Outstream Video Ads Guidelines and Best Practices

Outstream video Ads are also known as native videos. It is the recent video advertising unit that outplays in a large format player every time users navigate to it within an article.

It displays even if the publisher doesn’t have his/her own video content. Understanding outstream video is therefore important to publishers.

It is called outstream because it is existing outside the online video content. It can also be instream when the video and plays before, during or after the publisher’s video content.

They are very high-quality video ads that play outside a video player but between paragraphs of a text and they don’t have sound.

They are designed to play whenever the unit is onscreen. Many big publishers have adopted the use of outstream videos.

The outstream video is an important source of revenue for online publishers and advertisers who have limited video content or sometimes no video content.

The user experience on stream is less intrusive as compared to various types of in-stream video units.

Online marketers refer to outstream video as a form of digital advertising where video units are served in a non-video environment. Such environments include video games, social media feeds, and text articles.

The outstream video has continued to grow, however, its growth is facing a number of obstacles. These obstacles include,

• Lack of measurement data to corroborate its value

• There are concerns over potential ad fraud

• There is the perception of a disconnect between text-based content and video-based ads

• There is also a possibility that outstream ads might be detrimental to media brands in the long-term

Apart from the disconnection that is available between text-based content ads and video-based ads, there is a chance that there will be confusion as to whether video ads are out stream or in the stream.

This is because there are varying definitions and perceptions of our stream as well as the fact that it is new.

Most advertisers like using video because it is the greatest way to tell their story to the audience. Publishers without video content can’t sell space for video ads.

With outstream video ad format, publishers can now monetize video ads between paragraphs or editorial content without video content.

Why Outstream Video?

Outstream videos have generated a huge revenue to the online publishers. Many big publishers are nowadays generating most of their ad revenue from video ads.

Buying video placements and showing them to your audience is also easy. You can publish video ads in all kinds of content such as editorial contents. It can also be published natively.

If not well integrated, video ads can lead to blindness and annoyance among customers.

As marketers, you need to collect yourself together and come up with better video ads. This will only be possible if there are understanding outstream video ads properly.

The Benefits of an Outstream Video Ads

Outstream video ads have many benefits and it includes the following.

1. Outstream Video Ads can be Monetized by all Publishers

Publishers are now able to monetize their ads within text or corners of a web page even if they don’t host video content on their websites.

2. Allow Advertisers to Expand their Reach

Outstream video ads provide an opportunity to advertisers to expand their reach beyond video players.

Online editorial video content publishers are now able to use outstream video ads to reach their customers.

3. Increased Success

Outstream video ads have been of great success to early adopters.

4. There is a Guarantee that your Ads will be Viewed

Advertisers can now worry no more about whether your video ads will get viewers. This is because the outstream video ads are set to only play when they are fully in view.

The ad will pause if the viewer scrolls away and will start playing again when the viewer scrolls back.

5. Less Worry About Ad Fraud

Brands can now worry less about ad fraud. Outstream video ads can only launch when the page there are on the register the action of the visitor. Those actions can’t be faked in any way.

6. Outstream has More Viewership

It has more views as compared to other video ads.

7. There is Longer Viewership

Research is showing that outstream video ads have a longer viewership as compared to other video ads.

8. Can only be Paid for After a Certain Period of Viewing

Advertisers will only pay after their videos have been viewed for a certain period of time.

9. Better Optimized for Mobile

Most of the brand professionals say that is better optimized for mobile as compared to other video ads.

Most publishers benefit from outstream video ads because the majority of people in the world today access the internet through their mobile phones.

10. They are Cheaper than other Video Ads

Most advertisers and publishers have confessed that the bidding cost of outstream video ads is a bit cheaper as compared to other video ads.

11. Outstream Video Ads have Brought Ad Networks on Board

Apart from Google, most ad networks have started to offer outstream placements.

Disadvantages of Outstream Video Ads

Apart from offering many benefits to the publishers and advertisers, outstream video ads also have some disadvantages. They include,

a. They can’t be Easily Found in the Ad Marketplace

There are still a lot of confusions on how to best offer the placements to advertisers and publishers.

Many of them have to be bid on as a part of a bundle with banner units and pre-roll placements.

b. ROI is Difficult to Track

It is very difficult to keep track of key performance metrics because most of the platforms lack adequate outstream analytics.

c. There is Discrepancy

It creates a discrepancy between budget is spent and how the advertisers think it is being spent.

This happens because most of the clients expect that their video ads will be played pre-roll.

d. Its Best Practices are Unknown

Because the ad format is still new, its best practices are still unknown to most advertisers and publishers.

Many publishers and advertisers are still unsure of how they can use outstream video ads to its full potential.

Many advertisers rely on auto sound to hook their viewers and since some players do not offer it, it will be difficult for them.

e. Out stream Video Ads are Intrusive

Some viewers have confessed that outstream video ads are less annoying but more intrusive as compared to other video ads.

You can therefore just decide to watch it partially if you don’t want to watch it fully.

Outstream video ads are playing a larger role in the brands investing in digital advertising.

Marketers and publishers have realized that outstream spending will in future outpace other video ads such as in-stream video ads. Outstream video ads offer more benefits than instream video ads.