Posts Tagged ‘Player’

Show Player controls in Spanish

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

When an Xspot is running on a website or network visited primarily by Spanish speakers, you can localize the Mixpo Player to adapt to the primary audience.

You have two localization opportunities:

Turn on the Spanish language Player controls

When you turn on Spanish controls, the Player buttons, close box, and some INFO menu options automatically appear in Spanish.

The following thumbnail shows the localized Roll Over to Play button.

Roll Over to Play button in Spanish

Roll Over to Play button with Spanish Player turned on

Use Spanish for INFO menu calls to action

You can customize the Website Link and Contact Us INFO menu calls to action by typing them in Spanish.

The text in the first two INFO menu options in the following thumbnail were typed in Spanish. The bottom 3 sharing options (which you can choose to show or hide) are localized automatically when you turn on the Spanish-language Player.

INFO menu options in Spanish

Spanish language INFO menu options

The text fields for the custom calls to action support all of the special Spanish characters.

More information

Mixpo account holders can learn more by visiting Client Resources, and then searching for spanish.

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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.

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Maximize the INFO menu

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

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

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

Closed INFO menu as VideoAd plays

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

Expanded INFO menu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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Autoplay and the VideoAd viewer’s experience

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Just for a moment, put yourself into a VideoAd viewer’s shoes.

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

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

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 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

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

Click to play video and audio

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