I’ve said it before, preroll is the pop-up of video.
Here’s Fred Wilson on the topic:
Pre-roll ads are going the way of popups and other intrusive ads. They won’t be around in a couple years. And the online video services that use them to monetize their audience won’t be around either.
Because the thing you have to understand about digital media is its pervasive and abundant. There is always somewhere else to get the same thing. Digital is write once, read everywhere. Digital media is like a virus. It spreads like crazy.
Do your advertisers a favor and get your advertising models in line with users — advertising as a seamless part of the experience, nothing intrusive or annoying.
“Advertising as a seamless part of the experience” = Product placement? A banner at the bottom of the video window? Contextual tile ads next to the video player?
No. Maybe. Something like that.
[…] I think Google is pretty smart about web advertising models. I’ve said before, preroll on video is a bad advertising model. […]
Seems to me that one answer is to make sure there’s really good advertising. If done well, advertising can feel like “content” rather than a dull hurdle between the user and news/fun/somethingiwant. That’s not to say pre-rolls are good, but, rather, to say the pre-rolls I’ve seen so far are mostly just bad ads. A re-edited TV spot just doesn’t cut it.