Newspaper Web Sites Dominate With Video Ads
The paradox continues in the world-formerly-known-as-Print where the most popular print publications have become some of the most popular web destinations. Take a look at the comScore 250, the de facto standard in ‘top websites by traffic’ lists, and you’ll see names which include The New York Times, The Washington Post and Dow Jones & Company.
In a just released study by Borrell Associates, once again print provides the paradox. Borrell reveals that video ads on newspaper sites “are capturing more than 50% of streaming-video advertising dollars.” At ContextWeb, we serve video ads in-page for some of our larger “print” web publishers and the reasons seem clear at first glance.
With the nature of news and the amount of dynamic content created on a daily basis, there is plenty of opportunity for the advertiser to target publisher page content with relevant video ads. Combined with a user base accustomed to searching and scanning the news outlet’s website for information, video engages like no other.
Interestingly, news publication video ad revenue is beating its broadcast counterpart as noted by PaidContent.org. But as the study points out, video ad revenue for news sites is not just embedded, in-page video or pre-roll, but it’s the long form video infomercial variety, too - that only 40% of news sites can currently handle. (Often, they don’t have a player on the site nor do they have the internal capabilities to serve long form.)
With many of the big news publisher players such as Gannett Co., McClatchy Co. and Tribune Co. beginning to consider building their own ad network, no doubt online video ad revenues play a prominent and unique role in future, newspaper publisher website plans. As Jack Williams of Gannett Digital said in January to the WSJ, “We intend to sell Internet advertising differently.”
-- John Ebbert
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