Last week was filled with video-related announcements. From Accuen adding video DSP TubeMogul to its toolkit to SpotXchange and BrightRoll making their video ad inventory real time biddable to Google expanding AdWords for video, anyone who is anyone in the online advertising world will have gotten the picture: video advertising is one to watch.

Research backs this up; statistics from the Online-Vermarkterkreis (OVK) of the Federal Association of Digital Economy (BVDW) in Germany showed that video advertising had the strongest increase in the German online advertising market, with a 115% increase of net spending from last year.

This increase can be attributed to the simple fact that video advertising is effective. The new hybrid of ‘advertainment’ results in viewers that are more engaged and involved- as long as the content shown is relevant, of course. Irrelevant and unrelated content is still seen as a nuisance to be avoided, not watched and enjoyed.  A recent study by Specific Media on the effectiveness of online video advertising showed that when video ad content was relevant, “61% said they were happy to watch adverts in exchange for free content”.

At plista, our expandable video ad formats VideoAds use behavioral targeting to ensure the content shown is relevant and interesting to the viewer. The ads are also voluntary, as the video ad only expands when the user scrolls over it, resulting in a more positive brand perception. Our ActionAds encourage the viewer to engage further, by combining video and banners with interactive and social sharing options.

The influx of video advertising with RTB capabilities is a positive step for the adoption of video advertising, as is Google AdWords for video, in that it allows for measurement of performance. However, tools for the measurement for online video advertising are not fully in place yet; only last week, AdExchanger.com had key industry people debate whether video advertising needed an online GRP (Gross Rating Point) frequency metric, which has been used successfully for TV advertising.  Response was lukewarm, with most agreeing that a better overall solution for measurement was needed.

At plista we offer measurable data for the behaviorally targeted VideoAds, which, due their relevant content, have seen a high success rate. Advertainment works; as to what’s next for online video advertising, it’s a case of staying tuned.

Find out more about VideoAds: http://www.plista.com/advertisers/info/videoad