What Are Pre-Roll Ads and Why Publishers Love Them

I probably sound like a broken record when talking about how much the popularity of video content has grown over the past decade or so. But it really has! And owing to this growth, the digital video advertising industry has also been flourishing. But while the video ad format reigns supreme, it’s important to note that not all video ads are created equal. Let’s take a closer look at pre-roll ads today and find out what makes them such a great choice for your ad-powered business.

What Are Pre-Roll Video Ads Anyway?

Pre-roll ads are a subtype of instream video ads (ads that show up within a video stream). The term “pre-roll” refers to the specific ad placement within the stream, i.e. before the video content starts playing. This is what makes pre-roll ads different from mid-roll (during the stream) and post-roll ads (after the stream).

Pre-roll ads are an excellent monetization tool for online video publishers. They generate more impressions than other instream ad types and tend to have higher completion rates. Pre-rolls are also a must if you’re using playlists.

Types of Pre-Roll Ads

So, all pre-rolls show up before a video stream. However, there can still be certain differences among them. Here are the three main types of pre-roll video ads based on ad duration and skippability. 

Skippable Ads

Skippable ads, as the name suggests, are ads that the viewer can skip, usually after 5 seconds or more. They are not too intrusive or annoying, but they need to be attention-grabbing in order to be effective. 

Non-Skippable Ads

Unlike skippable ads, which can be as long as necessary with a 5-second skip mark, non-skippable ads usually have a hard duration limit. Depending on the ad network and publisher preferences, non-skippable ads are usually between 15 and 20 seconds long. The pitfall of non-skippable pre-roll ads is that users are more likely to click away if they can’t access the video within a few seconds.

Bumper Ads

Bumper ads are the best of both worlds. While unskippable, they are rarely longer than 6 seconds. In other words, although the user has to view the entire advertisement, at least it’s not long enough to discourage them from watching the video altogether.

Benefits of Pre-Roll Ads for Publishers

Now that I covered the what, let’s talk about the why. How can you, a publisher, benefit from pre-roll ads? Here are some of the main advantages of pre-rolls for publishers:

Higher Revenue – Due to their placement and format, pre-rolls are generally more profitable than most other ad formats;
Better Engagement – Unlike banners or other image ads, instream video ads show up in a spot where the user is already directing their attention, making them harder to ignore;
Cross-Channel Compatibility – Some types of ads don’t work well on certain devices. For instance, an interstitial ad on a desktop website would be too much for most people. Luckily, this isn’t the case with pre-rolls, as long as your video player is mobile-compatible.
They Just Work – Pre-rolls are generally a very effective format for boosting brand awareness and fostering brand loyalty, but they are also an excellent choice for lead generation and sales. Although these are the benefits that advertisers get to enjoy, rather than publishers, they also translate to better ad revenue.

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How to Put Pre-Roll Video Ads on Your Website or App

While a great monetization method, putting video ads on a website does require some basic know-how. On the technical side, you will need an online video player with ad-serving capabilities. You should also join an ad monetization platform (ideally one specializing in video ads) where you will connect with interested advertisers and sell them your ad inventory.  

Ideally, a video player and ad demand should go hand-in-hand. The best video monetization platforms have proprietary HTML5 video players optimized for serving ads. They also come with handy features such as ad analytics for publishers and library management tools. 

Finally, you’ll also need monetizable content. While you can use outstream ads to monetize non-video content formats, a video library is necessary to be able to use instream ads. 

However, even if you don’t have any video content, but still want to monetize through instream ads, I have some good news for you. With TargetVideo, you can lease a library of in-house produced editorial videos for monetization purposes. 

Pre-Roll Ads Best Practices for Publishers

Pre-roll video ads are generally one of the most profitable video ad formats for publishers. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make them even better. So here are my top tips and tricks for pre-roll ads for publishers. 

1. Enable Autoplay

By enabling the autoplay option on your video player, you will ensure that pretty much every visitor on your website or app sees a pre-roll ad, whether they’re interested in watching the video or not. In other words, you will generate higher impression rates and, by extension, higher ad yield. The only thing to keep in mind is that most browsers will only allow autoplay if the ad is muted.

2. Use the “Call Ad Again” Feature

Even with the autoplay option activated, there is no guarantee that the video player will receive an ad for every call. TargetVideo’s Call Ad Again will boost your chances of getting those pre-roll impressions. So how does this work exactly?

In short, when the ad response for the autoplay pre-roll comes up empty, the player will automatically switch to the click-to-play setting, rather than skipping straight to the video. Then, once the user clicks on the video player’s play button, a new ad call will be placed.

3. Use Playlists

The logic is simple – if you send more ad calls, you will serve more ads. And with a playlist, you will open up additional pre-roll inventory slots. In other words, every website or app visitor who sticks around to view two or more videos from your playlist will potentially increase your impressions. 

The important thing with playlists is that they make sense. Rather than throwing any old content into a playlist, curate videos that have something in common (for instance, by topic). Alternatively, you can use TargetVideo’s smart playlists, which rely on AI to sort all your videos into IAB-standardized categories and assign appropriate tags for each video. This will ensure better contextual targeting of the ads served within your playlist. 

4. Increase Viewability With a Sticky Player

A great way to increase your video ad revenue is to have your video player follow the user around as they scroll. The sticky video player plays content in the corner of the screen, regardless of where on the page the user is located. The player is small enough to be relatively unintrusive to the user experience, but it encourages the viewer to remain engaged with your video content. 

5. Use the Price Floor Optimizer

In programmatic video advertising, the success of your monetization strategy depends, to a large extent, on the constant tracking and tweaking behind the scenes. One of the variables to keep an eye on is your price floors – i.e. the lowest CPM you are willing to accept. Based on how your ad calls are performing, you may want to increase or lower them from time to time.

If you think this sounds like a lot of work, I agree. Luckily, TargetVideo has something for that, too. The automatic Price Floor Optimizer is a part of the Yield Optimization Engine – a set of tools and features designed to maximize publisher revenue.

In short, the Optimizer sets your initial price floors, keeps tracking them over time, and tweaks them to bring you the highest possible CPMs for every piece of inventory. 

Earn Money From Pre-Roll Ads With TargetVideo

Now that I’ve shared some tips, it’s time for you to put them to action. Tap into a pool of quality direct and programmatic demand to turn your app and website into money-making machines. Monetize your video content or lease our monetizable video library for extra ad serving opportunities. Contact our sales team to learn more about all the ways you can maximize your ad revenue with TargetVideo.

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