the digital publishing world, but video ads can be an income stream or raging income river, depending on your audience, position in the market, and how aggressive you are with your video publishing and inventory strategy.

Most publishers are familiar with the typical cost per mille (CPMs) for standard IAB banner ads, which average relatively low CPMs. But video ads can yield an exponential increase in CPMs, with typical CPMs for outstream video players being as much as 5x those of standard banner or display ads.

2. Videos Drive Engagement

For viewers, video is easy. It’s easy to watch, it’s easy to let the next one autoplay, and it’s easy to kill a lot of time online while watching video after video. The more time people spend watching the videos you create and monetize with ads, the more impressions you get.

But there’s more to video engagement than impressions. Adding video can boost your conversion rates. Sites with video have average conversion rates of nearly 5% — a jump up from the nearly 3% conversion rate averages for publishers who don’t use video.

It also bears mentioning that while a user is engaged and on the page longer (thanks to great video content), you will also see increased exposure for all your ads on-page.

3. Videos Bring Publishers’ Brands to Life

Whether you’ve been text- and image-only so far or have made some videos, you could be missing out on an opportunity to bring your brand into 3D focus for users.

Video delivers more information about your brand and subject matter than text ever can. Text content and images are great, but they can’t compete with high-quality video that is optimized to draw viewers in.

Video is the most consumable form of content for social media users. Videos get 1,200% more social shares than images and text. That’s a way to get your content and your brand in front of a lot more people — fast.

4. Video Boosts Search Engine Visibility

Google loves videos as much as your users will. At the most basic level, a video player is a visual element on the page, and Google likes to see visual elements. But videos and video ads can increase other search engine signals that are known to boost rankings.

More engagement, more time spent on your site, a lower bounce rate — these are just a few of the SEO signals that video can improve for publishers’ sites. And Google will soon start to take notice of these improvements, giving you an edge in the search engine results pages.

5. Some Video Ad Formats Work REALLY Well

Video ad formats are available in a wide variety, and while all of them generally perform better than display ads on revenue, there are some that really shine.

Docked video players that are adhesive to the bottom corner of the screen stay well in view without overly affecting user experience, making an incredibly effective video ad. Rewarded video ad units are especially lucrative and actually serve to improve the user experience (Yes, really!).

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Read the Guide: The Guide to Video Ads for Web + App Publishers

4 Challenges of Video Ads

When video ads are done wrong, they present some serious challenges for publishers. Lost investment, damage to the user experience (UX) and audience base, and technical difficulties stand in the way of many publishers who want to boost their revenue through video.

Below, we take a look at some of the challenges of video ads for publishers and how to get through or avoid them.

1. Video Ads Can Be Difficult to Implement

Want to boost your revenue with video ads? You’re probably going to need some videos and, at the very least, a video player on your site. Do you work with a video partner? Hire an in-house video production team? And which video player should you use to keep your site fast?

After all that, you’re still left with this question: how do I sell my video ad inventory to advertisers?

For busy publishers with limited resources, implementing video can feel like an impossible challenge. However, as video advertising has exploded to new heights over the last decade, so have your options for video partners who can both help you create video content and monetize that content through video ads.

2. Done Wrong, Video Can Harm UX

Several years ago, video players were clunky. They slowed publishers’ sites down. They also automatically loaded with the volume turned all the way up. Often, they would pop up and obscure the text content the user was reading. Just make sure you are using the right ad format and you'll stay safe.

Those are all terrible UX factors. But they really aren’t a concern for publishers anymore. Why? Because there are countless options for nimbly-coded video players that load fast and on mute. Video partners have also learned how to help publishers’ sites load video content last (also called “lazy loading”), so it doesn’t harm site speed.

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Learn how Letterboxd increased revenue by 490% through their partnership with Playwire.

3. Some Users Will Resist Video

Try to remember the last time you changed something about your content or website. Then think of the time before that — really, any time you’ve made a change. Have you ever gotten away with it without hearing from at least one vocal user who liked things better the old way?

This is publishing 101. Some readers, viewers, players, and the like will always resist change, especially when they’re die-hard loyal fans. Many publishers have encountered this phenomenon when adding video and video advertising to their offerings. We call this the “vocal minority” because, while they may speak up, your metrics often speak to the fact that the overwhelming majority of your users feel differently.

You certainly should hear out your audience if they have concerns, but balance that with a look at the overall metrics. In almost every case, adding video boosts engagement and revenue for publishers.

4. Video Can Be Expensive

Hiring an in-house team to create videos for your brand is going to cost a lot of money. If you outsource, freelance video creators charge high rates and can miss the mark for your brand voice and tone. How, with the publishing world’s narrow profit margins and shoestring budgets, can publishers absorb high expenses to take a chance on video ads?

In earlier days, this was a leap of faith. Now, you don’t have to go into video advertising blind. Video partners like Playwire offer video content that is curated for your brand to automatically load on your site and uses sophisticated code to place relevant videos with all of your content. They do this efficiently so they can pass down the cost savings to publishers who are looking to break into video advertising.

Playwire Makes Video Advertising Easy

Adding video to your publishing repertoire presents some challenges, but the payoff can be more than significant — it can ensure that your brand survives and thrives for years to come.

The challenges of video ads shouldn’t stop you from getting in on this. That’s what we believe at Playwire, and it’s why we have created publisher-friendly video ad solutions . Our video ad solutions solve problems with video players, UX, and even video content creation. Our creative team can create vertical-specific and studio-quality videos for your brand so you can monetize those videos by selling them as ad inventory.

The bottom line? Playwire makes video ads easy for publishers. To find out more, contact us online.

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Video Advertising Resources

Browse more of our resources about incorporating video ads on your website, mobile app or desktop app: