Archive for the ‘New features’ Category

Revisiting overlay transitions

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

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.

Tour the Timeline

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Selecting and moving multiple overlays and the video clip

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

Experience the new expander

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

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

Banner-ad-size VideoAd embedded in online publication


After mouseover, VideoAd expands to 560x300 expander size

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.

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

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


Thumbnail of embedded VideoAd

Click to see the embedded VideoAd in action

Expander with message

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


Thumbnail of embedded VideoAd

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.

transparent_thumbnail1

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.

Thumbnail of embedded VideoAd

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.

Reports – It’s all about the numbers

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

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?

As a group manager, you have access to:

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

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.

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.

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 working with reports.

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

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

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

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

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.

The power and glory of overlays

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

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

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

Animated overlays collection

How can I animate overlays?

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

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 set up lead capture?

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.

To see detailed instructions for adding video and image overlays, visit the Create page, and then click How do I add videos and images as 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.

To learn more, visit the Best Practices page, and then click Move elements together on the Timeline.

Take advantage of transparency

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

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.

ad-1209-logo_small_trans

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

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.

Better performance tracking. Better VideoAds.

Monday, February 16th, 2009

One of the compelling reasons that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are turning to online video advertising in such large numbers is because they can measure its effectiveness.

As Stephen Condon, Vice President Sales and Marketing at PixelFish wrote recently, “The old adage that ’50% of my advertising works; I just don’t know which 50%,’ is especially true with television advertising and represents an unacceptable risk to SMBs with limited marketing budgets.”

That’s why we recently refined the way the Mixpo platform tracks and measures VideoAd performance.

Our refined approach is more consistent with online ad tracking standards and gives advertisers a more accurate picture of VideoAd effectiveness.

In this article, you’ll discover:

New performance measures

To more accurately express viewer response to VideoAds, we renamed one existing performance metric and added two new ones.

  • What we used to call conversions we now call Clicks. We count a Click each time a viewer clicks an overlay to display a webpage, submits a lead capture form, or clicks a More Info or Inquire call to action on the Player’s INFO menu.
  • Engagement rate (a new metric) is an overall measure, expressed as a percentage, of a VideoAd’s ability to capture viewers’ attention and interest. We calculate Engagement rate by adding together the total number of views, interactions, and clicks and dividing that total by the number of impressions.
  • % Completed (a new metric) measures your VideoAd’s ability to hold viewers’ interest. We calculate % Completed by dividing the number of viewers who watched your entire VideoAd by the total number of viewers.

Tell me more about the INFO menu.

Changes in data presentation

We made significant changes in how we present performance data to make it easier for you to track performance in the Dashboard and optimize your VideoAds in response.

Summary data

Summary performance data

Summary performance data

The summary data now includes Engagement, the new metric, and Exposure, a metric previously available only in Advanced Analytics.

Exposure, which we calculate by adding up the total number of minutes all viewers of your VideoAd spend watching it, provides you with a measure of overall brand exposure.

If you hover over the summary statistics, you see more detail, including the new metric, % Completed.

More summary statistics on hover

Hover over the summary stats to see more

Viewer Activity

The Viewer Activity section of the Dashboard, which measures activity over time, now displays clicks along with impressions and views.

Viewer Activity section

Viewer Activity section

Hover over an orange bar to see specific click numbers and dates.

Playthrough and Engagement

In the Playthrough and Engagement Profile, you see the same green bars you’re used to. These bars show you where in your VideoAd viewers stop watching.

Playthrough and Engagement Profile

Playthrough, interactions, and clicks

We now accompany the green bars with both red circles, which represent Interactions, and orange circles, which represent Clicks. Hover over a circle to see specific details.

This gives you a clearer picture of exactly what actions viewers are taking throughout your VideoAd. The more you know, the easier it is to optimize VideoAds to perform better.

Web Activity

We’ve renamed the bottom-right section of the Dashboard and reorganized it to show Top Embeds by default.

Sites where the VideoAd is embedded listed by views

Sites where the VideoAd is embedded listed by views

Top Embeds shows you the URLs for the webpages where the VideoAd is embedded listed in descending order by number of views.

Tip You can still see the search engines and search terms viewers used to locate your VideoAd landing page by clicking Recent Referrers.

How you benefit

The refinements to our performance measures:

  • Make online video advertising even more accountable by presenting you and your advertisers with clearer indicators of a VideoAd’s performance.
  • Give you and your advertisers a more accurate picture of a VideoAd’s ability to attract, motivate, and hold viewers.
  • Make it easier for you to collaborate with advertisers to optimize VideoAds, target what works, and develop more effective VideoAd campaigns in the future.

I’d like to read detailed definitions of all performance measures.

Tell me more about tracking VideoAd performance.

Experience the redesigned Player

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

The Player is the container in which you place your VideoAd content. It’s a little program (officially a cross-platform browser plug-in) that allows viewers to play your VideoAds when they encounter them on webpages.

In the Mixpo platform, you’ve always had a significant amount of control over the Player’s appearance and behavior.

For example, you’ve been able to customize the options in the Player’s call to action menu and decide whether or not the VideoAd it contains starts playing automatically.

With our latest release, we’ve redesigned the Player and given you even more control over how it looks and behaves. New features include:

Unbranded loading graphic

You requested an unbranded loading graphic and we responded.

Click the following Player, that contains one of our easy-to-modify templates, to see the unbranded loading graphic flash by.

More attractive controls

We redesigned all of the Player controls to improve the Player’s appearance.

Pause your cursor over the following thumbnail to see the new mask that encourages clicks.

We set all Player controls to display on this thumbnail. Learn more.

Mouse-over-to-play option

Up to now, you have had two options for controlling what happens to your VideoAd when a viewer lands on the page where its embedded: autoplay with audio off and click-to-play. Now, you have a third option: mouse-over-to-play.

The Autoplay on Mouse Over option means that a VideoAd starts to play when viewers place their cursors over the Player and pause long enough for the VideoAd to load. Try it in the following thumbnail.

We set only the bottom Player controls to display on this thumbnail. Learn more.

Tip When measuring a VideoAd’s performance, we count as views mouse overs that start a VideoAd playing.

Tell me more about the measures used to track VideoAd performance.

Customizable thumbnail options

Typically, VideoAds that run as banner ads in online publications are set click-to-play. That is, rather than playing automatically when viewers land on the page where a VideoAd is embedded, viewers must click a play button.

As we mentioned in an earlier post, the thumbnail—how the Player looks before anyone plays it—is one of your most powerful tools for attracting viewers.

Now, in addition to choosing the thumbnail image, you can also choose which controls display on thumbnails.

For example, you might display the play button because you believe it will tempt viewers to click. Or, you might hide the play button so that viewers see more of the image underneath.

To select the controls that display on the thumbnail, in the Publisher, on the Embed on Your Site tab under Autoplay, click Customize Player Thumbnail.

Autoplay options on Embed on Your Site tab

Autoplay options on Embed on Your Site tab

In the Customize Player Thumbnail window, select check boxes for controls you want to display. Clear check boxes for controls you want to hide.

Customize Player Thumbnail window

Customize Player Thumbnail window

You can display all of the controls, as shown above, none of the controls, or any combination. As you select and deselect options, the preview below the options reflects your choices.

Tell me more about customizing the Player.

How do I choose a thumbnail image to represent my VideoAd?.

Tip You can now preview click-to-play and mouse-over-to-play settings on the VideoAd landing page. In the Publisher, click the Syndication tab. Under Landing Page Options, select Same Autoplay Settings as Embedded VideoAd. Save and publish, and then view your landing page.

Tell me more about customizing landing pages.

New fonts add polish to overlays

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

You’ve always had a choice of fonts for the clickthrough and lead capture overlays that you add to your VideoAds. Now, your font choices are better.

Our designer put together a selection of interesting, attractive fonts that give you a wider range of font choice and make your overlays look more polished and professional.

New overlay fonts

New overlay fonts

“The new fonts give VideoAd creators the ability to choose between modern and traditional, geometric and rounded, and serif and sans serif,” said our designer. “Whatever a VideoAd’s subject or tone, we now offer an appropriate overlay font to accompany it.”

As always, when we introduce a new feature, we’ve made sure that none of your existing VideoAds will be affected. Overlay fonts stay exactly as you originally set them unless you open the Studio and make a new font selection.

If you decide to update overlays in an existing VideoAd, when you select an overlay, you’ll notice that the font menu on the Overlays tab is blank.

Updating fonts for an existing overlay

Updating fonts for an existing overlay

Click the drop-down arrow to display the font list and select one of the new fonts.

In addition to the new fonts, you’ll notice some small changes to the arrangement of formatting options on the Overlays tab.

Overlays tab formatting options

Overlays tab - Rearranged formatting options

All the same options are available. We’ve just distributed the options more evenly by moving the Drop shadow option down beside the Transparency slider.

I’d like to read an earlier post about creating overlays that work at any embed size.

Tell me more about adding overlays to VideoAds

Try the newly designed landing pages

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

The lastest release of the platform includes redesigned landing pages. The new designs make the landing pages more interesting and offer you a greater range of layout, color, and font choices.

Why do I care about landing pages?

Here are two examples of the new landing page designs. Click a thumbnail to see more detail.

VideoAd landing page

Green color theme

VideoAd landing page

Red color theme

What do I have to do to take advantage of the new designs?

Nothing. We automatically assign new landing page designs to existing VideoAds.

Because the new designs are so interesting, however, we recommend that you take the time to find out what your options are.

How do I preview and choose a new landing page design?

To select landing page colors and layouts:

  1. In the Dashboard, in the Your VideoAds list, click a thumbnail to display any published VideoAd’s landing page.

  2. At the top of the landing page, click the green Edit Landing Page button.
  3. Select color theme options to preview each of the 6 color themes.
  4. Select layout options to preview each of the six layouts.
  5. When you’re happy with a color theme and layout combination, click Save.