Monetizing video content has been a trend for the last few years, and that trend isn’t slowing down any time soon. Outstream video ads are some of the most effective ad units that owners can use to monetize this trend.
The Growing Importance of Video in Digital Advertising
According to a 2024 report from Wyzowl, 91% of businesses intend to use video as part of their overall marketing strategy this year. This rate is the highest seen since Wyzowl began tracking video statistics in 2016, and it speaks to a trend among not just marketers, but consumers in terms of how they see and engage with video marketing techniques.
Shifts in Consumer Engagement with Video
There is one clear reason that more businesses are using video ads in 2024 than ever before — it works. The reason it works comes down to one of the most elemental aspects of human behavior, which is that people like videos. Just look around when you’re out in public, and you are almost sure to see someone watching a video on a phone or other device. Sometimes people use streaming services, but apps like YouTube and other social media platforms provide short-form videos for users’ entertainment far more frequently. For this reason, advertising using videos makes logical sense as a way to capture the minds and trends of today’s content consumers.
What Are Outstream Video Ads?
As their name suggests, outstream video ads are video ads that exist outside the normal video viewing experience, such as those that interrupt viewing on YouTube. Generally, you will find outstream video ads within text-based articles or as a part of social media streams; however, any time a video ad appears in a non-video-based environment, it is an outstream video. However, unlike in-stream or traditional video ads, which are part of an opt-in viewing experience, outstream videos play automatically when viewers enter a website (in the case of in-page ads) or as they scroll by the video element.
How Outstream Ads Differ from Traditional Video Ads
Traditional video advertisements, or in-stream ads, work in the opposite way. These are ads that appear as part of a video viewing experience, either before (pre-roll), in the middle (mid-roll), or after (post-roll) the main video. Although it is sometimes possible to skip over these in-stream video ads, generally viewers must watch at least some of them before doing so and must opt-out of watching the remaining video ad by clicking a button (generally “skip”).
Therefore, the most important difference between outstream video ads and traditional video advertisements is placement and context of the videos within the user experience.
Advantages of Outstream Ads for Monetization
Trends continue to swing upward as more and more advertisers use outstream video as a viable source of revenue. In a short time, the total spending on such advertising strategies may outperform linear (television) video advertisement. Therefore, it is worth it for everyone in the marketing field to consider the clear benefits of outstream video advertising for their brands. Potential benefits include:
- Larger inventory: Outstream ads are native to a website and therefore do not require any hosting capabilities or platforms (e.g., YouTube). This makes it easier to expand your website’s ad inventory and get your brand’s ads out there to other sites.
- Mobile-friendly: You don’t have to look far to see the power of mobile video viewing on today’s consumers. Outstream ads are naturally mobile-friendly and easy to optimize for mobile device viewing, making them easy to watch as an enhancement to the user’s experience.
- Flexibility: Because any video found outside of a larger video platform is considered an outstream video, it’s easy to see the flexibility of this form of advertising media. Specifically, outstream videos commonly appear as banners, within text, and in-page, with each placement offering different advantages in terms of viewer experience.
Best Practices for Implementing Outstream Ads
With the great power of outstream video ads also comes the great responsibility of using them in a way that helps increase ad sales and revenue without detracting from the user experience. For this reason, there are some clear best practices that anyone considering the use of outstream video needs to take into consideration:
- Don’t overdo it. Like any advertising strategy, a little can go a long way, and outstream video is no different. Overcrowding a website with video ads distracts consumers and can cause them to click away, rather than engage with the video and the content surrounding it.
- Quality matters. Anyone who has watched old home videos from the 1990s knows the power of a good recording and playback device when it comes to viewing a video. As a web host, invest in a quality video player that minimizes the time between a consumer landing on the page and the video beginning to play.
- Loop ads. You can loop several ads or just one, but either way, the goal is to keep the possibility of video playing constant for your viewer. By looping several ads, you also have the benefit of switching up the user’s experience and increasing the likelihood of keeping them engaged.
Measuring Outstream Ad Success
Like any marketing strategy, you want to monitor the performance of your outstream video ads by using analytics tools provided by your ad network or platform. It is important to track metrics specific to these ads, such as engagement or ad impressions, click-through or conversion rates, and revenue.
Elevate Your Marketing with Elevation Ten Thousand
At Elevation Ten Thousand, we have worked with clients to add videos to their websites and create videos to promote their businesses through others’ websites. Our full-service video production unit even created a Super Bowl commercial!
Are you interested in learning more about outstream video ads and potentially adding or producing your own? Contact us today to learn more about the video marketing capabilities of Elevation Ten Thousand.
