Operative Blog

Operative partnered with the team from DM2PRO to survey digital publishers and agencies about the people, processes and tools required to run a profitable advertising business.  At DPAC today, we’ve released the findings.  Take a look at some of analysis we’ve gathered.

More than 339 self-identified publishers weighed in during a one-week period, ample enough indication that we’d struck a nerve with our subject matter. While many of them without doubt juggle “cross-media” campaigns with their traditional content channels and the Web, we went a step farther, asking, “What percent of all your current campaigns includes three or more media (e.g. a mobile, video and display component in a single order)?”

For a slight majority of respondents, such campaigns are still a rarity. But, for the other half, they range from 10%-25% for a little more than a fifth of respondents, to greater than half all campaigns for the top 10% of publishers.

To read more survey results, check out the below PDF.

DPAC_Presentation_Sample survey findings

For more information, please click here.

According to the Bain Study “Building Brands Online”, in the next 3 years, brand marketers will spend close to 40% of their budget on cross-platform campaigns (up from roughly 25%).  That’s about $52,000,000,000 being spent on cross platform campaigns in the near future.  Unless you start making changes in your organization to satisfy this new rise in demand, you won’t get a dime of it.

Let’s explore why.

What do these new demands look like for marketers?                            

A marketer looking for ‘cross-platform’ means they want to use multiple advertising platforms or vehicles to convey an advertising message.  For example, a brand like Nike may want to reach women at home, on the move, during recreation and at work.  To do that, Nike needs a number of options to distribute the advertising message: display media, online video, mobile, social media, TV, outdoor, newspaper and magazines.  And, the list continues to get longer.  For example, in the last 2 months, hundreds of publishers scrambled to build their iPad app, knowing that a decent percent of their audience will flee to the digital magazine version of their product. 

Marketers are starting to require multiple touch points in their campaigns, increasingly digital.  The people who spend the money are aware that digital is an accountable, efficient way to build brand equity and are putting pressure on their marketing departments to become more cross-platform as a result.  They are looking to get a single message to a consumer across different digital and non-digital advertising channels.  In fact, according to the Marketing and Media Ecosystem 2010 Booz & Company analysis, 89% of all marketers are developing ideas that cross media platforms, including digital.        

What can media owners and publishers do to keep up with these demands?

Let’s take a break from the macro-level talk and get into the day to day reality of the situation.  The media buyer that you met at a cocktail party nine months ago calls you up. 

“Hey – long time, how are you?… Great, great…Listen, we are doing this thing for my client and they are trying to reach men between the ages of 18-49 that are interested in buying a car.  And um…they are really trying to do this across multiple outlets…something that covers all the standard online ad units, but something that’s custom too.  So, if you could put together something that’s standard, custom, across video, mobile, online, social, that’s targeted to male car buyers between the age of 18 and 49 that live in the north east, that’d be great.  Oh, wait, I need it by this Friday OK?  Thanks, you’re the best.”

Only 1 type of publisher will get this order- the one who CAN execute.  If you can’t scale, you’ll spend all of your time reacting to these requests and looking for data.  This leaves very little time to sell, brainstorm and get creative. 

Translation – you likely won’t get this deal. 

So, what’s holding publishers back from executing cross-platform campaigns?

1.    Technology and data fragmentation is still a huge problem.  A typical publisher uses 30+ systems to run their business.  The data is fragmented, yet absolutely necessary to access to stay competitive in this new market place.  There’s one ad server for video, one for mobile, and one for display.  If you want to include a TV component or a print component, there’s a whole different set of systems to access to see if the inventory even available, and at what price.  If you plan to offer ad space on an iPad app, well you have that to deal with now too. 

2.    Business resources necessary to complete the RFP or contract oftentimes don’t even sit on the same floor- let alone same office. You may have other sales teams within your company that you may need to consult with to get them on board with your client’s ideas.  They are usually removed from your digital business goals, have not been vested in the process of selling to this client, and have their own agendas in mind. 

3.     Ad operations teams are typecast and segmented by the media they implement.  For many publishers, one team traffics standard and display rich media.  Another team traffics mobile or uses an outsourced mobile ad network.  TV and print production teams don’t even sit in the same office as you.  These are not ideal conditions for selling a cross-platform deal.

What can publishers do about it?

1.    Take a leadership role by getting all of your data in one place for Sales.  Plan for the future.  According to the Ecosystem study mentioned above, 67% of media owners said they need to upgrade their supply chain capabilities in 2010.  Part of this investment translates into having one screen to access your inventory, products and rate cards available for video, mobile, display, social and even TV, radio and newspaper.  This needs to happen, regardless of the number of ad servers or execution systems you may use.  Integrate it all into one central place so at the time of proposal, Sales has all the information they need when they get the call from that media buyer. 

2.    Centralize ad operations teams and production resources.  Fragmented ad operations teams are unable to help sales drive revenue that comes from cross-platform.  While it would be difficult (today) to have the same ad ops team that implements TV also traffic digital, there are steps you can take to move in the right direction.  Get everyone communicating with each other through one platform.  The carrot is integrating their specific ad system into the platform that everyone uses.  This will make them want to be on that platform.  By merging several departments onto one system, new proposals, orders, demands and alerts from a cross-media sales teams would be visible to everyone. 

How do these steps help publishers deliver cross-media campaigns?

By implementing these steps, Sales will be able react quickly to client demands.  They will also have more data to educate buyers and move upstream in the buying process, getting closer to the people holding the budget.  Executives can get a larger share of wallet from existing and new customers.  Ad operations and production resources can become a strategic partner to ad sales teams and help provide a competitive advantage over other publishers competing for the same dollars.

Of course, this is not easily done.  Someone with influence in your company needs to step in and be the VP of Change.  Someone who has power.  Someone that cares about revenue.  That cares about your brand.  Someone that is forward thinking enough to adapt before it’s too late.  If you can get the right people behind you, integration of data becomes easier, centralization of operations starts to fall into place and the company will start to rally towards a common cause- $52,000,000,000.

For more information, please click here.

The day of ‘seller defined media buys’ will decrease as publishers understand the who, how and where in the context of a media buy.  Sellers need to not only understand the revenue picture but also the value of the audience.  

The question is not WHO owns the data, but WHAT can we use the data for? 

Advertisers and publishers hire vendors to solve their business problems.  The two sources of real data are from advertisers and publishers.  All of data is incomplete. 

Does data equal revenue? 

Are we managing data to get a stronger revenue stream? 

Data ownership is a false paradigm.  It is all about how we USE the data.  We must be respectful of the consumer and prevent legislation at the same time.  If we eliminate data and data usage, it will cause everyone more problems.  Controls are important for both publishers and advertisers.

Advertisers want to buy on frequency and modeling for maximum reach of a targeted audience.  We need a combination of trust and responsibility.  The holding companies want to be transparent and open.  

Big publishers and holding companies are afraid of start-ups who are doing non-ethical things that effect the revenue model for everyone.  But the truth is that big players need to take a lead in the marketplace.  There is a big disagreement between agencies and publishers as far as who can do what with data.   This is a fundamental issue that might not be solved for years.  Right now data is all over the place, no one trusts each other, and advertisers want to buy on an audience basis. 

So, what the value of targeting without context?  

What can publishers do to protect themselves moving forward?  

Don’t work with ad networks. 

Create a business policy on any 3rd party tags. 

Consider search and the influence of site indexing. 

One great way to think about inventory and data, is that we need to evaluate opportunity cost for each partnership.  The first step for everyone has to be transparent throughout the buying and selling process.

For more information, please click here.

Gordon McLeod, President, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network

The Evolution of Content

1. Paid content should be free. Once free, always free is a myth.

The hybrid model is the ultimate access with a paid and free model in the same market.  Drive traffic with free but keep the audience with paid.  Try to also think of different levels of pricing to create a lot of value but let the client decide how much they want to pay.  The highest level is also a great driver for the overall brand. 

2.  Platform agnostic

Print, mobile, web, e-reader, etc.  All of these can work with content.  The key is to make sure you understand the consumers on each platform. 

3.  Forget free, build a pay wall (2010)

Don’t literally build a brick wall.  Low traffic, no inventory is terrible.  Transparency and allowing customers to see the value helps attract higher value.  Make it easy for consumers to use your product.  Constant improvement and showing value is critical here.  Hybrid models could be a good fail safe.   Find a way to get new people  to the site to see the value. 

4.  Paid content is easy, charging is hard.

One view of the customer, the value of that customer is tremendous.  Take control of your business so you can set price.  Add in products that are complimentary but maybe not obvious.  Could industry bundles work as a solution? Bundling is the secret to paid content success.  Also, paid content actually adds value to the business.   With paid content, you get a higher premium.   

Book entitled Information Rules.  Best quote, “Technology changes but economic laws do not.”

For more information, please click here.

A lot of time is spent online, but we do not know exactly when and where.  Traditional information is moving from offline to online. 

Advertising models have not kept up with these changes.  Page views, impressions, friends, Tweets, buzz, uniques, etc are all ways in which people are buying media.   The Olympics has AS MANY mobile users as there are TV viewers!  The money in digital clearly has not caught up- 30% of time is spent online and 16% of the ad dollars are spent online. 

Why has ad spend not caught up?

It’s simple.  The ad buying process for online is VERY difficult.   There are roughly 30 steps to buying a single ad impression (ie: from RFP’s sent out, to email changes, to ad tag generation and testing and implementation….all of these tasks effect the marketplace).   And, for online video, standards are very different.  

7 predictions

1. Inventory should be frictionless.  is critical to success.  Marketers want to spend more time on creativity and less on paperwork.   28% of the costs for selling, executing and billing an online ad go to administrative work.  We need to do better.

2.  We could increase our revenue from gleaning better insights.  If the publisher had a more knowledge about the inventory, they could get a higher value.  It would also provide greater analysis for running the business. 

3.  More revenue from sophisticated yield management.  “If you are managing yield in an excel sheet, or managing it away from the ad server, you are losing money.”  If for example Michael Jackson’s death causes a spike, it should be sold at auction.

4. There are 1000′s of display advertisers.  Make it easier to create an online ad.  A site like www.issuu.com is a great example of self service ad creation. 

5. Have the perfect ad for your users.  Quality targeting makes for a quality experience. 

6.  Syndication is critical to having more people see your content.  It is not about having more content or page views.  It is about more premium content that lures advertisers.  Better syndication is critical for everyone. 

7.  Every campaign will have desktop, mobile and social elements.  Social does not mean Facebook, it is a mind set more than anything else. 

Innovation and implementation will lead to online advertising success.

For more information, please click here.

Welcome to the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, “Ecosystem 2.0, Revenue the next wave“.  650 digital media leaders are here in Carlsbad, California- 30% more attendees than last year.  It’s Monday morning, February 22, and one of the resounding messages so far has been the fact that interactive marketing will grow next year.  2010 is about new services, products, and transparency- it is all about growth.  As an update, the Terms and Conditions 3.0 will take effect today and was based upon feedback from over 100 companies.

In one of the opening sessions, Jory Des Jardins from Blogher introduced Frank Cooper  from Pepsi.   Jory praised Pepsi’s innovative approach to interactivity.   She mentioned an example about  a consumer tweeting that they are thirsty, and suddenly a butler appears on the screen to offer a Diet Pepsi.  Companies like Pepsi are taking big risks which means they are taking a leadership position. 

Frank Cooper, Senior Vice President, Chief Consumer Engagement Officer, Pepsi Co Americas Beverages:

“We have a chance to make brands more appropriate to everyone’s lives.”  He believes the marketing that has been built for the last 75 years is now not relevant.  Brands need to add value to our lives.  The truth is that right now we are in the middle of a brand marketing crisis.  Less loyalty, lower prices, dysfunctional messages across the board, these are all problems with marketing today.  The truth is that brand marketing has NOT really changed in quite some time. 

As an industry of digital marketers, we need to rethink, redesign and rebuild brand marketing.  Brands provide consistent value and consistent price.  But identity value has become even more important to consumers.  How can brands bring new value to the audience?

Brand behavior must change from ‘only sponsorships’ to ‘opportunities based on experience’.   We must also build our brands around social networks. The consumer has to be able to sell for us and leverage outlets that are ‘connected’.  The digital space has technology that allows us to relate to consumers in a deeper way.  Social media allows brands to highlight people and elevate their experiences with a brand or product. 

Ultimately, advertising has to add more transactions, better value or higher prices to be successful.

That seems to be the latest measurement buzz word.  Now…let me ask in a different way. 

Can your Ad Sales and Ad Ops teams scale to achieve the NEW technical demands of media buyers?

In 2010, digital publishers in the US and Europe that are not a top 20 site in their market, will leave more than $500,000,000 of ad revenue on the table.  In fact, if you divide that number into the top 300 publishers on the internet, that’s $1,600,000 per publisher.  Most of that money will go to the big publishers who can get the job done…the ones that can easily execute complicated marketing programs because they have the staff, systems and processes to support them.

In the last 6 months, custom integrations and specialized marketing programs have been in high demand. This has not only become a trendy ad buy in the US, but even more so in the UK because of the market’s ability to be more progressive than most on the creative side.  The end goal is the same- create ‘engagement’ with the consumer. 

For those who don’t know what a custom integration is, don’t worry, you’re not alone.  In fact, these were less than 1% of all digital ad spend only 1 year ago.  Custom integration are media buys that typically come from an agency who is looking for the “big idea” or from a brand/marketer who wants to really create engagement with the consumer.  Things like micro sites, custom video and social media widgets are all non-traditional ways to create engagement with the consumer…a way to be PART of the conversation, not an interrupter.  The first successful custom integration I can remember was a few years ago when you were able to “Friend the King” as a MySpace user to earn points. 

So, OK…big deal right?  How does that lose me $1,600,000 this year?  Well, if you want to offer custom programs, you need to have a certain type of infrastructure to be able to support them.  Most publishers do not have scalable teams or borrowed resources to help execute these types of buys.  In the first 6 months of 2009, almost $1.4B was spent on rich media, digital video, and sponsorship display-related advertising, and according to eMarketer, well over $1B is expected to be spent on social marketing this year. $500MM across digital sounds very reasonable. 

So, what does this mean for the digital publisher?

Challenges for Ad Sales Teams

Sales people are not experienced enough to sell these types of deals.  These buys usually come with a big ticket price and involve multiple decision-makers to sign off.  It also takes an enterprise level seller and a bit of solutioning to pull it off.

Most digital sellers (not all) who started in digital media typically start out as Sales Planners or Sales Assistant roles. This basically means completing RFPs and taking orders from agencies as a full time job.  You can develop poor habits this way.  This is much different than starting your sales career selling traditional media or other “feet on the street” Sales jobs that require you to hunt for your dinner to make a dime. 

Challenges for Ad Ops and Technology Teams

This part of your Operations isn’t the easiest thing to scale.  It’s hard to predict customer programs and big effort integrations because of the nature of the sale.  These deals can be asked for in a week’s notice (sometimes days) and this puts a lot of pressure on the Ad Ops team.  Custom integration deals can also take months to close due to complexity, so it’s hard to staff for something that “may” be coming soon.

If you don’t have a dedicated team for creative development, you are likely borrowing from other resources.  If that’s the case, there’s no way you can keep up with the demands in the market for these types of buys.  Furthermore, these borrowed resources don’t feel part of the sale.  They are oftentimes being dictated to by Sales people- a sure recipe for disaster.

Keep in mind, this isn’t your typical trafficking request either. Creating these types of ads requires multiple custom developers, project and vendor managers to get the ads live.  These buys take valuable resource time away from other high priority work that needs to get done, putting other campaigns and revenue at risk.

What can you do about all this???  Glad you asked. 

Over the last 3 week, I pooled together some ideas that came from other Sales/Ad Ops Executives in the US and UK. 

If you’re a CRO/EVP/VP of Sales, start looking for enterprise level talent.  You can’t win a complex deal with the same resources as you did a year ago.  This is the type and caliber of sales person that can get to the advertiser or brand, convincing the agency to make a direct introduction.

Move the custom development and key technical resources to the sales department.  It’s just like having Sales Engineers for Sales people at an enterprise software company.  They are involved in the sale from the beginning.  This will result in fewer issues when it comes time to getting the ad up since it was properly scoped from the get go.

Ad Ops needs to create a check and balance system to approve the ads before they are sold and QA them before they go live.  The role of campaign management would then be owned by Ad Ops. 

Free up those key trafficking resources that are very technical, either by automating parts of the process or partnering with another company to provide you ad ops services in your local time zone.

Get your sales forecasting process tight.  If you use Salesforce.com, get your ‘opportunities’ for these types of deals in sync with your booking system.  This will give Ad Ops longer lead times since the opportunity will start in Salesforce.com, and not when the order is about to come in.  It will also give sales a more accurate forecast report since your booking system automatically updates your pipeline in Salesforce.

Want to ask me a question?  Post a comment or email me at lbrown@operative.com

The end of a decade.  A time for prediction, review and a double dose of ‘best of’ lists.   So, let’s think… just what does the future hold?

Well, Spain will win the World Cup.  In the UK, Conservatives will win the General Election.  And, according to this Government commissioned report, we’re set for fewer butchers but more prosthetic limbs.

As for the Online Advertising world, it seems as if just about everyone has thrown their hat into the ring.  There was one announcement which caught my eye in Q4 I which feel might impact in 2010.  Google announced a new tool for advertisers called ‘Insights’.  This analytics suite is similar to Atlas’ own ‘Engagement Mapping’ tool and helps measure the effectiveness of display campaigns by examining the entire conversion funnel. This technology hasn’t quite hit its stride, so if you’ve not encountered this as yet: It’s time for a quick primer.  A ‘review’ if you will.

Since the online equivalent of the big-bang, the capacity for advertising on the internet has expanded into some boundless ether.  This constant state of change means that the cost of online ad space has also had to evolve.

Now there are a vast number of variables that determine the price of this inventory.  But despite what an Ad Sales Executive might tell you, this price is ultimately driven by the bar graphs on the advertiser’s report.  As the old adage goes – “It’s only worth what someone is willing to pay”.

The early adoption of buying a number of ad impressions (CPM) proved to be self-defeating in some respects.  As more web pages appeared online, advertisers witnessed diminishing returns and demanded more proof that campaigns were performing.  Establishing a cost model based on the numbers of user clicks (CPC) helps to validate an ROI.  But whilst this kept the acronym fanboys happy, it also raises as many questions as it answers.  Essentially this amounted to a glut of resellers tripping over themselves to get to the front of the queue to register your click and take your order online.  Cue the rise and rise of Search Engine Marketing (read: Google).

Post-click tracking has helped advertisers validate these clicks by identifying (anonymously of course) which users actually ‘converted’ e.g. went on to buy a book, sign up for the newsletter etc.  Here we can see a real correlation between the ad and the sale.  As a result online inventory is now commonly sold on a CPA basis (cost per action) i.e. a website will display your banners ‘for free’ but will take a payment based on resulting sales performance.  CPA deals represent a guaranteed return for your advertising budget.  Everyone’s happy right? <shakes head>.

This pricing scenario has thrown up its own unique conundrum.  When an online ad campaign appears across several websites, it’s possible that a user may see, or click the ad more than once.  Now should the user ‘convert’ (i.e. make the jump from clicking an ad to purchasing a product) which website should take payment for a successful sale?

Currently the general consensus is as follows: A successful sale will be acknowledged to the last / most recent click as this is assumed to be the most valid.

This ‘last click’ methodology is flawed as it ignores user engagement.  A user could see a banner displaying a ‘half price sale’ promotion on 5 different occasions – each in premium positions across several publisher sites.  It’s possible the promotional message has successfully registered with the user via highly interactive rich media ads.  If / when they decide it’s time to make a purchase, what do they do?  What would you do?  Well it’s pretty common to ‘google’ the advertiser’s website and purchase.  Payment for the conversion is therefore collected by Google/the reseller and not the websites who originally displayed the ads.

These new tools help calculate the value of all media exposure, allowing marketers to uncover deeper insights into each touch point.  Thus potentially giving credit (and by that I mean payment, not just a smile and nod) to the publishers displaying the ads.  Given that the analysis of user engagement is a complicated one, there will be no simple replacement for the ‘last click’ methodology.  I don’t expect Publishers/Advertisers/IAB to unanimously agree a ‘one-size fits all’ solution – but it does arm advertisers and agencies with more information to make purchasing decisions, and ultimately this will reflect in the price of the ad space.

So that’s it, a prediction, a review… I don’t have a ‘best of’ list.  There are too many of them anyway (but if I did Mamma Mia wouldn’t be anywhere near it!).

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Blogged by Jonathan Hall

Operative provides outsourced Ad Operations not only for publishers, but for a number of major Agencies across the globe. Jonathan Hall is one of Operative’s senior technical experts for all things Agency, providing advice to agency clients on a variety of subject matters including campaign planning and execution to report generation and troubleshooting.

In the Operative-sponsored Industry Participant Breakfast on Monday morning at the iMedia Agency Summitin Scottsdale, Arizona, three Senior Sales Executives sat on a panel to discuss ways to drive digital advertising revenue in 2010.  Participants included:

Moderator:     Mike Leo, CEO and President, Operative

Panel:

• Cheryl Lucanegro, SVP Advertising Sales, Pandora
• Tom O’Regan, SVP Advertising Sales, The Street.com
• Andrew Snyder, Chief Revenue Officer, Associated Content

How do you make it easier for an agency to buy from you?

According to Tom O’Regan from The Street.com, highlighting the value of sponsorships versus impressions will help them better interact with buyers.  Once an agency puts your brand in the ‘direct response’ bucket, the potential for revenue opportunity becomes obsolete. Pricing must be a combination of efficiency AND value.  The cost of doing business in digital advertising comes down to the Ad Operations team, and a focused, well-oiled Ad Ops team  is a true asset. 

Andrew Snyder of Associated Content said, “We’ve never heard an agency say ‘I want to work with you because you are cheaper than your competitors’. In reality, the agency is looking for performance measurement of some sort. You need to create the perception that your property drives results.” 

Cheryl Lucanegro of Pandora emphasized that being ‘easy to do business with’ runs from sales to ad ops and even to finance. The integration and alignment of these functions are critical to a publishers ability to develop long term relationships with buyers.

Mike Leo then asked the room of 80+ publishers, “How many people think that NOT being easy to work with negatively affects revenue?”  Most of the room said yes. 

A few years ago, hiring more salespeople was easy. Measuring their results has been very difficult in the past.  What are you doing today to gain more knowledge?

Cheryl said that Pandora uses Salesforce to track most of the revenue. She has 3 different sales teams selling 3 different products.

Tom’s focused on creating more dashboards to be able to see his work in a different and more descriptive manner. 

Andrewis going through the data flow right now, and trying to figure out how to gain transparency and present the information more effectively. Sales Reps could use a lot more insight as far history, close rates, etc.  Visibility into these metrics can only HELP drive positive results and behavior.

For more coverage on the iMedia Agency Summit, who attended, what trends to look out for in 2010, check out the event website. 

Just like the mythological Pandora created by Zeus who unleashed untold “ills, toils and sickness” on mankind, many in the Ad Ops world are wondering if video advertising isn’t the modern-day equivalent. The story goes that the only thing remaining in the jar (Editor: yes, the ‘box’ was actually a ‘jar’) was Hope. Likewise, video advertising offers the potential for great pitfalls and great promise.

Toils

Make no mistake; it’s a tricky realm to navigate. Setting up video ad serving involves a lot of the same steps that a typical ad server implementation does, but it also adds extra layers of complexity that require knowing what a video player can handle. There are a plethora of options out there to consider when deciding who has the best product for your specific needs. DoubleClick’s rich media product and Brightcove’s video platform are some of the more popular ones we’ve seen our publisher clients use quite successfully. However, cost becomes a concern when you’re looking to get more bang for your CPM bucks.

Hope

Fortunately, publishers are not limited to outsourcing their video operations to third-party providers. Because Adobe Flash® has become the de facto standard for building video players (offering ease of use and flexibility), many are able to develop video solutions in-house that effectively satisfy their video advertising requirements. It all just comes down to the expertise of the developers and their knowledge of what needs to be handled in their players. Here are some important factors to consider:

1) Know what Flash can do for you – Flash is not limited to just serving video. You want to get a 300×250 companion ad working in your player? Flash can do it. Overlays popping up in the middle of video content? Flash can do it. A moving shot of you jumping off rooftops in the middle of the night in a black cape? Err… umm.

2) Know what method you wish to employ in video ads – JavaScript is the most common method due to its use of what’s called “Flash variables” that an ad server uses to pass values for a variety of video player assets. The player can then grab those values and render them for each ad call made. But a programming language called XML is rapidly gaining ground. XML, in a way, allows you to pre-define your own code templates for serving any different combinations of assets.

3) Know how much you want to track – It’s becoming standard to include three-point tracking into players. This allows a publisher and/or advertiser to track the beginning, middle, and end of when a video ad plays. Some have gone even further and track in quartiles. Information like this is valuable to a client who wants to know how much interaction a user is having with their ads.

4) Know your ad server – This stays true whether it’s in banner or video advertising. Clearly defining the ad server architecture that will allow for as much flexible targeting as possible is critical to a successful video integration.

Let’s be clear here – this in no way should discourage you from deploying a third-party video advertising solution; many of them are well proven and have a lot to offer in helping ensure a more captivating advertising experience. The number of options is continuously growing and demonstrates that we’ve come a long way since the original opening of Pandora’s video advertising box. Knowing your requirements and getting the right video expertise will guarantee more “promise” than “pitfalls” when building the best video solution.

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Blogged by Tim Robinson

Operative provides world-class video integration support through its Managed Services Ad Server Support team.  Tim Robinson manages this wildly band of ad serving gurus … they really do eat Javascript for breakfast.