In 2020, video advertising has almost taken over the market. And compared to other ad formats, it has been growing at an unprecedented speed. As we know that nowadays, most of the users would like to stream videos for entertainment or education purposes. That’s the reason why business owners and marketers have been focusing on video advertising to bring more customers to their brand. In fact, in a study, we found that most of the users believe watching video ads helps them to know more about the products so that they can make better decisions while purchasing anything.
In-stream video ad is also a type of video advertising that could help you to grab the attention of your potential customers and increase. Unlike traditional video ads, in-stream ads are shown before or in between when a user is watching videos on the streaming platform such as YouTube. Apart from that, in-stream videos can be inserted in between stories and Live-stream on platforms like Facebook or Instagram.
So, you can say that there are many perks to in-stream advertising that can help you to improve your presence on social media. Nowadays, you also have the option to target audiences with specific demographics or interests so that you can enhance the chances of getting more potential customers for your business.
If you are also a marketer and would like to grab the audience’s attention using In-stream ads, then you should go through this article.
How Do Customers React To In-Stream Video Ads?
While streaming videos, viewers usually check in-stream ads. That means you can use in-stream ads to piggyback off the success of another video to reach your target audience. Instead of placing a piece of content and doing SEO to bring more traffic on your platform, it seems much easier to show your ads in between popular videos. That way, you could have a better chance to bring more clicks and conversions from your ads.
However, while placing your ads, you should also consider the user behavior to whom you are targeting to create a winning promo. To ensure your success with in-stream ads, here are the few things which you should watch over.
Why Would People Click On Your In-Stream Ads?
When someone is streaming video, in-stream ads are disruptive elements. However, this can help you to seize the attention of viewers for a short interval during which you need to get more clicks on your ad. From what we understood, we can say that if you are targeting a wide range of audiences, then you have low chances of getting clicks and conversions. But if you are targeting the audience based on the demographics of your potential customers, then you have a better chance to bring more conversions from in-stream ads.
Still, if you are looking to get more clicks from viewers, make sure to deliver intriguing and interesting video content. Then only viewers would be forced to click on your in-stream video ads.
Conversions From In-Stream Ads
When someone is watching online video, most of the time, they don’t want to check ads between streaming. So you can say that the percentage of people who are going to purchase after seeing an in-stream ad is pretty low. Still, you don’t need to panic. Because there are quite a lot of people who still like to watch video ads in between streaming.
Skip Button On In-Stream Ads
So we know that chances of conversions from in-stream ads are slight, but still, they need to watch the content. While most people don’t like ads during streaming. But if an ad is showing only for a few secs on the screen, usually people won’t mind.
Nowadays, you have the option to show an in-stream ad for at least 5 secs before viewers can skip your ad. Most probably, just after getting a glimpse of an ad, people would like to skip that as soon as possible. However, if your ad is attractive enough to catch the attention of viewers, it could help you to bring out more clicks. So make sure that your ads could capture the attention of viewers in those 5 secs.
How To Use In-Stream Videos To Gain Better Customer Engagement?
Even if you spend a lot of effort on your in-stream ad, there is a possibility that you might not get expected results. And it may also scare you a bit in the starting. But still, you should try to create content that can attract the audience’s attention so that they won’t press the skip button. Here are a few steps that might help you.
Put Your Viewers Into Action:
Based on the analysis, people usually ignore the in-stream ad within 5 secs, if it’s not catchy enough to get their attention. So, to catch viewer attention, begin your ad with action-packed sequences and concisely explain your products. While you can also use an ad in which viewers have to take some action to check what’s going to come next. In curiosity, most of the people do participate in the action, and they do get converted in the end.
Dynamic Keyword Insertion:
In the text ads, we usually use Dynamic keyword insertion (DKI), which allows us to customize our content according to customer’s queries. You can also utilize DKI in your in-stream ads. It would help you to attract viewers who might be interested in your ad. Thus, you have a better opportunity to get more clicks and conversions from your in-stream ads.
Make It All About Viewers:
You want to get more audience on your video ads. So, you need to make sure that your content is satisfying the interest of viewers. Keep your communication directly with your viewers. It will help you to connect with viewers so that you would be able to gain better engagement on your ads.
Use Examples To Inspire:
In the competitive pool of advertising, there are many brands that use inspirational content to create effective in-stream ads. When we see some inspirational content, it puts a psychological effect on our minds. And we find that content interesting. So if you also want your audience to not skip your in-stream ads, then make use of inspirational examples to catch the attention of viewers. It might help you to get more conversions from your video ad campaigns.
Build Your Brand Credibility:
Most people react coldly to newer brands. To target that cold traffic, you need to show your brand credibility and make them know that your content is worth their attention. For building credibility, you have to expose the achievements of your brand.
For example, it would be easier to sell an award-winning novel compared to any usual novel in a bookstore.
Call To Action:
Suppose people find your ad interesting, but in the middle of the stream- are you going to ask viewers to click on an annotation on the video? Instead, it’s better to let your viewers know that when they click on the call to action button, they will be taking to the registration page. That’s where they could be able to access the offer given in your ad campaign. Tell you, viewers, how they can get benefitted by clicking on the CTA button to claim your offers. It would help you to gain better conversion from your in-stream ads.
Countdown Timer:
In a study, we found that in-stream ads with countdown timers get more clicks compared to in-stream ads without countdown timers. The timer creates a FOMO effect on viewers, and it encourages people to take action so that they won’t miss out on the offers given in the in-stream ads.
22 Secs Freeze!:
There is a fantastic feature of in-stream video ads where you only need to pay for the ads when people view it for more than 30 seconds. In such a video ad, you need to keep the attention of viewers for at least 22 secs. After that, you have 8 secs before you need to pay for anything. In the short video streaming platforms like YouTube and Facebook, 8 seconds are enough to catch the attention of viewers. In those 8 seconds, either you can encourage your viewers to click on your ad, or they will click on the skip button.
So, make sure to create a good video script for 22 seconds to grab the viewers’ attention and get a click before 30 seconds, which will help you to keep your cost down!
30 Seconds CTA:
Now, if viewers have already gone past 30 seconds, you need to pay the ad. So make sure to provide more information to viewers, which could help you to bring conversions. While you can give away additional offers to your viewers, that would encourage more people to click on your ads. So don’t forget to add the second CTA button after 30 seconds of your in-stream ad and give 5 seconds of freeze, which provides them enough time to decide whether to click or not.
Make Use of Social Media Automation:
It would take most of your time and efforts to create and publish in-stream ads on social media platforms. While you can utilize the most effective social media automation tool like Socinator to automate your social media activities on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram etc. That way, you can automate most of your activities on social media.
What’s Socinator:
Socinator is a social media automation software that lets you auto publish and schedule your posts on multiple social networks at once (like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin etc.). It also has the ability to analyze engagement so that you optimise your content to get more views and likes on your posts.
Wrapping Words:
After going through this article, you might have understood that in-stream ads can actually bring your more engagement compared to any other format of ads. While you need to take care of a few things and make sure to deliver amazing content to viewers.
Hope you really like this article and don’t forget to share this post with your friend and family members. If you have any queries related to in-stream video ads, please mention them in the comments section. We would be happy to help you.
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