Earning Revenue Through Online Video

Online video is a growing presence on newspapers sites - that much is clear. What's less clear for newspaper companies is how to leverage this new medium to increase revenue.
 
Recent growth statistics show that organizations are indeed on the path to developing successful revenue models. According to a 2008 Borrell Associates local online revenue survey, which studied more than 3,000 local Web operations, video is the fastest growing segment of local online advertising. The video advertising category generated $363 million in 2007 for local sites, and local online advertisers are expected to spend $1.2 billion in 2008 (nearly a four-fold increase). The potential for growth in this category for newspaper Web sites is considerable, as video ads currently only comprise four percent of all online advertising, according to eMarketer.

Newspaper companies are hiring more advertising representatives specially trained in Web sales. "Pursuing non-traditional advertisers is becoming the route to growth. The number of locally-based online-only salespeople grew 26 percent in 2006. Budgeted figures for 2007 anticipate an additional 35 percent increase in hiring this year," according to a Borrell Associates report.

Early indications suggest a healthy demand from local advertisers for video classifieds and video business directories.

Revenue Options
Out of the inventive chaos that is online video advertising, two major revenue options are emerging: in-stream advertising and long-form videos. Revenue from video syndication, a smaller revenue option, has also entered the scene.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau defines in-stream advertising, in its 2008 report "A Digital Advertising Overview, as advertising that is "generally played or viewed from a video player like a client browser, often accompanied by companion ad products tied to core video products (text, banners, rich media, video player skins)."
In-stream advertising may take two forms: linear video ads and non-linear video ads.
 

Linear Ads: Linear ads include pre-roll, post-roll and mid-roll ads that are common on newspaper Web sites. The 2008 NAA Online Video Survey found pre-roll (ads that run before a video plays) are the most popular video ad format among newspapers that are selling video advertising.
 

Non-Linear Ads: A non-linear video ad "runs parallel to the video content so the users see the ad while viewing the video content. Non-linear video ads can be delivered as text, graphical ads or as video overlays," according to the IAB. Some newspapers are playing with skins as well, which are customizable video players that have room for advertising next to the play button, for example.
 

Other Options: Long-form video ads, classified video ads and syndication are other revenue options working for many newspapers.
 

Learn more about all of these formats with examples and information about what works - and what doesn't - in "Making Money: Pre-Roll, Post-Roll and the Ads In Between."

  Leave your ideas and advice about revenue by commenting below!