Before we discuss the future, let’s talk about the present. Today, 90% of online video ads have simply
been
Every online video ad technology company plays this recognized Minority Report scene as a way to talk about
what the future of online advertising looks like. I can’t tell you if video ads will be scanning your eyeballs to
recognize the year you began your AmEx card, but I will declare the following characteristics of SmartVideo
advertising in the future…
It’s personalized. Today, the idea of
addressing the ad viewer by his first name sounds creepy, but apparently in the future (at least the one portrayed
by Steven Spielberg), privacy concerns are no longer an issue. Until the industry gets there, the focus should be on
personally relevant content that doesn’t cross the “creepy” line.
It’s real-time. Each ad impression should take
into account all the historic, contextual and behavioral data of the consumer viewing the ad. By pulling all this
information on-the-fly and delivering the right engagement creative “just in time,” the advertiser can achieve the
best results. An ad delivered during the day on your mobile device while on the go should, and will, deliver a
different experience than an ad late at night on your big connected TV screen before you go to bed. Again, real-time
affects relevancy, which in turn affects results.
Talking about results, the future of video advertising has to be
measurable. As previously discussed, there is no place for ad dollars going to waste.
Measurability of the entire ad cycle, from opportunity buying, through creative/experience all the way to desired
impact, paves the way to introduce optimization.
Speaking about optimization, I recently heard someone refer to the current world of advertising as
“highly optimized crap.” SmartVideo advertising has the potential to deliver not only great brand experience and
engagement, but also optimized performance-oriented results, as I discussed in a recent blog post. Imagine the ability to test multiple versions of
a video ad. With SmartVideo technology, you can easily go through champion/challenger tests to determine the best
creative and achieve better results over time.
Clearly the world of video advertising is in flux. New technologies are changing the way we create and consume ads.
And while no one knows what the future holds, some clear trends are beginning to emerge. I believe that in the next
few years we will see more and more ads that resemble the future Tom Cruise helped us discover.
