That translates to a significant opportunity for publishers. If publishers are not maximizing that opportunity, they are missing out on revenue.
Maximizing Your Video Advertising Inventory
Publishers that rely on advertising know that the more advertising inventory they have on their site, the more opportunities they have to sell. However, many publishers see that cutting down the number of advertisements displayed actually raises the net revenue, due to the rise in value of the remaining ad space being sold.
What is certain, the more people see those ads, the more valuable the space becomes. Some publishers acquire traffic to boost visits and impression counts. Others load up their pages with so many ads that it negatively impacts the user experience, and eventually the revenue as well. Neither of these practices builds loyalty or creates engagement. Unengaged users don’t click on ads, watch videos, or stay on site. While the industry average bounce rate is between 41-51%, these sites see higher bounce rates which hurt SEO and limit advertising CPMs.
Whether the publisher’s source of traffic is organic or paid, the mission is the same, to consistently deliver quality content and increase user time on site and page visits per session. This will typically grow loyal visitors, who have much higher engagement and lower bounce rates. That is the best way to maximize the value and, eventually, the quantity of their ad inventory.
How to Add More Video Advertising Inventory
Video ad inventory requires a slightly different kind of thinking. One way to think of it is that every minute of viewed video is equal to two page views (or the rate that fits your economics). If adding quality non-video ad inventory requires publishers to get users to view more articles, adding quality video inventory requires getting users to consume more minutes of video. There are a few basic ways to do this:
- Placing a video unit on every page
- Creating video for every article
- Adding a collapsible/sticky video unit
- Finding the right size video player
- Use discovery tech
Placing video units on each page will certainly create additional inventory, and though it is an obvious solution, many publishers don’t implement it because they think every video placement has to have a unique piece of content. But that is easy to overstep by using those placements to play related videos, or even syndicated ones. Also, the video unit must be natively designed so as to not hurt UX.
Creating a video for every article is sure to add quality video inventory. But, it is both time-consuming and expensive. So, when it doesn’t cover the investment, a publisher can recommend syndicated content or publisher-created videos that are related to the article or user interest.
A collapsible (sticky) video unit starts playing inside the content and then moves to the side. As users scroll, the content or ad keeps playing. This will increase viewing time and video consumption rate.
Finding the right size video player for a website is a balancing act. Obviously, a bigger video unit promotes user involvement and advertiser revenue. However, if it’s made too big, or too big for its placement, it can harm the user experience.
Video Discovery uses an algorithmic solution to position video on every page. Through targeting, users see the video most likely to capture their attention. When relevant videos are presented to visitors, it increases video consumption. That translates into additional video ad inventory and better monetization.
Growing Video Consumption
In summary, the way to increase video inventory in a manner that delivers true value to advertisers, and thus grows sustainable video revenue, is by scaling video consumption. There are many ways a publisher can choose, and publishers who leverage technology in a smart manner will be the ones to reap the rewards from the golden age of digital video.
