What Makes Video Advertising A Great Way To Monetize Free Video Content

Video consumption is at an all-time high. People watching videos on mobile phones – anytime, anywhere, is a common sight. Thus, it becomes imperative for the popularity seekers to make videos.

However, not everyone gets a mega launch pad. There are several video streaming sites online that have provided the best platform for those humble starters. And to stay regular at such platforms, video advertising offers the best video monetization solutions. Let’s explore how and why.

In this post, we intend to cover:

1. Haven’t started thinking about video ads? Do it Now!
2. Top video advertising advantages
3. Most popular types of video ads

1. Haven’t Started Thinking About Video Ads? Do it Now!

Why has video advertising become a big deal? The answer lies in their growing popularity among marketers.

Video streaming technology has been around us since the launch of YouTube. All other live streaming platforms seem to have merely followed suit. With a readymade audience of YouTube, that is about in billions; you ride on its popularity with YouTube ads.

Other entrants have brought in the pricing competition. The result is, a video ad may not cost you more than $0.30 per view; the marketers may achieve video views in millions. The conversion rate is anywhere between 50-60%. Now do the math.

According to Campaign Monitor, just include video in your email and you can expect its click-through rate (CTR) to increase by an impressive 65% and more. HubSpot affirms it further that a mere mention of ‘video’ in the email subject line increases the opening rate by 19%.

Another HubSpot research indicates a brighter future for video marketers. Both the users and marketers accept that they will use videos for viewing and advertising purposes, respectively, in 2021. About 96% increase in video advertising spend is expected in 2021.

Amazon reports that sales increase by 35% when video ads appear alongside product descriptions. Marketers’ video ad spend increased from 57% to 73% within a year from 2018 to 2019.

Insivia reports that 82% of Twitter users are watching video ads. They are spending sizable time on social media browsing and watching ads from the brands.

Video has acquired no 1 slot in content strategy surpassing infographics and blogs, HubSpot reports.

So, if you have not thought about placing video ads for free video monetization, you are certainly missing a bigger picture.

2. Top Video Advertising Advantages

If these numbers have not convinced you enough, we suggest you go through the real reasons behind these statistical evidences:

a. Engages users deeply

Language, color, props, situation, etc., are best used in video ads. Fundamentals of storytelling find the most effective medium in videos.

If you manage to strike the chord, you are eyeing the possibility of humongous repeat views. Shares, comments, and likes that follow offer you valuable data to improve products and achieve wider reach simultaneously.

Hence, learn how to make engaging ads. Besides, while monetizing videos, you must pay attention to factors that bring you money without compromising your content’s viewability. Video ads should have virtues like:

• Short duration: Choose short yet effective videos in mid-roll or pre-roll placements.
• Culture-sensitive: Allow only those ads that affirm your ideology. Serving offensive content through ads may backfire and hit your video popularity badly.
• Localized: Ads must speak the language that users easily understand. Serving a video in German to an Asian audience certainly won’t talk good about your strategizing abilities.

b. Have remarkable shareability

Every person with a mobile phone and ‘share’ button in the video is your plausible propagation medium. All you need to do is incite the action with hard-hitting, compelling video content.

The videos can be shared to chat contacts, social media network accounts, and even saved in devices for personal consumption and evaluation in one click.

Thus, videos help accomplish any ad’s most obvious objective, i.e., reaching more people. Prepare the conversion metric to research further on what prompted people to share.

When you are choosing ads to cash upon the videos’ shareability, consider points like:

• Tie-up with the brands whose target audience matches yours
• Ads prove helpful in adding to the credibility of the video
• Your research pushes the advertisers’ agenda

c. Changes CTR for better

As mentioned in the statistics above, you are buying yourself better CTR while adopting the video advertising route. Users always prefer knowing things through visuals and sounds over reading texts. Thus, they are most likely to click the videos.

On the one hand, the advertisers capitalize on the high CTR factor of videos. And on the other, the free video makers generate revenues by providing video marketers a confirmed viewer base.

d. Displays message with added clarity

Videos are penetrating into almost every business sector. YouTube statistics reveal that majority of channels are dedicated to niches like:

• Gaming
• Cooking
• Education
• Real Estate
• Travel and Hospitality
• Beauty and Fitness
• Lifestyle, to quote the most populated ones.

A common observation is that you can understand a yoga pose more easily by watching a video than reading the steps involved. In the real estate industry, property viewing becomes a better experience by taking a virtual or video tour.

Also, promoters, through explainer videos, can teach how to use any beauty product with no confusion. Further, a game becomes more comfortable to master when a video explains how to score points or access hidden bonuses. 

These are a few typical examples that show how videos eliminate confusion and bring in clarity.

All these examples indicate why videos have become a better information medium. The buzzword is clarity of message here. It does translate into better engagement, more shares, expanded reach, and a higher conversion rate eventually.

e. Relatable videos boost a brand’s credibility

Video monetization objectives become more feasible to achieve when you have produced relatable content. Brands may look up to your video as an advertising opportunity and don’t mind signing premium deals.

As a content producer, you have the responsibility to perform a relatability check in addition to designing the procurable tie-up deals. Since your channel is your digital space, you must ensure uniformity in the feel of all elements, including the ads inserted in the video.

f. Incredible boost in ROI

The ROI factor is quite closely related to search-engine friendliness. Time and again, top-tier search engines tweak in changes in their algorithm. 

In current times, videos have got the nod of the search engines. They are pushing the videos and giving them more prominent positions in search engine result pages. As a result of this change in algorithm, the videos have become a must-try content strategy. 

As a free video maker, you can help brands improve their visibility in exchange for lucrative promotion deals.

SAP North America made a follow-worthy use case when its video-enriched content strategy brought it 9m impressions, and overall marketing-generated opportunities (MGO) amounted to $3 675 000. (Yes, you have read it right!)

g. Educates people but in an entertaining way

Just read a banner that says, ‘Wear a mask’ first. Next, see a video that tells a story of how wearing a mask can help you save your family from Coronavirus infection. Which one did you find more relatable? You can clearly understand what a video does to your ability to connect and respond.

If you have developed purpose-driven content, nothing will stop you ever in terms of video monetization.

3. Most Popular Types of Video Ads

By now, you must be clear on how your video can be monetized by approaching video marketers. So, let’s take a quick view of the types of video ads you can propose:

• Instream video ads: These video ads may appear as pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll advertisements. The free video is made powerful enough so that consumers don’t mind going through the ad to watch the content. The ads are closely related to the original video and its intentions.
• Outstream video ads: These ads are placed in partner site pages or partner apps. It runs mute, and the user is free to either unmute or scroll past it. The outstream ads are mobile-only and are coded to run only on mobile phones and tablets.
• Display ads: If you have created free content for Instagram or Facebook, you can monetize it with video display ads. The video ads ensure a better connection with the audience. Because of their effectiveness, brands find them worth investing in.

Video marketing eases the monetization woes of free video content creators. In the US, video marketing has swelled to become a $135-billion industry. Using their social media accounts, or YouTube channels empowered with streaming support, the video makers can cash their skills. Aside from generating revenues, they can stick to their creativity-driven passion. By tapping video marketers, a focused video creator can become a revenue generator in no time.