Imagine that you’re sitting in your cubicle and you decide to read an online professional publication that keeps you up-to-date on work-related technology. You navigate to the home page that just happens to contain an online video ad for a well-known intimate apparel retailer. The video ad with audio automatically starts playing. Before you have a chance to turn down the sound on your computer, information about the latest underwear is broadcast to the colleagues who sit near you.

Ok. This example might be a little dramatic but it does highlight the user experience pitfalls with autoplay audio. It also serves as a warning sign to advertisers: Viewers who are inconvenienced or embarrassed by an online video ad are unlikely to purchase the products or services the ad is selling.

That’s why, in the Mixpo VideoAd platform, we give you the following two options for how your VideoAd behaves when a viewer lands on the page where the ad is embedded:

• Autoplay with audio muted
• Click to play

Autoplay with audio muted

A good choice for VideoAds embedded in pages, such as websites, blogs, or directory profile pages, opened by self-selected viewers.

In the drop-down list, you set the number of times the VideoAd automatically plays. My advice is to go for fewer replays.

Autoplay with audio muted option

When you choose this option, the video portion of the VideoAd plays automatically and viewers see text on the VideoAd that they click to start the audio.

Click to play audio

Click to play

The essential choice for VideoAds embedded in online publications where viewers will stumble on your VideoAd by chance.

Click to play option

When you choose this option, viewers see a play button on the VideoAd. They click the button to play both video and audio.

Click to play video and audio