online ad : Interactive Broadband Commercials

Interactive Broadband Commercials

Online ad takes many forms including banners, floating ads, interstials, sponsorships, rich media, classifieds, referrals, keyword search, minimovies, advergames, and interactive ads in commercial email (Siegal 2004, 323). Interactive Broadband Commercial is TV-like "video ad" units placed in the virtual marketplace, a highly targeted way to reach consumers. According to Interactive Advertising Bureau, IAB (2005), there are various names to call such ads. These include: in-stream commercials, in-video commercials, streaming commercials, video commercials, multimedia adjacencies, and many others (IAB. 2005). Benefits of such Interactive Broadband commercials as claim by eWebMercials (2005) includes:
Web video has been proven to help increase sales.
Having web video differentiates you from your competitors.
Web video helps you turn more website visitors into customers.
Web video allows you to connect with potential clients directly.

Type of Formats

Interactive Broadband Commercial or streaming video as stated by Cybertech (2005) that streaming video is a method of transmitting movies of any length over the Internet in real-time without any Cybertech (2005) also point out that this form of web ads can be in the format of:

Real Video
Windows Media
QuickTime Streaming
Video
AVI - Audio Video Interleave
Mpeg - Moving Picture Experts Group

Interactive Broadband Commercials may appear before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll) and after (post-roll) content. Examples of content include but not limited to streaming video, animation, online gaming, and online music video content in a player environment. These ads can be put out in live, archived, and downloadable streaming content. Their options for Interactivity may include: Click ability, Video Hot Spot, Additional Info Link to more advertiser, product information and window to indicate an interactive area within the video experience. The continous diminishing effectiveness of broadcast advertising can be attributed to two major irreversible trends ads as stated by Ariz (2004). The first is the effects on broadcast TV audience behaviours. Second is the likelihood of allowing users to skip ads.

Guidelines and Design Specifications

According to IAB (2005), a set of guidelines for broadband video commercials online has been proposed in effort to improve online as an advertising medium. The bureau main goal of this guideline as stated is to enable advertisers and agencies the ability to create online broadband video ads to these specifications usable across the majority of publishers. Overview of Interactive broadband ad as obtained from IAB (2005), Broadband Ad Creative Guidelines. The overview covers on:

Placement
Pre Roll = Before Content
Mid-Roll = During Content
Post Roll = After Content

Panel Size
The minimum video panel size 300x225, which will allow Broadband Video Commercials to fit into the IAB's 300x250 standard ad unit (with room for a 25 pixel tall control bar).

Panel Aspect Ratio
4:3 aspect ratio (e.g. 400x300) or 16:9 aspect ratio (e.g. 480 x 270)

Encoded Bit Rate
Minimum encoded bit rate of 200 Kbps

Commercial Length
Pre & Mid Roll = 15 Seconds & 30 Seconds
Post Roll = No Minimum or Maximum

Frequency Controls And Capping Standards
Since these ads are only displayed when a user opts-in to view broadband content, it is recommended that all Broadband Video Commercials are
Host-initiated (automatic)
Absent of any user experience related frequency caps

Interactivity of Broadband Video Commercials
Each publisher may dictate the options for Interactivity. These options may include:
Clickability - Broadband Video Commercials may include in-stream video interactivity.
Video Hot Spot - Broadband Video Commercials may include a cursor that becomes a "hand" over the video window to indicate an interactive area within the video experience.
Additional Info - - Broadband Video Commercials may link to more advertiser / product information.
Controls
Host-Initiated Play & Audio
Start/Stop & Volume On/Off Controls Required
fast Forward disabled through ad play

Surrounding Advertising
Non-interactive synchronized banners or text links may appear in close proximity to commercial.