Sunday mornings are one of my favourite times of the week. It’s when I can spend a few quiet hours going through all the stuff that’s washed up in my inbox. A rare slice of time during which I can read white papers, unsubscribe from the crap, comment in forums and blogs and watch interesting videos I actually care about.
The problem, of course, with videos are the annoying tollgates we must pass to get to the good stuff. First there’s the Subscribe-to-See-More-Like-This pop-up. How can I possibly know if I want to see more like this if I haven’t seen this in the first place? Find the barely visible upper right X and off we go.
Ah, wait. No video for you, not yet. Time to look at a pre-roll while you hover over the Skip Ad button. Wait, no, no pre-roll, just this inexplicable meaningless static image.
I’m not clicking on that; I want my fu*king video.
Oh, good, here’s the YouTube viewer. Now I get my video. Don’t remember any longer what it was about or why I cared but I’m this far along, might as well see it through. Aaaaaaannnnnd here’s the pre-roll. It makes no sense. It’s the first five seconds of I-don’t-know-what because it’s five seconds long. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Skip Ad.
Impositions Are Not Annoying Impressions
Now let me suggest this: if your content is among the things I need to overcome, avoid, ignore or tolerate on my way to something meaningful, don’t you sort of owe it to me, your brand and your shareholders to do something good with that time?
Why in the world would you serve up a crappy banner thing for me to stare at for five or ten seconds? That shouldn’t count as an impression as much as an imposition. In fact, I nominate Paid Impositions as the new marketing KPI for 2017.
Worse yet, why would you subject me to the annoying first 18 percent or so of your 30-second spot? Do you really think interrupting me gives you the right to also bore me? It does not. Here’s an idea: if you simply must use a five second pre-roll to achieve some end, why not just make a five-second video and get it over with?
I know it’s not much time, but it can be done, and it’s a heck of a lot more respectful than attempting to lure me away from the thing I really wanted to see in the first place. Are you wondering why pre-roll CTRs are so low? Maybe this is a clue.
I’m not going to dignify mid-roll with a comment. It’s nasty. It’s rude. It’s disrespectful and it’s bad for your brand.
If you really must cram your terrible video down someone’s throat, may I suggest you pick up some cheap post-roll positions? Even annoying post-roll has got to be a nicer way to exit decent content than the Seven Secrets to Smoky Eyes videos that predominate at the moment. I know the CTR is low, but it’s cheap and if you buy your spots properly, you may end up with a few great leads.
OR.
How about you don’t put your brand all over a giant interruption? Would you sponsor a highway closure? Would you like your logo next to all the cancelled and delayed flights on the monitor in the airport?
How about giant pylon with your brand on it plunked in a gridlocked intersection? I’ll bet we could sell space on copier machines that run out of toner. “This annoying lack of productivity is courtesy of your friends at {your brand here}.”
Perhaps you’d like to name one of the tropical storms for this coming season. Lots of impressions there, none of them very good.
If you wouldn’t put your brand next to something that annoys, interrupts or delays your target market in the physical world then let’s agree it’s a bad idea in the online world too.
Go make good content. Let people see it. Stop interrupting. It’s rude.
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BizMarketer is written by Elizabeth Williams
I help companies have better conversations
Drop me a line at ewilliams@candlerchase.com
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