In the realm of advertising, the allure of video content is undeniable. With its dynamic nature, video ads often have an edge in capturing attention compared to its static counterparts.
But, if your current marketing strategy is already yielding your desired results, why try native video advertising? Zipdo gives us these compelling insights:
- Native video advertising accounts for 56% of video ad spending;
- Native ads have a 52% higher viewership;
- 54% of millennials click on native ads.
Before you test the effectiveness of native video advertising for yourself, learn more about it in our comprehensive handbook, where we share our insights on all that is native video advertising.
Native Video Ads: Creating Compelling Ads for Native Advertising
Blending in to stand out — that’s one of the most basic principles of native advertising. This deviates from banner ads, which, consequently, have largely been ignored precisely because they try too hard to get noticed. And this is exactly what native video advertising tries to go against. In the next two subsections, you’ll get more acquainted with what native video advertising is and learn the types that you can choose from. We know you’re excited about seeing native advertising video examples to inspire your own ads, but don’t skip this part! All the foundational knowledge here will help you get more out of your native advertising budget.
What Is Native Video Advertising?
This is a form of native advertising that uses video as the main form of media. Regardless of the goals, a video is always more powerful than other forms of content because it limits the work that the audience has to do to consume it. Therefore, native video advertising combines two potent ingredients for marketing success. Native advertising itself provides a shield against banner blindness. Meanwhile, a video further draws a viewer’s attention to drive even more clicks, impressions and engagement.
If you’re finding it hard to visualize what native video advertising can look like, check out MGID’s video ad example. When working with our video advertising, you can choose whether video ads are played before, during or after the content of your choice.
Types of Ads You Can Use for Native Video Advertising
It almost goes without saying: you can find a place for a native ads video anywhere on the internet! With the popularity of video-based platforms like TikTok, people have become more comfortable with encountering multimedia clips, especially in online advertising.
So, in what ways can you implement native video advertising? There’s no official list of categories, as the lines between categorizations may even be blurred or outright non-mutually exclusive. However, to help give you a clearer picture of the possibilities, please refer to the information below.
In-Feed Video Ads
A feed presents the latest content for everything that you follow within the platform. For some, it may even include suggested content based on your activities. In fact, you may find this particular native video ad format while you scroll. For video-sharing platforms, it can also be displayed as:
- One of the videos in the search results;
- The next video to be played.
If you want to try it out, this form of native video advertising is great when the viewer isn’t yet interested in a specific brand or product.
Instream Video Ads
Instream ads represent a prevalent form of native video advertising, primarily found within online video content, such as streaming platforms and video-sharing websites. In other words, they are inserted directly into the video content users are about to watch. They can appear before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll) or after (post-roll) the main video content. These ads can be skippable or non-skippable. Skippable ads allow viewers to skip the advertisement after a few seconds, while non-skippable ads require viewers to watch the entire ad before accessing the main video content.
Outstream Video Ads
When you’re scrolling on a page somewhere, have you ever had a video play automatically in between paragraphs? Or perhaps you’ve seen one as a popup? Those are examples of outstream video ads. For this form of native video advertising, the ad is placed on a platform that doesn’t publish videos. It appears alongside a headline to give some context to what will be shown. Just a quick note: these ads are only available on mobile. So, if your target market mostly uses their phones for browsing, trying this out as part of your native video advertising effort can have a huge impact.
In-Banner Video Ads
In-banner video ads are embedded into banner ads. Like your traditional banners, you may also see various associated elements, such as text and images. Do you remember how we mentioned banner blindness? Well, because this type of native video advertising deviates from a static ad format, it helps overcome banner blindness and increase engagement with the ad. Even though it’s not required, we suggest using subtitles if relevant. This will help add more context to your message.
In-Game Video Ads
When you’re playing games on a mobile app, you may also see a native video ad example or two. Like outstream video ads, in-game ads are exclusive to entertainment played on a mobile device. This means that if the same game is available on your laptop, you won’t find the advert there. When will you see native video advertising here? We have categorized the possibilities below.
- Involuntary: When you reach a certain gaming milestone, a video ad will appear automatically.
- Voluntary: If you want to claim a reward, like in-game currency or items, the mobile app will prompt you to watch a video in order to receive the desired item.
Since the user is already playing, the ads are typically advertising other games. Consider this if you’re trying to get more installs on a gaming app.
Social Media Video Ads
Native video advertising is also used heavily on social media. It pretty much looks like what you see on in-feed videos. However, since these video ads are on a social media platform, there are wider options for engagement. Normally, people can leave reactions or comments and even share the ad itself. If you need help improving the reach, you can further boost the numbers with your native video ad spend. Make sure to pair the clip with a great caption. Additionally, if the platform’s video autoplay is disabled, you’ll need to earn that click to have users view your video.
Benefits of Native Video Advertising
Getting into native ads isn’t just a fad. It is something that has helped many advertisers reach their target market and achieve results. Native video advertising is highly flexible as well, which means that you can use it on major platforms. No matter what your target audience looks like, saving some of the marketing budget for native video advertising can be beneficial. If you’re still not convinced, the following benefits may persuade you.
Native Video Advertising Gets Better Impressions and Engagement
If we’re going to be objective and just look at the numbers, native ads will win any day. Here are some results on using native video advertising on the MGID platform.
- Exceptional viewability: Native video ads on MGID achieved an impressive 83% viewability rate, ensuring that the majority of viewers had the opportunity to engage with the ad content effectively.
- Enhanced brand awareness: With native video ads on MGID, brands experienced a significant boost in brand awareness, with an average increase of 75% in brand recall among viewers.
- Elevated engagement rates: Native video ads on MGID outperformed traditional display ads, resulting in a remarkable 60% increase in user engagement metrics such as click-through rates and time spent on the ad content.
- Increased conversion rates: Brands leveraging native video advertising on MGID witnessed a substantial surge in conversion rates, with an average uplift of 50% in conversions compared to other ad formats.
- Positive audience perception: Native video ads on MGID helped brands cultivate positive perceptions among audiences, with 8 out of 10 viewers expressing favorable sentiments towards advertised products or services.
- Improved purchase intent: Native video advertising on MGID drove a 55% increase in purchase intent among viewers, demonstrating the persuasive impact of immersive video content in influencing consumer behavior.
- High completion rate: With a completion rate of 78%, native video ads on MGID captivated audiences until the very end of the video, maximizing exposure and message retention.
These statistics further underscore the effectiveness of native video advertising on the MGID platform, highlighting its ability to drive engagement, influence purchase behavior and leave a lasting impression on viewers.
Native Video Advertising Is Mobile-Friendly
Gen Z is growing up fast, along with their purchasing power. It’s time to get in their good graces by building authentic connections with them, starting now. With native video advertising, this will be much easier. Across all online activity, Gen Z tends to prefer phones over their PCs or laptops. With more options available for native video advertising for mobile, you’ll have more opportunities to reach this audience. Outstream and in-game video ads are both amazing options that are only available on mobile.
Native Video Advertising Makes Storytelling a Breeze
The generally better numbers that advertisers are seeing with native ads aren’t just because people are tired of banners. People are seeking authentic connections, which native video advertising makes possible. It’s perfect for creating various tutorials, reviews and other content where you can subtly incorporate a brand or product. Native video advertising also makes it easy for someone to transmit a lot of information within a short amount of time. This means you’ll be able to communicate more before you lose their attention to the next thing.
Key Metrics for Tracking Native Video Advertising Performance
To measure the success for any kind of advertising, it’s important that you have a clear goal. From there, you can track relevant metrics for your native video advertising campaign, such as:
- Engagement: Measured with shares, comments and reactions;
- Clickthrough rate: Percentage of users who clicked on the ad;
- Impressions: Number of views that your ad received;
- Reach: Number of unique viewers who have seen your ad at least once;
- Bounce rate: Percentage of users who left a landing page without taking action.
Mistakes to Avoid in Native Video Advertising
Native advertising, or any kind of advertising, can only be effective when done right. Unfortunately, we’ve seen a lot of advertisers make the same mistakes with their native video advertising tactics. Here are a few things that they didn’t know were hurting their campaigns.
- Using unnecessary animations: These can confuse your audience.
- Looking at the wrong KPIs: If you’re looking to spread the word about your brand using native video advertising, the clickthrough rate may not be very important.
- Treating it like a traditional ad: Traditional ads are all about securing the sale through hard selling. In contrast, native videos focus on providing value to drive the numbers up.
Tips for Making Native Video Advertising Engaging and Relevant
Simply knowing what to avoid isn’t enough to generate the results that you want from native videos. Like anything in marketing, make sure to do your research before launching your native video advertising campaign. This is essential if you want to ensure that your ads will truly speak to your target audience.
But, there’s more to do than just be armed with research. So, check out our tips for creating a successful native video advertising campaign. You’ll find that many of the tips here are applicable to other advertising formats, too!
Make Video Content with a Clear Intent
We know that native video advertising is great for capturing the attention of your audience. The problem is your competition also knows. Competition is tough, so make every second count. Your native video advertising content should be aligned with a goal, and every element of the video should help achieve it. Anything that doesn’t add value should be eliminated to remove potential distractions. And before running the ad, ask yourself: “Does this native video advertising content fulfill its intended objectives?”
Include a Caption
Depending on the platform that you’re using, the caption is usually either a headline or a description.
- Headline: A headline consists of just a few characters, so make every word count! It should capture intrigue without being misleading.
- Description: A description is more common for native video advertising on social media platforms. The space for the description can be used to reveal more context or details about the ad. Just make sure not to overdo it, so there’s still intrigue to the video.
Consider Adding Subtitles
For native video advertising, adding some simple text may already be enough to communicate the message of your video. However, for more complex forms of native video advertising, incorporating text into the visuals may not be enough. Having subtitles can help viewers understand what’s happening even if the video is on mute. And considering that 75% of people watch mobile videos on mute, subtitles become a must-have.
Contact the Professionals
If the native video advertising format feels unfamiliar or daunting, seeking assistance from a professional can make all the difference. At MGID, we understand the nuances of native video advertising and excel in crafting compelling and effective campaigns. Our team is dedicated to helping clients navigate this dynamic format, ensuring that their video ads resonate with audiences and drive results. Let us guide you through the process, from conceptualization to execution, and elevate your video advertising strategy to new heights of success.
Native Video Advertising Examples: See Three Powerful and Effective Ads in Action
What does a successful native video look like? For this section, we have selected three examples to examine, and for every native video ads example, we will discuss:
- Goals: What is the native video trying to achieve?
- Content: What made the content so appealing in communicating the message and attaining the goals?
- Accompanying description: How does the description improve interest in and understanding of the native video advertising content?
These big brands truly know how to get things done! But don’t worry; making quality native videos is possible regardless of the size of the business.
Adobe Photoshop
Showing what your product can do is a great use of native video advertising, and that’s exactly what this clip demonstrates. In this Adobe Photoshop ad, you’re shown a beautiful picture of the mountains made a little less perfect by a distracting 747 jet. Watching this native video advertising content, you learn that you can easily remove it with one of Photoshop’s tools. And which tool is it, exactly? The Spot Healing Brush! You get this information from the description, which further enhances your understanding of the video.
Starbucks
The main content of the native video advertising here gives a very clear message: free coffee! The ad incorporates a lot of text and uses little animation, but it’s able to introduce the offer as well as the possible products that you can receive. Meanwhile, the native video advertising description shows you how you can claim this reward. This is simply well done! It gives you an incentive to download the Starbucks app, where this promo is available, and the placement of the CTA button is the cherry on top that ties everything together.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola wanted to use native video advertising to tell the world that they’re going plant-based. For this, they used a series of animations that start with leaves blowing to reveal their 100% plant-based message. It even shows their new plant-based bottle packaging. Unlike the first two examples, the description here is pretty lengthy. The PR-like tone they used for this native video advertising helps emphasize how serious they are about this endeavor. This is an amazing example of how visuals and text can complement each other.
FAQs About Native Video Advertising
What is native video advertising, and how does it differ from traditional video promotions?
A traditional video ad is seen as more intrusive because it doesn’t take into account the platform that it will be played on. Native video advertising seamlessly inserts a video ad within a platform without disrupting the user experience.
What are the key benefits of incorporating native videos into a digital marketing strategy?
Native videos should be added to your digital marketing strategy because:
- They help improve impressions and engagement rates;
- There are more native video advertising options on mobile;
- They are cheaper than their traditional advertising counterparts;
- They can be used on most (if not all) platforms that your target market uses.
How do in-feed native videos contribute to a seamless user experience on social media platforms?
These videos look like they’re part of the latest content on someone’s social media feed. This means the user can easily click and interact with it just like they would with ordinary video content.
What are outstream native video ads, and where are they typically found?
Outstream native video ads are a type of native video advertising format that appears outside of video content. Unlike in-stream ads, which play within video content, outstream ads are standalone video ads that appear within articles, social media feeds or other non-video content.
What platforms support native video advertising?
Various platforms support native video advertising, including social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram and X, as well as native advertising platforms such MGID. These platforms offer advertisers the opportunity to reach a highly targeted audience with native video content.
How can advertisers leverage interactive native video advertising to engage their target audience more effectively?
Advertisers can use the interactive element of the ad to:
- Display various products of the brand;
- Give the user a taste of the product or service;
- Show the possible transformations that the brand can make happen.
What metrics should advertisers monitor to measure the success of native video advertising campaigns?
Advertisers should monitor various metrics to measure the success of their native video advertising campaigns, including video views, engagement rates, click-through rates, conversion rates and return on investment (ROI). By analyzing these metrics, advertisers can optimize their campaigns for better performance and results.
Native Video Advertising: A Must-Have in Your Marketing Strategy
Video as a form of media is highly attractive because it lets the audience consume the content with little effort on their part. To help capture the attention of your market, you can’t go without native video advertising. Native advertising in itself is all about creating a seamless transition from the non-ad content being consumed. Just remember to include a strong call-to-action for native video advertising so users know what to do next.
Get all the assistance you need to create a successful strategy and sign up on MGID. With access to advanced tools, a personal manager and a department of creative specialists, you can hit all those native video advertising KPIs in no time!
