Video Banner Ads vs. Traditional Banner Ads - Measuring Effectiveness

Mark Robertson from ReelSEO posted an interesting article entitled, Video Banner Ads vs. Traditional Banner Ads - Measuring Effectiveness.  His article describes the REAL promise of online video - to drive more effective results for advertisers.  Citing a study done by Double Click from last year, Mark puts traditional banner ads (GIF and JPEG) to the test against in banner VIDEO ads and notes that, hands down, the video ads perform MUCH better than traditional banner ads at driving higher CTR. 

More than that, however, Mark talks about the inherent differences between tradtional banner ads and video based banner ads.   With tradtional banner ads there is only one objective - to drive click throughs - and to immediately take viewers away from the page they are on to another site. 

With in banner video ads, on the contrary, viewers select to click on the video ad but stay right there.  They watch the video ad and gather as much information as is available (vs. being limited to a 5 second flash presentation).  In the case of the Mixpo video ads, they can then select to click on a direct response button that takes them to the advertiser's web site when they are ready, or click to request more information right there in the player without having to leave the web site they are on. 

A better experience for the viewer where they don't have to leave a Web site abruptly, where they choose how they interact with the content that is presented to them, where they get more information and can then decide to take action.  A better ad for the advertiser because they are not limited to a :15 second pre-roll to tell their story and get more measurable results than CTR.  And a better value proposition for the publisher because their viewers can stay on their site longer, and they get better sell-through for their display ad inventory based on the fact that in banner video ads are more effective.

It's driving more effectiveness that is at the root of why online video is taking off and will do so at the expense of traditional banner ads.