Pre-roll video ads

[Westech]

Has anyone tried Valueclick's pre-roll video ads? What do you think of them?

Can you recommend any other networks for 15-30 second pre-roll video ads to show before embedded video or Flash content?

[Westech]

Well, I tried to test out the new instream video ads that Valueclick has been bragging about since last year. I say tried, because when I set up the ad codes no ads played. I emailed their support and they replied that no ads are playing because they currently have no inventory for them. So Valueclick is off my list for video ads, at least until they can secure more steady inventory... or any inventory at all.

[MaxS]

I have yet to try their instream video ads, but there does seem to be a trend. Over the last few weeks, VCM's fill rate has dramatically decreased.

At this point, I'm scrambling to fill impressions.

I don't know what's happening on their end, but it certainly does not look good.

[Generalissimo]

I'm trying them (have been implementing them over the last few days). They have very low fill rates, but very good ($12 ish) CPM. I wish their was a good alternative.

[Westech]

Advertising.com says they offer video ads, so I might give them a try. I also ran across brightroll.com , but they haven't answered the email inquiry that I sent several days ago, so that doesn't seem like a good sign.

[Generalissimo]

Are you planning to run the ads before games or before videos? I'm just doing it before videos. I couldn't get it to work with my flash video player so I'm having to convert all videos to WMV.

[Cutter]

These videos are all pay per play/view right? I am thinking about running some video tests after my next two projects are running themselves, sounds like a really great opportunity to buy inventory if the networks have none to provide.

[Westech]

I want to use them as prerolls before a .swf format game file. (This isn't for CMG, it's for another project I'm working on.)

Which network could you not get to work with your Flash video player? Valueclick?

[Generalissimo]

Yes, because my player was using an external style which could not be embedded from valueclick's server.

Cutter - I'm confused by what you mean? Buying sites with videos on, or buying video ad campaigns for a low price?

[Westech]

Cutter - Most are 15-30 second videos and are CPM. The online games section at Shockwave.com - http://www.shockwave.com/online.jsp - is a good example of how they work. All of the games show a video ad before the game starts.

[Cutter]

Generalissimo - Buying video campaigns for a low price.

Not sure how the numbers would work out, usually its the general-audience entertainment type sites where you need inventory at pennies per thousand impressions in order to turn a profit (either affiliate offers or your own projects.)

The brand advertiser's are the ones who have the muscle to really increase the video earnings. These are the guys who will really over pay for traffic that is otherwise garbage simply because they have the money to spend. On the other hand, perhaps brand advertisers will focus more on things like user actions this time around (vs the dot com bubble days.) We'll see. The money is on its way no matter what happens.

[Generalissimo]

FreeOnlineGames.com appear to be using a company called UTarget for their video ads, but the UTarget website doesn't appear to have a publisher sign up page.

[Westech]

I don't see any video ads on freeonlinegames.com. Where are they?

[Generalissimo]

Click on one of their videos, and they come up. They show on every view for me. But I am UK based, and so is UTarget, so perhaps they've got more inventory of UK ads?

[Generalissimo]

You know those Made For Adsense sites?

I've started a new trend... Made For In-Stream...

http://www.funny-cat-videos.info

Just applied it to ValueClickMedia. Made in just a few hours using content I had for Craziness.com and using my standard layout for sites.

[Generalissimo]

Update: Site was approved by ValueClick. Good sign for those wanting to make video sites for instream revenue. I'll keep you updated on what happens with campaigns and CPMs and such.

[Westech]

Good luck with it. I've yet to see a single ad served on the VC instream test page I set up.

I'm still not seeing any video ads at all on freeonlinegames.com either. Maybe they're just targetting UK...

[john190]

I must admit, ValueClick did mention about it and by the sounds of it I thought it was going to be the next big earner. I have not tried them though as when the started they only had 4 campaigns and then it went down to 2 and now after a long time it is up to about 6, unless it has dropped down again.

By the looks of it, either people don't know that valueclick does this, or advertisers are not making any money from this sort of advertising.