The famous song from the 1980s has turned out to be true – video has truly killed the radio star. And nowhere is this more evident than through advertising. As an entrepreneur, you have to be familiar with video ad placement for success today.
Video ads are one of the most effective mediums available. Not only are these ads an awesome way to connect with your audience and show off your brand’s unique personality, but it can also maintain the attention of users.
With 15 percent of social media users in the US shopping on Facebook, your advertising potential on social media is limitless. Many businesses have realized this. Video ad spending on social media platforms accounts for 28.7 percent of all ad spending.
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What Is Video Ad Placement?
The places where you run your ads on the internet are called placements. Depending on what your objectives are, you can choose where to run your campaigns, whether that includes Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, YouTube, or other platforms.
Video Ad Placement on Facebook
To date, Facebook offers 15 options from which businesses can choose how to target their desired customers. These placements are grouped by how users can experience the ad across many platforms. For example, if you choose the Stories placement for your video ads, the end-user can have the same experience when they view stories ads on Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram.
Newsfeed
This is a very popular video ad placement because it does well in attracting the attention of users by occupying the biggest area of space on Facebook. Here, the ads are shown in the news feed of your target Facebook users on their laptops and computers.
This type of video ad placement comes with the advantage of reaching more conversion-friendly devices who follow-through more often than its mobile phone counterparts. Because of this, news feed video ad placement boasts a better click-through rate, as well as a lower cost per conversion. It’s also great for getting the attention of users who are not yet familiar with your brand.
Instagram was acquired by Facebook in 2012, and this business move has proven to be very smart from a user-based perspective. With more than 1 billion users, many of which also have Facebook accounts, this allows for a unique opportunity to expand your brand’s advertising reach on a different platform. As you may have guessed, brands can only target Instagram users through mobile devices. That being said, you still need to choose whether you want to go with Instagram feed or stories. Instagram stories are similar to Facebook stories, which are time-based videos, gifs, and images where people record their daily life for their followers to see.
Marketplace
This type of video ad placement is standard in the app. The marketplace is an intent-based platform where you can show your video ads. It is also more cost-efficient compared to Google and is a great way to find and target people who are actively searching for something to buy, instead of showing your ads to people who may just be interested in your offer.
Despite this, the marketplace does not have an impressive number of interested users compared to more established e-commerce sites such as Amazon. Because of this, expect fewer impressions.
Don’t get discouraged just yet. Due to the high purchase intent of users, you can reach customers that are ready to act on your call-to-action. Since most offers in the marketplace are local, it’s a good video ad placement for locally-focused businesses. These businesses may include rental properties or home services.
Suggested videos
This type of ad placement only runs on mobile within a string of suggested videos. This ad plays automatically after a Facebook user watches a video they chose on their own, making it a great selection if you want to increase brand awareness. Since it is only a mobile placement, these ads are targeted towards people on-the-go, so expect lower conversion rates. Aside from improved brand awareness, you can expect increased video views and post engagements for this video ad placement.
Right column
The design of Facebook leaves it with the ability to cater to right column ads. While only limited people see this video ad placement, it boasts three times more engagement when it is used together with News Feed ads. However, the problem with this ad placement is that since it is small, it doesn’t stand out as it should. It also does not include a call to action button.
While this video ad placement has a lower conversion rate, it’s still an awesome option for brands whose goal is not to convert people for the first time since it’s an economical way of reaching an audience. Because it’s not people’s first time seeing your brand, it’s also a good strategy for retargeting.
Messenger
Messenger features different types of ad placements. Here are some of the options available.
Messenger home ads
For videos, Messenger Home ads are a standard choice. This appears within Facebook messenger and gives brands the ability to reach more customers. The advantage of this video ad placement is that it has a good track record of improving response rate and conversion. Through this type of ad, you can engage more users without making a hard sell. Just keep in mind that this type of video ad placement interrupts the user experience.
Sponsored
This type of video ad placement is a highly targeted ad that is sent directly to users who have already engaged with your business on Messenger. This is an effective way of retargeting customers. But because it takes up two-thirds of the screen, many people find this too large. However, it cannot be denied that these customized messages where video can be added are an awesome way to drive more actions and engagements on the platform.
Click to messenger
Unlike the previous types of messenger ads, click to messenger appears on the Instagram or Facebook newsfeeds. What makes it different is it has a send message call to action that will automatically open a messenger chat with your brand when clicked. This way, you can generate more organic conversions.
Stories
Stories are mobile ads that appear between other users’ stories. Because of their level of disposable income, Facebook and Instagram users spend more on e-Commerce, and this is a great way to retarget people who have already liked your page or looked you up.
This video ad placement is highly effective on Instagram since one-third of its users watch stories each day, and a large percentage of the stories posted by brands result in direct interaction. It is an effective way to promote businesses that are in the retail, food and drink, fashion, technology, automotive, and fitness industry.
Stories are also discoverable, so people do not have to be your followers to see your video ad. If you have more than 10,000 followers on your Instagram, you can even include a swipe up feature and attach an outbound link to a blog or website.
In-stream
For this type of video ad placement, mid-roll ads are placed between two other videos. Brands who want to bank on the growing popularity of online videos are encouraged to try this placement since it allows them to add a great content format to their digital advertising strategy. It also results in superior performance in terms of recall.
Despite its advantages, it also has a flipside. Many users are annoyed by this video ad placement and do not watch the full video. There are even people who use ad blockers to stop these ads altogether. But when executed properly, it can boost engagement and increase brand awareness.
Video Ad Placement on YouTube
Every advertiser needs to be familiar with Google AdWords. With billions of users logging in each month, and billions of content viewed daily, YouTube has the potential to help your brand reach new heights.
Here are the different video ad placements on YouTube that are available.
TrueView in-stream
This type of ad is placed during or before a video. Users can skip this ad after its first five seconds, and advertisers only pay if the user clicks on the ad, or if they watch for 30 seconds or until the video is complete, whichever comes first.
TrueView discovery
Also known as “in-display ads,” this type of video ad placement needs a thumbnail as well as a line of text. It appears alongside related videos, on the Google Display network websites, or YouTube search. You only pay when a user watches or clicks on the ad. To make this more effective, optimize it for views or add a call to action.
Non-skippable
This type of ads are 15 to 20 seconds long and appears based on a range of signals. This includes how a YouTube user discovered the video, as well as the content type. This strategy helps to ensure superior delivery.
Bumper
Bumper ads are only six seconds long. It is designed to intensify your brand’s reach and frequency goals. Since it is impossible to tell a full-blown story in six seconds, try to keep it funny by starting with a punchline. You can also simplify the video using just a few words and clips to grab the user’s attention. Many brands also use bumper ads to show something their target audience can relate with.
Optimizing Video Ad Placements
Not every video ad placement will work for all your campaign objectives, but it’s always a wise idea to try. If it’s your brand’s first time trying video ad placement, try to use the trial and error approach. This requires you to decide to run your video ad placement on a designated period. When the period is over, collect the data and assess its performance. Through this method, you can learn which placements are not performing well and eliminate unnecessary spending.
You can also try a goal-centric approach. This involves creating a new campaign and defining a clear objective. When you try this method, think about its impact on user experience. Do you want to achieve improved awareness? How about a consideration campaign? Or maybe you want your leads to turn into conversions? Your video ad placement is dependent on these factors.
Don’t Be Afraid to Apply What You’ve Learned
When it comes to video ad placement, you still have a duty to monitor its performance and clean things up. Do not make the same mistake as advertisers who simply launch their campaigns and shut it down prematurely if it doesn’t work. If there’s anything you learned from this blog post, it’s that the secret in a successful YouTube or Facebook video ad placement is in the details.
