How To Spot “Fake Pre-Roll”

Published by Tod Sacerdoti on July 24, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Yesterday I wrote a post on AdAge on “How to Spot Fake Pre-Roll,” as we have noticed a trend of online publishers and networks packaging low quality ad units as pre-roll. The article goes into detail about what to look out for and what questions you should ask to verify your pre-roll buys.

Here are the highlights:

Pre-Roll Quality Categories
1. Gold Standard: Traditional Pre-Roll, as defined above
2. High Quality: Video ads that play in the middle of long form content (such as an ad between segments of House on Hulu.com)
3. Medium Quality: Video ads that auto-start with sound in a publisher’s video section; no user initiation
4. Low Quality: Video ads that auto-start with sound on a publisher’s home page; no user initiation or attention
5. Questionable Quality: Video ads that auto-start without sound in display inventory (typically by an ad network without video technology)
6. Borderline Fraudulent: Video ads that auto-start without sound on a publisher’s video player which can be embedded by users anywhere

Key Queries to insure 100% Pre-Roll:
1. Will my video ads ever be played in the middle of content, as opposed to before content?
2. Will my video ads ever be served into an environment where video is not the main content on the page?
3. Will my video ads ever be auto-started, i.e. started without a user initiation?
4. Will my video ads ever be started with the sound off?
5. Will my video ads ever be served into display inventory?
6. Will my video ads be served into any syndicated content? (Syndication almost always means a reduction in quality.)
7. Can you provide me with a list of every URL my ads will appear on?

Yes, TV Size Audiences Are Accessible Online

Published by Tod Sacerdoti on July 1, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

I recently sat on a panel where a big topic of discussion was: Can we reach television-sized audiences using online video? The answer is, unequivocally, yes. However, it became clear that most digital media buyers do not think about the world in terms of television size audiences — and most television media buyers only speak the language of television.

Today, MediaPost’s VideoInsider posted an article I wrote about this issue and some thoughts on how to address it. Click here for the VideoInsider article.

BrightRoll Announces “The End of Video Rich Media Fees”

Published by Tod Sacerdoti on May 23, 2008 in Video Advertising, ad units, brightroll, rich media and videostitial. 0 Comments

For years, rich media fees have been a necessary evil. As of today, they are an unnecessary evil.

Based on the success of recent campaigns for Liberty Mutual and National Geographic, and months of product development and testing, BrightRoll will be providing video rich media services to clients for free. See our press release or Emily Steel’s article in the Wall Street Journal (free | paid).

We believe video advertisers will maximize the value of their advertising budgets by spending money only on the creative assets and media inventory. Adding an rich media additional vendor into the process complicates execution, limits distribution and costs a significant percentage of the overall budget.

Put simply, the only people getting rich off of rich media are the vendors.

A few years ago, rich media vendors emerged to help agencies take static banner assets and make them more exciting, more engaging and, hopefully (but rarely), higher performing. However, video creative assets costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to create and are already exciting, engaging and high performing.

Online video advertisers are different. They need the industry’s best video ad units and video distribution technologies, coupled with creative custom skins and branding elements, to maximize their video ad budgets.

Now advertisers can execute their video campaigns efficiently and in their entirety, with BrightRoll. In-stream and in-banner video advertising distribution on the largest branded and only transparent video ad network.

If you would like to learn more, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to serving you and clients.

BrightRoll Interview with Bambi Francisco

Published by Tod Sacerdoti on April 24, 2008 in Video Advertising, brightroll, hd, high definition, interview, tod sacerdoti and videostitial. 0 Comments

Last week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with my friend Bambi Francisco to discuss BrightRoll and our new High Definition advertising units. Bambi is a stellar reporter, having worked for CBS Marketwatch and recently launching her own internet venture, Vator.tv. You can see the full story here.

We spent a fair amount of time discussing the importance of hiring the right people, which tends to mean hiring slowly and selectively. We also discussed the power of online video advertising and the importance of thinking “outside of the player.”

Myths and Realities of Online Video Advertising

Published by Tod Sacerdoti on April 10, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Today, iMedia posted an article that I wrote regarding about the myths vs. realities of online video advertising. In particular, I highlighted these four areas of confusion:

Myth: Television is more cost effective than video advertising.
Reality: Targeted demographic groups are cheaper and more effectively reached online.

Myth: There is no effective way to replace diminishing television audiences.
Reality: Online video is the most effective venue for audience replacement.

Myth: Impressions are a good measure of effectiveness.
Reality: Impressions are only the beginning.

Myth: Television offers a higher quality experience.
Reality: PCs are more equipped to deliver high impact campaigns.

If you have a chance, read the article and share your comments with us.

BrightRoll Launches First To Market HD Video Advertising Unit

Published by Tod Sacerdoti on March 18, 2008 in Video Advertising, ad units, brightroll, hd and high definition. 0 Comments

Yesterday, BrightRoll announced the release of an exciting new product - HD video ad units that scale across 65% of the BrightRoll publisher network. This first to market offering - near full screen ads in high definition - represent a quantum leap in both video quality and ad effectiveness for online video advertisers. Here is the press release.

We continue to be focused building online video advertising solutions that are more impactful (bigger and higher quality), more effective (higher engagement and click through rate) and highly scalable (reaches over 65% of the BrightRoll network).

We are excited that this new ad unit delivers on all fronts and is a true innovation in the video ad category. In addition, the response to this new ad unit has been overwhelmingly positive. We have already signed up multiple advertisers in the entertainment and technology verticals, and we are expecting HD ads to represent at least 10% of our business this calendar year.

It is clear that innovations involving high quality and HD video, which impact file size and therefore streaming costs, will likely not come from the high volume video sites which typically drive video innovation. This is because most high volume video sites have yet to generate a profit and streaming higher quality or HD video files simply accelerates an upside down business model.

On the contrary, our business model is based on delivering an increasing amount of value for our advertising clients on every ad we serve, so our incentive is to deliver the best quality experience that is technically possible. This is the most recent step in our efforts to add additional value to the online video advertising process for advertisers and agencies, and we are looking forward to additional announcements coming soon.

Here is screenshot of the ad unit:

Here is some of the press on the announcement:

CNET
TVWeek
MediaPost
Mashable
NewTeeVee
Webware

BrightRoll Fills Void Left By TV Networks

Published by Tod Sacerdoti on December 12, 2007 in Video Advertising and brightroll. 0 Comments

The television industry delivered another blow to the advertising community yesterday when NBC announced that they would be “giving advertisers cash back for prime time ratings shortfalls from last season.” Along with the writer’s strike, this represents the perfect storm - television inventory is lower quality AND now in lower quantity.

This is a horrendous outcome for all parties involved. Clients miss key marketing opportunities in the most important marketing period of the year, agencies miss their targets which is a disservice to their clients and tv networks miss out on significant revenue opportunities.

Additionally, this problem is only going to get worse. The writer’s strike has negatively impacted television content quality and ratings, but the real hit in both categories has yet to come. Many shows have strung along previously filmed content but are about to reach the end of that rope. If money is flowing back to agencies this quarter, expect a large chunk to be searching for a new home in Q1.

Fortunately, not all media channels are struggling. At BrightRoll, our video inventory is growing in both quality and quantity. We have significant Q4 and Q1 inventory available for broadcast buyers who have budgets previously allocated to under performing television placements.

Although we expect advertising dollars to follow their audience online regardless - sometimes it takes a shock to the system to accelerate the adoption.

Welcome to the BrightRoll Blog!

Published by Tod Sacerdoti on December 3, 2007 in Video Advertising and brightroll. 0 Comments

We are excited to be releasing both a redesigned website at BrightRoll.com and a new blog at Blog.BrightRoll.com today.

We hope this new version does a better job of explaining how we can help agencies scale, target and optimize their video ad campaigns, while simultaneously presenting our organization in a more transparent matter. With so much noise in the video advertising industry, it is important for us to describe what we do, how we do it and why we solve problems that other companies do not solve.

Additionally, this blog is way for us to communicate our message more broadly and engage further in the video industry conversation. We will use this blog as a forum for new ideas, a vehicle for product releases and way to share more about what life is like at BrightRoll.

We encourage your comments and contributions, and please don’t hesitate to contact us directly. I can be reached at tod [at] brightroll [dot] com.