video

Ever since YouTube came on the scene in early 2005, allowing everyday Joes to become short film producers within just a few minutes, the online video space has grown in leaps and bounds. Purchased by Google in late 2006, YouTube is often credited with pioneering that growth, and has since evolved from a place where amateurs upload short clips for others to view into a viable advertising mechanism for product marketers.

DRTV marketers are among those taking advantage of the online video revolution. A quick search of YouTube's offerings, for example, turns up spots for Craft-Lite Cutter, Wallet Pix, ThermaClear, bareMinerals, Total Gym ... the list goes on and even includes a broadcast of TELEBrands' CEO A.J. Khubani on ABC's The View.

"Online video has grown so incredibly popular, so fantastically fast, that it's easy to forget that YouTube isn't even three years old," says Timothy R. Hawthorne, chairman at Fairfield, Iowa-based Hawthorne Direct, producer of the Hawthorne Videoactive Report and member of the Response Editorial Advisory Board. Initially held back by the Internet's low bandwidth and slow download times, online video has prospered in an era where Wi-Fi, cable and DSL penetration is high and growing every day.

"Over the past two years, broadband penetration has skyrocketed to more than 85 percent among active Internet users, and online video viewership with it, fed primarily by the humorous viral content of YouTube," says Hawthorne. Concurrently, online advertising has evolved from text to display to video, with frustrating, jerky thumbnail-sized video viewing morphing into full-screen TV shows, films, professional and user-generated video.

Hard to Resist

For DRTV product marketers, the allure of online video is irresistible. After all, the money has already been spent on production and media, so why not upload some of that video online in hopes of catching a few more customers in the net? The latest numbers from consumer research firm Horowitz Associates Inc., make the proposition even more attractive: six out of 10 high-speed Internet users watch online video content at least once a week, and 86 percent do so on a monthly basis. "Advertisers have to go where the eyeballs are — online," says Hawthorne, who adds that online video ad spending is expected to rise from an estimated $775 million in 2007 to $4.3 billion in 2011.

Bob Greenstone, CEO at San Diego-based Permission Interactive Inc., says many marketers achieve a lift in sales as soon as they start using online video. Having tested Web sites both with and without video, he says those that include moving pictures tend to yield higher conversion rates.

Some DR marketers, like TotalGym, are using ExpoTV to provide consumers additional video footage not seen in regular DRTV ads.

"The key is to test variations of presentation, such as instant-on vs. click-to-play, and location of placement on the page," says Greenstone, who also suggests using video testimonials separate from the main video, although he adds that "we've found that giving users the opportunity to click navigation on a page tends to decrease conversion rates, sometimes significantly."

According to Nicola de la Salle, executive vice president, international, at Valparaiso, Ind.-based Livemercial, video content on the Web has increased significantly during the past two years, and is no longer limited to placement on Web sites. "We've been using it to create a more immersive experience for both the traditional and new forms of online advertising," says de la Salle. "Placing video on banner advertising, for example, attracts more attention and a higher click-through rate."