Free paraphrasing – Paraphrase Online https://www.paraphrase-online.com/blog Creative Writing Blog Mon, 04 Apr 2022 06:10:42 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.16 Case study – the photographic industry https://www.paraphrase-online.com/blog/paraphrase-online/case-study-the-photographic-industry/ Thu, 28 Oct 2021 05:26:33 +0000 https://www.paraphrase-online.com/blog/?p=1381 Continue readingCase study – the photographic industry]]> How to effectively increase online sales? Our answer to such a question most often is: by combining different advertising channels. Thanks to diversification, we can not only reach different groups of recipients, but also stop being dependent on one medium, which in the event of a failure or other unexpected situations suddenly cuts us off from the source of most purchasing transactions. One of the most popular combinations in the case of online campaigns is the Google Ads and Facebook Ads duo, which gives the greatest range and the greatest number of options for selecting the target group. Below we present the results that can be achieved with it in the photographic industry.

Our client has been operating on the market for almost twenty years, selling cameras and photographic accessories for both amateurs and professionals. It offers high-quality laboratory equipment and services, thus providing its recipients with comprehensive service. In the case of Google Ads for this client, we operate equally completely: we run text, product, video (on YouTube) and display campaigns, including remarketing. We’ve already got to know your audience, so we can focus on campaign optimization, achieving more and more conversions within our budget. Let’s take a look at how the combined results of all these campaigns changed over the course of a few months – from March to June this year.

Clicks and conversions

Testing and optimization measures in the customer’s account have led to a significant change in the number of clicks. At the turn of February and March, advertisements collected about 11,000 clicks, and in May-June it was slightly more than 15,000 clicks per month, which is an increase of 39.9%.

However, this parameter is not the most important in ad statistics – clicks in themselves increase website traffic, but they do not have to be associated with the achievement of the most important goal, which is the purchase. What’s more, a large number of clicks with a small number of transactions may indicate a poorly selected target group or an unclear advertising message. In this case, however, it can be seen that both the recipients and the content of the message have been correctly selected. You can see this clearly in how the number of conversions has changed over the period – it increased by 85%. The cost of obtaining them changed very slightly, only by slightly more than 5%.

Profits from the campaign

The good results achieved in the campaigns made the client decide to allocate more funds to Google Ads – in three months the budget almost doubled (by 94.07%). In February / March, we spent about $ 8,000 on advertising on Google, and at the turn of May and June, over $ 15,000. The client’s willingness to invest led to even more tests, which made the results even more satisfactory. Revenue increased from $ 114,374 to $ 560,431, almost 390%. In other words, raising the budget by about $ 7.5 thousand allowed to achieve income higher by over $ 446 thousand.

Return on advertising investment in Google Ads increased from 1,416% to 3,575%. What does it mean? Simply put, at the turn of February and March, each dollar spent brought about $ 14 in revenue, while three months later it gave almost $ 36.

Facebook Ads

The results from Facebook ads show even greater progress. In their case, however, it should be noted that the default data attribution settings are selected in such a way that the system also counts indirect purchases in the statistics. What does this mean exactly? When counting conversions, it takes into account the attribution model 7 days after the ad is clicked and 1 day after it was displayed. As a result, he also credits himself with conversions that have already taken place in other channels and for which Facebook did not have to be the last channel on the shopping path.

This is justified, because Facebook is a channel that does not respond with advertisements to the directly expressed shopping intention in the search engine, and selects advertisements that best match the user’s preferences.

Clicks and conversions

The number of clicks on Facebook Ads did not change as rapidly as in the case of Google campaigns – it increased from 7803 to 8709, i.e. by about 11.6%. However, as we have already mentioned, clicks do not directly translate into profits, and the most important statistics parameters are the number and cost of conversion. In the case of the number of conversions, the increase is more clearly visible – from 132 to 184, i.e. by 39.4% in three months. As for the cost of a single conversion, the level remained very similar – the fee for acquiring one customer decreased by $ 1.51, a decrease of about 3.5%.

Profits from the campaign

We increased the budget for the Facebook Ads campaign by 34.6%, or about $ 2,000. The revenue generated thanks to this channel increased by $ 685,573, which, with the given budget, means an increase of 283.4%. ROAS, i.e. the return on investment for this campaign for the period May 16-June 15, 2021 was 11981%, which, even when counting indirect purchases, is a very good result for this type of campaign.

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Dimensions for FB, YT, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Google Ads https://www.paraphrase-online.com/blog/online-marketing/dimensions-for-fb-yt-linkedin-twitter-instagram-tiktok-and-google-ads/ Thu, 13 May 2021 05:23:25 +0000 https://www.paraphrase-online.com/blog/?p=1139 Continue readingDimensions for FB, YT, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Google Ads]]> The boom of social media and platforms such as Google Ads has completely changed online marketing. Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn are now part of a huge business and technological ecosystem. In many industries, the absence of social media and advertising networks means that the company misses a great opportunity to display the brand, contact the customer and, of course, increase sales.

In order to achieve good PR, marketing and sales effects in social media, we must adapt to the constantly modified environment. The functions, appearance and regulations of social networking sites and advertising services are subject to dynamic changes, and we must keep up with them. The choice of graphics or video for a post can completely change its reach and the feelings of the recipients, so – especially in the case of photos and videos – we should strictly follow the technical recommendations of Facebook and other websites.

Below, we present a clear list of graphics and movie formats that will allow every marketer to achieve good results. What dimensions should photos on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook have? And what should we decide on in Google Display Network and programmatic Display & Video 360 ads?

Facebook – graphics dimensions

Profile picture
Currently, the Facebook profile picture is displayed in the shape of a circle with the most common dimensions:
– on computers (desktop): 170 x 170 pixels,
– on smartphones and tablets (mobile): 128 x 128 pixels,
– in the light version (older phones): 36 x 36 pixels.

If we use Facebook in the browser, the dimensions will differ depending on the device – for example, in the timeline in the Safari browser on the iPhone SE 2, the avatar has a size of 80 x 80 pixels, while on a computer with a 1920 x 1080 FullD monitor, the photo is displayed in resolution 40 x 40 pixels.

The most important thing is that the profile picture has a 1: 1 (square) aspect ratio, and that the key elements are in the center – Facebook will cut the edges by displaying the picture. The photo should be much larger than its displayed dimensions – even with the aspect ratio of 1000 x 1000 – the website will properly scale it, so we can be sure that the avatar will not be “pixelated” on any device.

Background image
Most desktops display the image at a resolution of 820 x 312 pixels. On smartphones and tablets (mobile), the background photo will be cropped to 640 x 360 format, so it’s good to put the most important elements in the middle area of the photo.

Background video
The recommended background video size is 1250 x 463 pixels, the smallest: 820 x 312 pixels. On mobile devices, the video will not be played – then the role of the background photo will be taken over by one of the still frames from the movie (we can choose it), which will be cropped in the same way as the background photo. Please note that currently only certain profiles can add video as a cover photo. If you can’t, you can try changing the template – if that doesn’t help, the feature is not available for the profile.

Group background image
The recommended photo size is 1640 x 856 pixels. If our photo is larger, it will also be displayed correctly, as long as we keep the aspect ratio of width to height 1.91: 1.

Event background
Recommended size: 1200 x 628 pixels – the photo will not be centered and will look the same on different resolutions.

Photo in the post
– horizontal photo 1200 x 900 pixels
– vertical photo: 800 x 1000 pixels
– square photo: 1080 x 1080 pixels

Video post
The video in your post should have an aspect ratio of 16: 9 (horizontal video) or 9:16 (vertical video) – preferably 1920 x 1080 or 1080 x 1920 or higher. The system will allow us to load a movie up to 240 minutes long and up to 4 gigabytes in size.

Facebook Stories
The dimensions for Facebook Stories are the same as for Instagram Stories – they are full-screen with a 9:16 aspect ratio. Recommended dimensions: 1080 x 1920 pixels.

Collection – instant material
The mobile canvas format is not used very often, but many marketers appreciate its multimedia character and high level of user interaction. The collection should be in square (1: 1) or vertical (9:16) format.

Picture with a link (linkpost)
The best results will be achieved with the size of 1200 x 628 pixels (large horizontal thumbnail) or 1080 x 1080 (square format).

Carousel
From 2 to 10 photos or videos (can be stitched together). Photos and videos will be displayed in square format and should be at least 1080 x 1080 pixels.

The slideshow
The animated format gives us a lot of freedom, allowing you to choose from 3 to 10 photos. You can choose an aspect ratio of 16:9 or 1:1.

A campaign aimed at acquiring likes
In its case, the most popular format is horizontal photos with dimensions of 1200 x 444 pixels or square photos with dimensions of 1080 x 1080 pixels.

Messenger – graphics dimensions

The thumbnail will appear between the conversations in the conversation list and displayed in a 1:1 aspect ratio (preferably choose an image with a resolution of 1080 x 1080 or higher). After clicking, the user will see the full ad.

In the expanded view (i.e. after clicking), the full image will be shown – it may have an aspect ratio from 16: 9 to 1: 1, vertical images will not be accepted by the system. According to the official guidelines, the minimum dimensions are 254 x 133 pixels, but in practice Facebook rejects such small images in this advertising format – the image sent must have a resolution of at least 500 x 262 pixels.

Maximum file size: 30 MB. You must also add text to the image – up to 150 characters with spaces in the content and up to 40 characters with spaces in the header.

Messenger – Relationships
As with other relationship formats, the image should have an aspect ratio of 9:16 and a high resolution, optimally 1080 x 1920 or higher.

Instagram – image dimensions and formats

Unlike Facebook, Instagram as a portal doesn’t have that many different formats.

Standard posts:
– Square photo – still the most popular photo format on Instagram, until 2015 the only one. Recommended dimensions: minimum 1080 x 1080 pixels.
– Landscape photo – Recommended aspect ratio is 1.91: 1 with a width of 1080 pixels.
– Vertical photo – should have an aspect ratio of 4: 5 (this way it will not be cropped) with a width of 1080 pixels and a height of 1350 pixels.

InstaStories
As the vast majority of users view Instagram on their phones, the best InstaStories aspect ratio will be 9:16 with the dimensions 1080 by 1920.

Video Posts
Videos that you want to post on Instagram can range from 1.91: 1 to 4: 5.

IGTV
We will achieve the best visual effects by using a 9:16 or 4: 5 ratio.

Twitter – image dimensions and formats

Twitter is the third social networking site in terms of the number of real users. Due to its specificity, the profiles of politicians, marketers and journalists are the most visible on Twitter, but the portal offers much more. It is a great place to browse news (many news appear there faster than on news websites), comment, create a personal brand or build an expert image of the company.

To take full advantage of Twitter’s marketing potential, we must not only comply with the regulations, but also take into account the technical aspects. Posts and graphics tailored to the platform’s requirements will not only look more aesthetically pleasing, but will probably also achieve better results.

Profile picture
1: 1 format, the fields in the square angles will be cropped so that Twitter can display the circular avatar. The officially recommended size is 400 x 400 pixels, and the image can be uploaded in JPG, PNG or GIF format (maximum 2 MB).

Background photo – cover photo
File in 3: 1 format, recommended by Twitter dimensions is 1500 x 500 pixels. It will look the same on each device (except for rescaling, of course) – Twitter does not cut off fragments of photos in the background.

Photos in posts
Twitter also allows you to publish photos and animations in GIF format. The maximum file size is 5 MB when publishing from a mobile application and 15 MB when publishing via the website. The image in the timeline is displayed at a 16: 9 aspect ratio and graphics with higher height will be cropped. GIFs and videos can be square.

You can post up to 4 photos at a time in a traditional post. They will be displayed in the form of a gallery:
– 2 photos: side by side, aspect ratio 7: 8,
– 3 photos: one photo 7: 8, the other two photos 4: 7,
– 4 photos: 2 x 2 grid with images with a displayed aspect ratio of 2: 1.

Twitter feed – Twitter Fleets
The format is available worldwide only from November 2020, introduced on Twitter, similar to such portals as Instagram or Facebook. Stories are called Fleets here and they disappear 24 hours after publication. Unlike standard posts, it is not possible to share or leave a “like” – as a recipient, however, we can choose one of the 7 reactions presented using emoji icons or write a message to its author from the relationship level, if he has not previously blocked the DM (Direct Message) function.

Fleet can contain text (like a standard entry, up to 280 characters), video, animated GIF or photo.

Fleet is displayed vertically on mobile devices at 1080 x 1920 pixels. This is also the optimal size of a photo or video to be published in the Twitter feed. Currently, it is not possible to publish or read Fleet in the desktop version.

Twitter Cards
Twitter Cards is a simple Twitter link appearance modifier. After pasting the address into the content of the post, the website searches for the relevant metadata in the code of the website, so that instead of a standard text link, we can choose one of the following types.

Summary card – such links include a photo (minimum dimensions are 120 x 120 pixels, square format, maximum 1 MB), page title (up to 70 characters), short description (up to 200 characters) and a fragment of the URL address.

Summary with large image card – a format similar to the above, but with a different image size. It is larger and better exposed, which, combined with the right choice of graphics, may result in a greater number of clicks on the link. The description is truncated to 3 lines in the desktop version and is not displayed if the card is displayed on a mobile device with iOS or Android.

The image should be cropped to a 2: 1 aspect ratio (minimum dimensions: 300 x 157 pixels, maximum: 4096 x 4096 pixels). Available formats: JPG, PNG, WEBP and GIF (in the latter case the first frame of the image will be used as the thumbnail, if the GIF is animated).

Player card – Summary Card with a graphic thumbnail of the audio or video file that can be played. If you click on a link in the Player Card in the mobile application, we will be taken to a simulated Twitter browser, where we can start playback. Clicking on the desktop version will allow us to see the content directly on the timeline.

The thumbnail in the Player Card should have an aspect ratio of 1: 1 or 16: 9 and a minimum size of 640 x 360 pixels, while the playable file itself should not exceed 5 MB.

App Card – a format adapted to promote applications. Clicking on the link will take the mobile user directly to the website of the application in the Google Play Store or Apple Store, where it can be purchased or downloaded for free. A post in this format includes the title, description, and app icon, and optionally, price and average user ratings.

LinkedIn – Image dimensions and formats

LinkedIn is definitely different from Facebook or Instagram, but due to specific target groups in many industries, it is a great advertising tool.

Profile photo: 400 x 400 pixels, although it is definitely better to choose slightly larger dimensions in the 1: 1 aspect ratio.

Background photo on Linkedin
Cover photo 1584 x 396 pixels (4: 1 aspect ratio). Depending on the screen, the background image on the LinkedIn profile may be cropped by the website, so it’s better to place important elements closer to the center and test the display on different devices.

LinkedIn Stories
As with InstaStories and Facebook Stories, 1080 x 1920 pixels (9:16 aspect ratio) will be the best size.

Company websites:
– Company profile picture (logo): 300 x 300 pixels,
– Page background photo: 1128 x 191 pixels.

– “corporate culture” tab – main photo: 1128 x 376 pixels,
– “corporate culture” tab – non-standard modules: 502 x 282 pixels,
– “corporate culture” tab – company gallery: 900 x 600 pixels (recommended size, minimum 264 x 176).

Photos in posts:
– Graphics in the post: aspect ratio 1: 1, dimensions 1200 x 1200 pixels (in the form of a square it will be displayed on the desktop) and 1200 × 628 pixels (this will be displayed on mobile devices),
– Line art: 1200 x 628 pixels.

Video:
from 256 x 144 pixels to 4096 x 2304 pixels.

Advertising formats:
Single photo ad: In 1: 1 aspect ratio, the maximum image size is 7680 x 7680 pixels.

Carousel:
the maximum image size is 6012 × 6012 pixels, and the recommended size of a single image is 1080 × 1080 pixels, with a 1: 1 aspect ratio.

Video ads:
width: between 640 and 1920 pixels, height: between 360 and 1920 pixels, aspect ratio: between 1.778 and 0.5652.

Dynamic ads:
100 x 100 pixels.

Promoted content:
1200 x 627 pixels.

Business Banner image:
646 x 220 pixels.

TikTok – advertising formats and graphics dimensions

TikTok is an application that has gained immense popularity in recent years, especially in the youngest age group.

Profile picture on TikTok
Profile photo: 200 x 200 pixels, 1: 1 aspect ratio, JPG or PNG format.

In Feed ads
Video from 5 to 60 seconds that “fakes” organic content in the “for you” tab. Video with sound. Video aspect ratio: 1: 1 or preferably 9:16 – resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels. Formats: MP4 / MPEG / 3GP / AVI / MOV.

Brand Takeover Ads
Ads shown to users immediately after launching the application. Video aspect ratio: preferably 9:16 – resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels. Video length: 3-5 seconds with no sound, can be .gif or static .jpg image.

TopView Ads
Ads shown to users immediately after launching the application. Video aspect ratio: preferably 9:16 – 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution. Video length: 5-60 seconds.

TopView Lite
A format similar to TopView, but starts without sound, and the ad is displayed in much less time – up to 5 seconds. Video aspect ratio: preferably 9:16 – resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels. Video length: 3-5 seconds or JPG image displayed for 3 seconds.

In addition, there are also Branded Effects Ads / Branded Hashtag Challenge / Branded Hashtag Challenge Plus.

It is worth remembering that usually in ads on TikTok, the content itself is often slightly covered, for example by buttons on the right side, logo or description. Therefore, it is good practice to center the most important elements to make sure that they will be visible in every situation and on every device.

YouTube – image dimensions and advertising formats

Banner dimensions on YT
The recommended minimum banner size for YouTube is 2048 x 1152 pixels with an aspect ratio of 16: 9. With such dimensions, the “safe zone” in which we can place different elements and be sure that they will not be cropped on different devices is 1235 x 338 pixels. The maximum file size is 6MB.

Profile picture / channel picture
Square or round image with the recommended dimensions of 800 x 800 pixels.

Movie thumbnail
The recommended thumbnail dimensions are 1280 x 720 pixels (16: 9 aspect ratio) with a minimum width of 640 pixels – the higher the resolution, the better.

Community posts
1: 1 aspect ratio, no minimum dimensions. In such posts, apart from static images, we can also place animated images in .gif format.

Display ads
Resolution: 300 x 60 pixels or 300 x 250 pixels.

Advertising overlays
Resolution: 468 x 60 or 728 x 90 pixels.

Video ads
Aspect ratio: preferably 16: 9 or 1: 1, FullHD resolution – 1920 x 1080 pixels in the first case, 1080 x 1080 pixels in the second or higher. Format: preferably MPEG-2, MPEG-4 or .AVI.

Google Display Network and Display & Video 360 (programmatic) – graphics dimensions

Google Display Network ad uploads – dimensions
The available formats are GIF, JPG, PNG, the file size cannot exceed 150 KB. The same dimensions apply to HTML5 display ads uploaded.

Square and rectangular format
– 200 × 200 pixels Small square,
– 240 × 400 pixels Vertical rectangle,
– 250 × 250 pixels Square,
– 250 × 360 pixels Triple wide screen,
– 300 × 250 pixels In-text banner,
– 336 × 280 pixels Large rectangle,
– 580 × 400 pixels Netboard.

Skyscraper (portrait format)
– 120 × 600 pixels Skyscraper,
– 160 × 600 pixels Wide skyscraper,
– 300 × 600 pixels Half page advertisement,
– 300 × 1050 pixels Vertical.

Long banner (landscape format)
– 468 × 60 pixels Banner,
– 728 × 90 pixels Long banner,
– 930 × 180 pixels Top banner,
– 970 × 90 pixels Enlarged long banner.

– 970 × 250 pixels Billboard.
– 980 × 120 pixels Panorama.

For mobile devices
– 300 × 50 pixels Banner for mobile devices,
– 320 × 50 pixels Banner for mobile devices,
– 320 × 100 pixels Large banner for mobile devices.

Selected Rich Media formats (programmatic)

Lightbox
– Logo: at least 50 x 50 pixels (maximum: 1024 x 1050 pixels), image up to 200 kb,
– Image gallery: aspect ratio 1.9: 1,
– Video: posted on YouTube with public access.

Flipbook (kineograph)
– Logo: maximum dimensions are 170 x 65 pixels, maximum size: 20 kb, JPG or PNG file,
– Movie: aspect ratio 16: 9, length up to 1 minute, maximum size: 1 GB. Available formats: AVI, M4V, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG, OGV, WEBM and WMV.

Blank slate, cuecard (clue card), and panorama formats
They can be displayed in the following variants:
– 160 x 600 pixels,
– 250 x 250 pixels,
– 300 x 50 pixels,
– 300 x 250 pixels,
– 300 x 600 pixels,
– 320 x 50 pixels,
– 320 x 320 pixels,
– 320 x 480 pixels,
– 336 x 280 pixels,
– 728 x 90 pixels.

The exact dimensions and proportions of individual elements (graphics, fonts, accent images, etc.) in this type of ad are best seen on the Google support site.

At the end

Internet marketing platforms, including social networking sites, provide great opportunities. Of course, this is only one of the hundreds of aspects that a marketer must pay attention to when planning a given campaign, but a good fit of the files to the guidelines of a given website will allow – at least to some extent – to avoid wasting budgets. Have a nice design!

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VOD advertising https://www.paraphrase-online.com/blog/advertising/vod-advertising/ Mon, 10 May 2021 05:15:01 +0000 https://www.paraphrase-online.com/blog/?p=1133 Continue readingVOD advertising]]>
VOD (video on demand) platforms have established themselves in the global Internet for good. The first websites appeared at the beginning of the 90s, although for technological reasons they looked completely different than today and used different solutions. In recent years, video-on-demand platforms have seen a huge increase in interest, becoming one of the main ways of consuming film material.

Advertising in VOD

Video on demand is a huge amount of content available at any time. On VOD websites, we can find premiere films and classics from years ago, series, sports events, guides, entertainment programs, political commentaries and hundreds of other types of video content. Petabytes of data, which viewers spend millions of hours of attention each year is a great option for advertisers. Marketers can display engaging video ads before or during the video, or graphic overlays on the content. It is also enormous possibilities of more and more precise targeting of advertisements. We can target our message to a specific group based on location, demographics, devices used or – as part of remarketing – to people who have previously had contact with our brand.

The evolution and boom of VOD services took place relatively slowly over the years, mainly due to limitations in broadband access to the Web. High-quality movie transmission requires high speed and stability of the Internet connection, which has only become relatively widespread for a while.

The second reason for the moderately fast gaining of popularity was also the dominance of traditional television as a medium, especially in the general consciousness. Of course, after many years, television companies have “made friends” with this form of distribution, launching their own internet platforms and unifying them with solutions offered by digital television in various forms.

VOD and OTT technology

It is worth making a distinction between VOD and OTT. These services are very similar, but may have different content delivery mechanics. In short, VOD is simply a service that allows you to play content at the moment you choose – most often via the Internet, but satellite broadcast also fits this definition. Meanwhile, OTT requires internet transmission, but it does not have to allow “play” to be pressed at any time. An online streaming of a live match that only takes place at a certain time will therefore meet the OTT definition, but cannot be classified as VOD. The difference between the terms is nevertheless minimal and usually the abbreviations VOD and OTT are used as synonyms.

VOD – monetization models

First of all, VOD brings together many distribution models that use different monetization schemes. They can be divided into several main categories.

SVOD – Subscription VOD

An option that is used by, among others, Netflix, HBO GO or Amazon Prime is SVOD, i.e. VOD based on the subscription model. In this case, as part of the monthly amount paid, we have access to the entire library of the platform. Another option within the same model is to set different subscription levels – this way, on the cheapest plan, ads will be shown before the movies, and only more expensive subscriptions will be devoid of spots. The US service Hulu uses this option.

Due to the specificity of this type of solutions, the advertising possibilities are very limited – in the classic subscription model, in the absence of advertising before or during the video, the only available option seems to be product placement in a given work.

TVOD – transaction VOD

Another model is TVOD, i.e. transactional VOD. As part of it, the consumer buys access to a specific product – film, live broadcast or any other digital work. The TVOD model is, for example, the purchase of a PPV (pay-per-view) broadcast from a boxing gala or the purchase of one episode of the series.

They can be classified into two subgroups:
– DTR (download-to-rent) – temporary access to the file, for example for 24 or 72 hours from the date of the transaction.
– EST (electronic sell-through) – theoretically unlimited access to the file, sometimes with the ability to download the product to disk.

AVOD – a model based on displaying advertisements

The third option is to give users free access to the platform’s library. This is called AVOD, or advertising-based video on demand. In this case, starting playback is usually associated with a set of advertisements before and during viewing. We can see it, for example, on the largest streaming service in the world – YouTube. This solution is also used by a large number of horizontal portals that combine content in the form of text with video in the presentation of one issue.

VOD ads in this form are usually not to be missed by the viewer, although it is not a rule. In the most “aggressive” solutions, when playing advertisements, the user cannot even switch the tab in the browser and do something else – the advertisement cannot be played in the background, it must be displayed in the active tab. Inevitably, this guarantees high viewership of the broadcasts.

Ads can also appear in the video itself in the form of text and graphic overlays placed directly on the video. They do not cover the entire screen and can be easily closed, although they are certainly noticeable. This option occurs, for example, on YouTube as overlay ads.

VOD: mixed model

In many websites we will meet a mixed model, in which some content is available for free, but only purchasing a premium account limits or completely blocks the display of ads, adding other options, such as the ability to download the movie to disk and later watch it offline. This connection is used by YouTube – as users, we have access to the entire library, but only buying YouTube Red disables advertising. We can also find a model that works in such a way that the account gives you access to some movies without VOD ads, but the ability to watch others requires an additional fee. There are many options – the AVOD, SVOD and TVOD models can be combined with each other in various configurations.

VOD with advertising – disadvantages

It cannot be denied that the ads before and during the movie are very burdensome for the user. They are often repetitive and play louder than the base video, making content consumption difficult. According to research by Paraphrase-Online.com, the level of annoyance with advertising is 61% for YouTube and 63% for other VOD services, while traditional television “reached” 62% and advertising in cinemas 46%. The duration of displaying advertisements in VOD, although still lower on average than in traditional television, is inexorably approaching the level of television standards. The bittersweet marketing truth is, however, that it does not have a particularly negative impact on the effectiveness of advertising activities.

Other disadvantages arise from possible technical issues on some platforms – for example, when the mandatory ad won’t play, preventing you from seeing the main video, requiring you to refresh your card and watch the entire ad bundle again. Fortunately, such situations happen less and less due to the constant adaptation of platforms to new standards.

From the marketer’s perspective, issues related to ad blocking seem troublesome. Internet users are very eager to use browser plug-ins that help to get rid of ads – also on VOD platforms. Even at the end of 2017, almost every second Internet user over the age of 15 used at least one ad blocker. Most websites, however, deal well with such situations, forcing you to temporarily disable a given plug-in to allow the movie to play. As usual in the world of technology, each day is a constant race between advertisers and users.

VOD advertising as an effective marketing tool

However, this does not change the undeniable fact that a well-executed VOD campaign is very effective, offering low conversion costs and enormous brand exposure.

Considering the reach, the largest platform that allows you to display ads on various VOD services is Google Display 360 & Video. It allows you to place advertisements while omitting the commission that we would have to pay to intermediaries, i.e. media houses.

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