Web Video Ads to Grow This Year: Survey

More Web publishers than ever will support video advertising formats this year, including 100% of sites with streaming video content, according to the 2007 survey of online publishers in the Advertising.com network.

The fourth annual online survey, hosted by online marketing research company Insight Express, quizzed Advertising.com’s Web site publishers on their expectations for advertiser objectives, ad capabilities and revenue growth by creative size in the coming year.

For the third year in a row, publishers reported that Web banners are the most widely supported ad capability on their sites, followed by rich media, video and contextual advertising. Video ads saw the largest increase, expanding from approximately 35% of sites in 2006 to approximately 62% in 2007, for a growth rate of 80%. In-banner and pre-roll video ad formats were the most widely used, with 90% and 72% of respondents supporting the formats respectively.

Web publishers surveyed were more likely to offer 15-second spots (93%) than 30-second video ads (70%). They also expect to add more streaming content to their sites in 2007, mostly original video content rather than syndicated or user-generated content.

“Video has a lot of value for advertisers,” said David Jacobs, Advertising.com senior vice president of publisher services, in a release. “It carries great emotional impact like TV, yet it can be measured and can’t be skipped. That value means publishers can command higher CPMs [cost per thousand impressions] — hence the rise of streaming content.”

Web publishers surveyed also expect to see a rise in advertisers with hybrid ad strategies, aiming to create both brand awareness and direct response. Those polled said hybrid campaigns should account for about 47% of ad revenue in 2007, compared to 22% from direct-response ads and 31% from branding.

Because hybrid ad deals are typically bought on a CPM basis, with performance measured through clicks or sales, respondents said CPM pricing models for online ads would make up the largest share of ad revenue at 62%. On the other hand, cost-per-click and cost-per-action models and text links were expected to decline.

Advertising.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL LLC, operates a network that includes more than 3800 Web sites and reaches more than 148 million unique visitors per month.