"In the last week I've gotten ads that range from 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 41 seconds and 60 seconds. What is going on?"
- Streaming Media post [track]
there seems to be little doubt that online video or web-tv as both a narrative medium and as a commercial vehicle is immature. Being on the 'forefront' of online, which is itself still a bit underdeveloped in terms of sustainable monetization.
But is the length of an ad really the main point going forward? On tv you can get 15 as well as the more standard 30 second spots, but you can buy longer blocks and keep the story rolling. Or you can get a burst-ad (several small spots of a few seconds each combine to tell a larger story).
Isn't the real challenge finding a better way to match ads, content and viewers? The holy grail of behavioral and predictive matching, how the web was/is (???) supposed to move beyond billboards (aka banner-ads on mainstream sites) and into the land of quality - thereby breaking the old adage about half of ads being wasted.
Search ads have been one step in the direction, with Ad words also potentially stepping forward. But with so many advertisers and so many "non essential" or "non engaging" products, how can you keep the dream alive?
Detergent ads after surfing for several hours straight? Or only if you don't visit online ordering for pizza delivery?
Some good thoughts and questions in Six Pixels - both a blog post (Display Advertising And Search Are Connected At The Hip ) and the 'breakfast talk' with mr analytics (SPOS #152 - Orgasmic Digital Marketing Avinash Kaushik )
Things will change. Radically. But it will take time.
Do you want to make it change?
Or hope to get by until retirement or similar before it does?
