VAST will unlock online video potential
Today the IAB Video Council announced full support of the new standard video ad serving template (VAST 2.0). VAST 2.0 allows third party ad servers to easily connect to publisher video players in a similar way to online display ads. This is a huge step forward for the growth of online video with near unanimous backing from the entire UK video industry, all of whom are members of the IAB Video Council.
In a nutshell it will allow advertisers to use one of these:
- DoubleClick
- EyeBlaster
- Eyewonder
- .FOX
- Tremor Media
- Videoplaza
- WebTVEnterprise
To connect to all of these:
- BSkyB
- Bauer
- CBS
- Channel 4
- IDS / Virgin Media
- ITV
- LoveFilm
- Microsoft
- Telegraph TV
- Times Online
- Turner
Reach, frequency and additional third party reporting – there are lots of benefits. One of the biggest being the opportunity to serve TV like advertising to people at work, a place previously impenetrable by audio visual, emotive advertising in this way.
Long-form video (5 mins or above) from ITV, Channel 4, Sky and other broadcasters is, rightly so, receiving a lot of attention. Hopefully this will help marketers to also look at short-form video (5 mins or less) which accounts for over 90% of video viewed online today (comScore).
People snacking at video content at work contributes to the large amount of short-form viewing: sharing a funny clip across the office, watching news on sites like The Daily Mail, The Telegraph and The Guardian, and watching showbiz gossip on magazine sites like Heatworld, FHM, Grazia, Empire and more.
Advertisers simply need to consider the user experience and create ads specifically for this space with shorter 10 – 20 sec pre-roll ads or new formats like branded player skins.
All of the above sites will soon be easily reachable from one point of contact with the help of VAST 2.0, and more companies are signing up by the day. It’s only one small piece of the puzzle, but it’s definitely a helpful corner piece.
