Online Video Ads: Types and Formats

When it comes to online video advertising, there are many different types of ads to choose from. It is helpful to know what exists and the terminology used. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has some really helpful material on video advertising and they provide a glossary of terms on their site. You can find it here.

Here are a few important distinctions you need to know:

1. Instream vs. Outstream Video Ads

Instream video ads:

These are video ads that are played before (pre-roll ad), during (mid-roll ad) or after (post-roll ad) a video.
These ads typically cannot be stopped from playing. In some cases the user can skip the ads after a few seconds.
In some cases, a group of ads will play subsequently. Such a group is sometimes referred to as an Ad Pod.

**Outstream video ads: ** These are video ads that take place outside of the in-line video experiences. There are several types of outstream ads:

Native Video: Video ads integrated into the format of a website. These ads typically include a headline, a description, and context for the ad.

Example: Native Video Ad on the Yahoo! Front Page

In-article Video: Video ad that plays between paragraphs of editorial text content

In-feed Video: A native video ad in a social feed (e.g. Twitter), often paired with a headline, description and logo

Interstitial: Video that appears between two content pages (sometimes also referred to as a transition ad, an intermercial ad or a splash page)

Autoplay vs. Interactive Video Ads

Autoplay Video Ads: Video ad starts playing without any user interaction
Interactive Video Ads: Video ads that respond to user input. That input could be starting, pausing or stopping the ad. But it can also be other actions like clicking, filling out a poll inside the video, etc. The interaction is meant to engage the user more with the ad.

Example: Ad from Philips ‘Designed to Play’ Campaign for electric razors.

Long Form vs. Short Form Video

When we talk about long or short form video, we refer to the video the ads are being showed in.

Long Form Video: Longer pieces of video content (more than 10 mins), typically telling a full story (e.g., movies, original series, etc.).
Short Form Video: Video with a duration of less than 10 mins.

Vertical Video

While most video plays in landscape orientation, with the orientation of a typical mobile phone device, videos in portrait orientation have become more popular. Vertical Video refers to video that displays in portrait format, no matter how it was shot initially.

Vertical Video is a Snapchat signature ad format: