VideoAdviser

“Despite the slowing growth predicted for 2009, online video ads are still rising in popularity at a pace that would be welcomed by most other ad media.”

So says eMarketer, while predicting 23 percent growth in online video ad spending during 2009.

This impressive growth rate means that, as a sales or operations team member at a local broadcast provider or online publisher, you’re likely to be managing an increasing number of advertiser accounts that include VideoAds, and it will become increasingly important to manage these accounts efficiently.

In the Mixpo VideoAd platform, by following one simple rule and taking advantage of a couple of handy features, you can easily:

• Keep track of each advertiser’s VideoAds.
• Access advertiser accounts.
• Monitor and communicate VideoAd performance.

Keep track of each advertiser’s VideoAds

It’s easy to keep track of each advertiser’s VideoAds, if you follow one simple rule:

• Create a separate account for each advertiser.

Why follow the one advertiser/one account rule?

• You eliminate the possibility of confusion about which VideoAds belong to which advertiser.
• Performance reports are automatically generated on an account-by-account basis. Separating advertisers by account makes it easy to keep them informed.
• You can search on account name to quickly locate and compare the performance of all of an advertiser’s active VideoAds.

Create an Account option in Account Settings

Group Managers create new accounts by signing in, opening Account Settings, and then clicking Create an Account.

Show me detailed steps for creating new advertiser accounts.

Access advertiser accounts

In Account Settings, you can search for individual accounts by typing part of all of the account name.

But, as a Group Manager, probably the quickest way for you to locate a specific account is to use the handy List All Accounts in Group option.

List All Accounts in Group option in Account Settings

In the resulting list of all the accounts that you manage, you can click a specific account name to open the Update Account page.

Clicking an account in the accounts list

From the Update Account page, you can edit account details and sign in to the advertiser account to create, modify, or publish a VideoAd.

Signing in to an account from the Update Account page

Tip You don’t have to sign out of your Group Manager account to sign in to the advertiser account and you can return to the Group Manager Account at any time. Learn more.

Monitor and communicate VideoAd performance

While a lot of creative effort goes into making VideoAds, they are not ends in themselves. What matters – to you and your advertisers – are the clicks, leads, and brand exposure that VideoAds generate.

In the Mixpo VideoAd platform, for your convenience, performance reports in PDF format are automatically generated on a weekly and monthly basis for each account.

If you manage a number of advertiser accounts, signing in, locating, and downloading the reports for each account can be quite time consuming.

Save yourself a lot of time by setting up each advertiser account so you receive the auto-generated reports in email.

During set up, you can identify multiple email recipients. If you choose, performance reports can be sent directly to advertisers as well as to yourself.

Show me to details about how to receive performance reports by email.

You’ve created some great VideoAds for your advertisers. Your sales reps want to show examples to prospective customers but they can’t always count on Internet connections during their sales pitches.

In addition to running a VideoAd in your publication, an advertiser wants to upload the ad to YouTube or other video-sharing websites.

Now, generating a free-standing video file that you can play offline or upload is easy.

From within the VideoAd platform, you can download any VideoAd as an MPEG-4 (.mp4) video file. Common media players, including Windows Media® Player and QuickTime®, and popular video-sharing websites all support the .mp4 format.

Download MP4 Version button on the Syndication tab

To download a VideoAd, click Download MP4 Version on the Syndication tab in the Publisher.

Downloading is actually a two-step process:

• First, the platform has to generate the .mp4 file.
• Then, you can save the file to your computer.

Because file generation can take a few minutes, we’ve designed the process so you don’t have to sit and wait for it to happen. After you click the Download button to start the generation process, generation occurs in the background.

You can close the Download MP4 Version window, cancel out of the Publisher, and do some other tasks in the VideoAd platform. Or, if it’s time for a break or meeting, you can even close the platform altogether.

When you return and click Download MP4 Version, you can immediately save the .mp4 file to your computer.

Things to consider

• When you download a VideoAd to a free-standing .mp4 file, you lose interactivity. For example, suppose your VideoAd includes an overlay that viewers click to open a lead capture form. That overlay won’t be clickable in the .mp4 version.
• The INFO menu is not available in the .mp4 version.

I’d like more details about how to download a VideoAd.

In a previous post, you learned how you can transition overlays into and out of the VideoAd viewing area.

Since we first introduced transitions, we’ve made them work even better. Now, you can set an overlay’s entry transition independent of its exit transition.

Take a look at this brief sample VideoAd for a pizza restaurant. Pay special attention to the three promotional statements that enter the viewing area from the bottom and exit out the top.

Also, notice the Best Pizza logo. Early in the VideoAd, it grows onto the screen and then, toward the end, it slides off to the left.

Overlay transitions give you a lot of bang for your buck. They’re extremely quick and easy to set up. And they add large doses of sophistication and visual appeal to your advertisers’ VideoAds.

Overlays make VideoAds more effective in a number of ways. Type “overlays” into the Search box to learn more.

Cross-platform ad buys make sense for both you and your advertisers. When the same ad runs both on television and online, you make more money and your advertisers reach larger and more diverse audiences.

But don’t let the online versions of those cross-platform ads end up as what Gary Stein in Online Video Advertising’s Breakout Moment calls “broadcastware.”

By “broadcastware,” Stein means ads that never make the digital leap, that remain mired in television think and fail to take advantage of the interactive possibilities that online offers.

With the VideoAd platform, it’s easy to turn passive TV ad footage into a digital-ready, interactive online video ad. In this post, we’ll focus in particular on two convenient features of the Timeline:

• Overlay management.
• Selecting and re-ordering Timeline elements.

Overlay management

For the purposes of this discussion, let’s assume the advertiser you’re working with is a travel agency promoting a trip to Barcelona, Spain.

After you upload the advertiser’s TV video file, the Studio looks something like this.

Studio with uploaded TV spot in Timeline

The 30-second TV spot you uploaded, shown here in red because it’s selected, appears as a visual in the Timeline.

Now’s your chance to cross the digital divide.

Given the nature of television, all the TV-spot can do is verbally encourage viewers, who want more information about the Barcelona tour, to contact the travel agency by phone or email.

In the VideoAd version, you have other, much more powerful options.

If you add a lead capture overlay, viewers can request information about or even sign up for the tour right from within the VideoAd.

Overlay that opens a lead capture form

You can also add website link overlays that viewers click to visit the travel agency website or to open an annotated map of Barcelona that shows the tour highlights.

Website link overlays linked to pages on the travel agency website

Each overlay you add is automatically added to the Text row on the Timeline. You have full control over each overlay’s position and duration.

Overlay selected in the Text row of the Timeline

To position an overlay in the visual flow, drag it along the Timeline. To set how long an overlay remains visible, drag the handle on its right end.

Dragging an overlay handle to set how long it's visible

To learn more about overlays, see The power and glory of overlays, Don’t forget lead capture, and The power of video and image overlays.

Selecting and re-ordering Timeline elements

Unlike television ads, online VideoAds often play only in response to viewer actions, such as clicks or mouseovers.

This means that, when you create an online version of a TV spot, it’s essential to take the time to make the VideoAd as inviting as possible.

One of the most effective ways to make a VideoAd more inviting is to add a compelling image as the VideoAd’s initial thumbnail.

Here’s how the Timeline might look immediately after you upload a compelling initial image to the Barcelona tour VideoAd.

Initial image added to right end of Timeline

The initial image is the first image that viewers see so you need to move it from the end of the VideoAd (far right on the Timeline) to the beginning (far left on the Timeline).

However, if you simply drag the image from right to left, you’ll shift the elements on the visual row while leaving the overlay elements in place. This means that you’ll have to reposition all of the overlay elements in relation to the video clip.

This is when you can take advantage of the Timeline’s multi-select features.

Click the T at the far left end of the overlays row. This selects all of the overlays.

Click the T to select all overlays

Then, press CTRL (or the Command (Apple) key on the Mac) and select the video clip in the visual row. Drag these related elements together to the right until the initial image is in its proper location on the far left.

Selecting and moving multiple overlays and the video clip

To learn more about the power of initial images, see Better thumbnails mean more views.

In response to viewer clicks and mouseovers, VideoAds now do more than play.

They also expand from the 300×250 banner ad size to a 560×300 expander.

Banner-ad-size VideoAd embedded in online publication

After mouseover, VideoAd expands to 560x300 expander size

You’re in control of whether a VideoAd expands and what the expander space contains. For example, you can set a VideoAd to fill the space in a wide-screen format. Or, you can add a message or image to the left of the ad.

You also have the option of adding a colored border and background to an expander.

Expander examples

Click each of the following four thumbnails to open a webpage where an expandable VideoAd is embedded in a hypothetical online publication.

When the webpage opens, pause your cursor over the embedded VideoAd to expand and play it.

To see a couple of other new features in action – overlay transitions and image overlays – take a few seconds to watch the entire VideoAd.

I’d like more information about using overlays.

These examples give you a sense of what’s possible. They also make it clear that, with the addition of the expander, advertisers are limited only by their imaginations.

Examples are fine but I want to know how to set up expandable VideoAds for my advertisers.

Tip Want to turn expanding on for a VideoAd that is already embedded in an online publication? After you set the expander options, be sure to copy the new embed code and paste it over the old code.

• VideoAd fills the expander
• Expander with message
• Expander with transparent image
• Expander with regular image

VideoAd fills the expander

This expander contains only the VideoAd and has a colored border.

Click to see the embedded VideoAd in action

Expander with message

For this expander, I added a custom message and a colored border.

Click to see the embedded VideoAd in action

Expander with transparent image

For this expander, I uploaded a transparent image.

In the expander, the space to the left of the VideoAd is exactly 200 pixels wide and 300 pixels tall. You can create neat effects by uploading a transparent image of just that size. Be sure to turn off the border.

Click to see the embedded VideoAd in action

Expander with regular image

You aren’t restricted to transparent images or images of any particular size. All images you upload will be centered and scaled appropriately.

For this expander, I uploaded a regular (non-transparent) image. I added a colored border and background color.

Click to see the embedded VideoAd in action

Image credits

The bouquet I used in the Expander with regular image example is a photograph taken by Keith Kerr. Keith’s fine photos are available for use according to these guidelines.

The transparent rose that appears in the Expander with transparent image example and as an image overlay in the VideoAd came from the website fabiovisentin.com.

For you and your advertisers, it’s all about the numbers.

Advertisers want to know what they’re getting for their advertising dollars.

You sell advertising based on its ability to perform.

In this post, we’ll walk through the performance reports available in the VideoAd platform and describe some best practices for accessing and generating them.

We’ll answer the following questions:

• What types of performance reports are available?
• How can group managers easily monitor their accounts?
• Can group managers generate custom reports?

What types of performance reports are available?

As a group manager, you have access to:

• Summary reports by VideoAd.
• Detailed performance reports by account.
• Summary performance reports by group.

All reports are in PDF format that you can easily open, save, print, and email to advertisers.

Summary reports by VideoAd

Summary report for several VideoAds in an account

Useful for: Providing advertisers with a high-level snapshot of how one or more of their VideoAds are performing.

Includes: Graphical displays of views, clicks, interactions, and playthrough. A tabular presentation of engagement and exposure rates for each VideoAd.

Generated by: Selecting the VideoAds you want to include, specifying a date range, and clicking the Generate Report button in the Dashboard.

Detailed performance reports by account

Detailed account report. Data shown for one VideoAd in report.

Useful for: Analyzing a VideoAd’s performance on an on-going basis and optimizing the VideoAd to perform better.

Includes: Summary engagement and exposure statistics for each VideoAd accompanied by detailed graphical displays of impressions, interactions, views, and clicks.

Generated by: The platform, automatically, every week and every month. Available in the Advanced Analytics section of each advertiser account or by email.

Tip Not sure what a particular statistic means? Check the glossary of performance terms included as the last page in each account report.

Summary performance reports by group

Group report with summary data for each account.

Useful for: Maintaining a high-level perspective on the account activity within a group. Comparing the performance of accounts across the group.

Includes: Summary of activity across all accounts. Tabular presentation of engagement and exposure rates for each account.

Generated by: The platform, automatically, every week and every month. Available in the Advanced Analytics section of the group manager’s account or by email.

I’d like more details about accessing each type of report.

How can group managers easily monitor their accounts?

The easiest way to stay informed about the performance of VideoAds and accounts in your group is to receive automatically generated account and group reports by email.

Setting up email receipt of automated reports

To set up email receipt of reports, sign in to the account with reports you want to receive and go to the Reports tab in the Advanced Analytics section.

For example, to receive group reports by email, sign in to your group manager account. To receive specific advertiser account reports by email, sign in to each advertiser account.

You can have reports sent to just one or several email addresses. In the Email to list, separate multiple addresses with commas or spaces.

I’d like more details about setting up email receipt of reports.

Can group managers generate custom reports?

Yes they can.

From within an advertiser account, you can generate account reports customized by date range and the specific VideoAds the report includes.

From within your group manager account, you can generate group reports customized by date range.

You generate custom reports on the Reports tab in the Advanced Analytics section.

Generating a custom report

This picture shows how to generate an account report that covers the time period from January to April, 2009 and includes only VideoAds with data.

As custom reports are generated, they are placed into a Customized Reports list on the Reports tab.

Customized reports list

To open a PDF report, click the link. To delete a report, click the red x.

I’d like more details about generating custom reports.

Tip

You can quickly generate custom account reports for specific time periods from within your group manager account. Under Individual Account Reports, select a time period, and then click to open a PDF report.

Individual account reports for a specific week

When you generate individual account reports using this method, you can’t specify which VideoAds the report includes.

Say you’re running an advertiser’s 30-sec TV spot as a VideoAd.

Arguably, the most powerful way you can add value to that VideoAd is through overlays.

Overlays are text, image, or video objects that you place on top of the content of a VideoAd.

A recent study shows that text overlays increase the amount of a video ad that viewers watch and the percentage of viewers who watch the entire VideoAd.

While the power of overlays may lie with their ability to increase viewers’ exposure to an advertiser’s brand, the true glory of well-designed overlays is how they engage viewers and encourage them to interact.

To understand how you can harness the full power and glory of overlays, take a look at the following demo VideoAd featuring a hypothetical pizza restaurant called Best Pizza.

The VideoAd illustrates how you can:

• Transition overlays onto the screen.
• Keep viewers who click from leaving your website.
• Add interest with animation
• Use calls to action to capture leads.
• Encourage clickthroughs by making the entire VideoAd a link.
• Add depth with image (and video) overlays.

Transition overlays onto the screen

Every overlay in the VideoAd, including the Best Pizza logo, takes advantage of transitions, the most recent overlay feature added to the platform.

• The logo in the upper left corner grows in toward the beginning of the VideoAd and shrinks out toward the end.
• Authentic Italian Pizza!, a plain text overlay, slides in and out from the top.
• The animated Contact Us! overlay fades in and after a few seconds fades out.
• Click to order now! slides in and out from the left.
• See our full menu! grows in and shrinks out.

Adding transitions brings overlays to viewers’ attention and adds visual appeal to the entire VideoAd.

How do I set overlay transitions?

Keep viewers who click from leaving your website

You want your advertiser’s VideoAds to perform well. At the same time, you’re not real crazy about the idea of viewers clicking overlays in VideoAds and leaving your website.

Now both you and the advertiser can get what you want.

Play the demo pizza VideoAd again. When the Contact Us! overlay fades in, click it.

The Google map of the hypothetical restaurant’s location opens in a frame on top of this blog post. Click Close in the upper right corner of the frame and you’re right back on the website where you started.

How do I set links to open in a frame?

Add interest with animation

You probably noticed that the Contact Us! overlay is animated.

Advertisers who want to add a light touch to an offer or promotion have a small collection of professionally-designed animated overlays to choose among.

Animated overlays collection

How do I add an animated overlay?

Use calls to action to capture leads

Play the demo pizza VideoAd until you come to the Click to order now! overlay. Click the overlay.

A color-coordinated lead capture form opens where viewers can type their names, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, and pizza orders.

When a viewer clicks Send, the pizza restaurant receives the order in an email message at a specified email address. The message will look something like this:

Lead capture email message

In addition to having a convenient way to process delivery orders, the pizza restaurant also has an on-going supply of contact information for highly qualified leads to whom it can send newsletters, special promotion announcements, and more.

Tip Go ahead and submit a pizza order. Just don’t expect to actually have a pizza delivered.

How do I associate a lead capture form with an overlay?

I’d like to read more about lead capture.

Encourage clickthroughs by making the entire VideoAd a link

Place your cursor anywhere over the VideoAd as it plays and notice that the cursor changes to a hand. The entire VideoAd is hot.

This greatly increases the likelihood that viewers will click the VideoAd and end up right on the webpage where the advertiser wants them to be.

How do I turn my entire VideoAd into a hyperlink?

Add depth with image (and video) overlays

Seconds after the demo pizza VideoAd begins playing, the pizza restaurant’s logo transitions onto the screen. The logo remains in the upper left corner throughout the VideoAd, reinforcing the Best Pizza brand.

The logo is an image overlay. Image overlays work just like text overlays. You can associate them with URL’s or lead capture forms.

In this demo, clicking the logo opens the Mixpo home page. An actual advertiser can associate a logo with the URL that best supports its promotional goals.

Tip Take a close look at the Best Pizza logo. It’s transparent. The VideoAd platform supports transparent images in GIF and PNG format.

I’d like to read more about transparent images and image and video overlays.

How do I add image and video overlays?

Studio Tip

With this release of the platform, overlays are easier than ever to manage in the Studio. You can now select all or multiple overlays and move them as one unit. Learn more.

When it comes to uploading video and image files to the Mixpo platform, you have two options:

• Local processing option.
• Server processing option.

These options aren’t created equal.

In this post you’ll learn about the differences and get advice about the best option to choose.

Local processing option

Show me more details about local processing.

Server processing option

Show me more details about server processing.

In spite of the grim economic outlook, online video ad spending is projected to grow during 2009.

Obviously a number of factors, including the ever increasing availability of broadband, contribute to this trend.

But a significant part of the reason advertisers are turning to video ads is because they’re effective. The “lean forward” nature of the medium results in more brand exposure and higher levels of viewer engagement.

The Mixpo platform includes a number of tools designed specifically to increase VideoAd engagement. To keep your current advertising clients happy and attract more, you’ll want to take advantage of all of these tools.

One powerful tool you may have overlooked is the INFO menu.

In this post you’ll discover:

• What the INFO menu is.
• How you can make it work harder for advertisers.
• What the sharing options are and when to turn them off.
• How you can increase the likelihood that viewers will notice and expand the menu.

What the INFO menu is

The INFO menu is an action menu that is built in to the Mixpo VideoAd Player.

Viewers of a VideoAd can click an INFO menu option to open a webpage, send an email message to the advertiser, or share the VideoAd with others.

While a VideoAd is playing, INFO is visible in the upper left corner of the ad.

Closed INFO menu as VideoAd plays

When the VideoAd finishes playing, the INFO menu expands automatically.

Expanded INFO menu

In addition, at any time while the VideoAd plays, viewers can pause their cursors over INFO to expand the menu.

Make the menu work harder for advertisers

The options in the expanded INFO menu shown above are the default options. You don’t have to live with these defaults.

We’ll talk more about the three sharing options in the next section. In this section, we’ll focus on the website link and email options.

Let’s face it. The labels More Info and Inquire are hardly inspiring. They’re placeholders, really, designed to communicate the functions of the options and meant to be changed.

By customizing the labels, you can tailor them to a specific advertiser and increase the likelihood that viewers will click.

For example, here is how you might customize the options for a pizza restaurant.

INFO menu for pizza restaurant

On the other hand, this is how the options for a home building contractor might look.

INFO menu for building contractor

Tip Choose the INFO option labels in the context of the entire VideoAd. For example, if the VideoAd includes an overlay that encourages viewers to Request a Free Quote, you might want to use a different call to action in the INFO menu.

Tell more more about overlays

To customize the options, in the Dashboard, locate the VideoAd you want to customize. Click Publishing, and then click the Customize tab.

Customize tab where you choose INFO option labels

When you customize the website link and email option labels, you also specify the URL and email address you want to associate with the options.

I’d like more details about customizing the INFO menu

The sharing options

By default, the INFO menu includes three sharing options:

• Send to a Friend Allows viewers to specify the email addresses of up to 10 friends. These friends receive an email message that contains a link to the VideoAd’s landing page.
• Copy Link Automatically copies the URL to the VideoAd’s landing page. Viewers can paste the URL into a webpage to provide access to the VideoAd from their own websites.
• Embed Video Allows viewers to copy the embed code for the VideoAd so they can embed it into their own websites.

What is a VideoAd landing page?

The sharing options make sense for advertisers who publish VideoAds on their own websites or on directory profile pages. It’s in these advertisers’ interest to see their VideoAds distributed as widely as possible.

On the other hand, when advertisers buy banner ad space through online publishers, the sharing options may not make sense.

To turn off the sharing options, in the Dashboard, locate the VideoAd you want to customize. Click Publishing, and then click the Customize tab.

Turning off the INFO menu sharing options

In the Sharing section of the Customize tab, clear the check boxes for the sharing options you want to turn off.

INFO menu with sharing options turned off

With the sharing options turned off, the expanded INFO menu contains only the website link and email options.

Bring the INFO menu to viewers’ attention

After you customize the INFO menu, you want to make sure that viewers of a VideoAd notice that the menu is there.

We provide you with a couple of alternatives for attracting viewers’ attention:

• Point to INFO with a banner.
• Highlight INFO with a glow.

You can customize the text in the banner and set the frequency with which it appears.

Banner pointing to INFO menu

The text in this banner corresponds to one of the options viewers will find when they expand the INFO menu.

You can customize the color of the glow to match or contrast with the colors of the Player controls.

Glow highlighting the INFO menu

The glow automatically pulses on and off throughout the VideoAd.

You set the banner and glow options in the Publisher on the same Customize tab where you customize the INFO menu options.

I’d like more details about customizing the INFO menu

Transparent images are images that have a transparent background. They are still rectangular in shape with a definite width and height but, since you can’t see the background, they appear to have irregular boundaries.

For example, this is a transparent version of the Mixpo logo.

Transparent images as visual overlays

Company logos frequently have transparent backgrounds. Logos are likely to be the most common type of transparent image that advertisers want you to include in their VideoAds.

Tip While logos are vital brand elements, they usually aren’t integral to a VideoAd’s key message. To place a transparent logo on top of the content of the ad, add it as a visual overlay.

Tell me more about adding visual overlays.

This brief VideoAd demonstrates the use of transparent images as visual overlays.

Transparent images as VideoAd content

In addition to placing transparent images as overlays on top of the visual content in your VideoAds, you can also add transparent images to the Timeline to include them in the body of the VideoAd itself.

Transparent tree image in body of VideoAd

For example, here is the transparent tree image included as a visual element on the Timeline.

Tip Remember that the background for VideoAd content is black. If you add black transparent images, such as the villain or axe from the demo VideoAd above, to the Timeline, they’ll be invisible in the VideoAd.

Because transparent images are often dramatic and compelling, you might want to consider using them as initial thumbnails for VideoAds set in mouse-over-to-play or click-to-play mode.

I’d like to know more about uploading images.