I’m sure you have been in this situation: You are on your computer or mobile device, streaming videos, you select a particular video and click to play it, but before your video starts, you have to watch a different video, and advertisement. This is a pre-roll ad. Pre-roll ads are typically 30 to 15 seconds long, but can be as short as 10 or even 5 seconds. There are also mid-roll and post-roll ads, which run during the intended content and after, respectfully. Pre-roll ads are more common than the other two types. Pre-roll ads are believed to be more effective, because a viewer can easily click away during a post-roll video, because they have already watched his/her intended content. Mid-roll ads can be more intrusive in shorter length videos, like those found on YouTube, but has a more appropriate fit in longer formats, such as television shows. According to Business Insider, pre-roll ads are 2.5 times more effective than banner ads.
With such an emphasis and expansion of online videos, a strong focus is put on marketing to viewers of online videos. On just about every online video streaming site, there is some aspect of advertising and typically this is pre-roll. Whether it is YouTube, Hulu, websites for TV Networks, and news outlets like CNN and CNBC. Whether you are watching online videos for news, information or entertainment, you are probably watching a pre-roll ad before your intended content. At Transformation Marketing, we understand that you may not love having to watch an ad before watching your online video, so we try to make our pre-rolls interesting for the viewer. For example, instead of just showing the business name and contact information, we could include some story elements into our ad: a simple plot or interesting subject.
I believe, even if a video is a pre-roll ad, if it is compelling enough, the viewer will watch it. I have found myself on a few occasions watching a pre-roll ad that is a couple minutes long – I forgot to mention: sometimes pre-roll ads can be minutes in length! By the time the video finishes, I have forgotten that it was a pre-roll. I start to click away from the page, when I see my intended video starts to play and realize, “Oh, yeah. I was here to watch this video.” The content of the pre-roll was so intriguing that I focused on it and watched the entire thing.
The content was superb, but that is only part of why pre-roll ads are so popular. Advertisers can also target the audience they want to see their ads. Based on my previous viewing history, possibly even based on purchases I’ve made on that device, I was targeted, and a particular pre-roll ad was chosen for me.
At Transformation Marketing in Lincoln, Nebraska, we strive to put our clients’ content in front of as many potential customers as possible. But it isn’t just about “the most” people seeing an ad, it is about finding the people who are most likely to buy from our clients. If you feel like a lot of people are seeing your ads, but that isn’t converting into sales… it might be that all the wrong people are seeing your ads. Talk to us! So we can start putting your ads in front of the people who should be seeing them.