Attend a digital media conference these days and you're bound to hear the S-word. Not the one that's verboten on television, but the dreaded "standards."
It has become both a buzzword and a focal point in the online video business as media and advertising executives bang the drum about the need for both standards and scale for the business to thrive.
Sure, online video should corral $699 million in ad dollars this year, a number projected to rise to $1 billion by 2011, media agency Magna predicts. But that's a shot glass compared to the keg full of overall internet and TV ad dollars. eMarketer, for example, says U.S. online ad spending will hit $24.5 billion this year. While online video is growing faster than any other ad medium, with most estimates pegging growth at about 40 percent each year, the medium has a long ways to go.
For web video to take off as a marketing vehicle, the medium needs standards when it comes to ad formats, views, video players, and metrics.
That's a lot, for sure. But the good news is agencies, research firms, technology vendors, and web publishers are working on various initiatives to make the buying and selling of ads in web video much easier.
The Internet Advertising Bureau has been working to jumpstart standards for formats. The Online Video ROI Council led by Break Media is developing a common language to measure advertisers' return on web dollars. Also, the media agency Starcom has launched an initiative called "The Pool" in which it tests upwards of 30 different ad formats across a variety of publishers and advertisers to determine which ones are most effective.
These efforts are gaining some early traction.
At the core, the web video business needs a common player, a common format, and standard file and ad sizes, says Adam Kasper, senior VP and director of digital at Media Contacts. Buying and selling web video must be more manageable, says David Hallerman, senior analyst with eMarketer.
"Standards of some ilk in terms of ad formats are going to help attract more dollars," Hallerman says. "There are literally 25 or 30 or more different types of online video ads, and when you look at the marketer, that becomes more of a roadblock."
To get past the roadblocks, here's a closer look at the standards online video is crying out for and how to implement them.
Next page >>
