In today’s market, regular banner ads are considered by many outdated.
Advertisers are opting for new interactive forms of catching peoples attention and pre-roll ads are one of them. As a part of in-stream ads, pre-roll advertising can catch the eye of the consumer even if he doesn’t search for it.
In-stream ads can appear in a banner or video format while you watch a video. There are two other forms of in-stream ads besides pre-roll ads.
Mid-roll ads: appear in the middle of the video, interrupting your watching.
Post-roll ads: only appear at the end of the video. Leaves you free to watch the entire video without interruptions.
Although all of these in-stream ads are useful and effective, our focus today is on pre-roll ads and showing you how effective they can be!
What Are Pre-Roll Ads?
Unlike mid and pos-roll ads, pre-roll ads come at the start of the video.
If you go on youtube there are multiple examples of these. You open a video and right before you start watching an ad is played. That’s leave you with no choice but to watch it entirely or skip it after a few seconds. With a straight to the point 15 to 30 second message, they can be one of the most effective ad strategies.
The buying and selling of these ads are generally done automatically on a CPM basis.
Benefits Of Pre-Roll Ads
Pre-roll ads can be out of the three in-stream ads the most effective one, as it holds benefits that maximize your ROI.
1.Immediate results
As a form of direct response marketing, pre-roll ads can be one of the best ways of monitoring your campaign in real-time. This strategy allows you to see results right away. You can see clicks, interactions and most importantly, conversions! Something that doesn’t happen often in ad campaigns. Normally you have to wait for weeks, perhaps a month to see anything happening.
With pre-roll ads it is also easier to reach your target audience. As you are ensured that if they watch the video, they watch the ad.
2.Views Are Guaranteed
As it plays at the start of the video, views are guaranteed. While that sentence is true, as an advertiser, there is a couple of points that you need to understand. The user has two options: they watch the ad or they skip after a few seconds. With that in mind you need to produce the most high quality, straight to the point ad, so that you kept them engaged and avoid your ad beeing skiped.
Tip: The most important timing is the first five seconds. Only past that time they can skip the ad, so try to come out with a strong inicial message that will make the users stay thought the rest of the ad.
3.Target Specif Audiences
Narrowing down your audience only to the ones that are interested in your product or service is something that every social platform can do. By owning some data about their users, social platforms help you segment by, language, geography, interests, demographics, etc.
Showing your product to the people that want it, is a great way to convert!
Disadvantages Of Pre-Roll Advertising
While it might have great benefits, pre-roll advertising also has his downfalls. Users consider these ads as an invasion of privacy. Not as much as mid-roll ads, but they are also badly seen because of that. That’s why we said before that you should put real value into these ads, otherwise it can end up damaging your brand.
Tip: As long as you put the pre-roll ad as skippable after five seconds you are safe. It will probably stay in the user mind even if he skips it, and you have no brand damage.
Conclusion: Pre-Roll Advertising – Good or Bad?
If it fits your strategy, you should totally go for it!
As it is a relatively recent market and not many people are using it, this is a great opportunity to get ahead of the competition. If you do a well thought of strategy with a straight to the point valuable video, your business will only benefit.
