Revenue coming from video ads on Insider’s site grew 71% year over year, according to the company, which did not provide exact figures for this story. On-site video revenue surpassed the amount Insider was making through YouTube partner sales, a shift that began at the beginning of this year. Revenue from direct-sold video ads increased 45% year over year, said Maggie Milnamow, Insider’s CRO. Insider had a 40% increase in the number of advertisers who bought its video inventory directly this year compared to 2021, a spokesperson said.

Milnamow and two other Insider executives Digiday spoke with declined to share raw revenue figures and declined to disclose what share of the company’s overall video advertising revenue comes from direct-sold ads. An Insider spokesperson said the share has “grown significantly” year over year. Ad spend from new advertisers and renewals are both growing “at about the same level,” they added. Insider’s recent video advertisers include Chase Marriott, Indeed and Lenovo.

For about a year now, all of Insider’s on-site video ad inventory has been integrated with the company’s first party data platform SAGA for video ad targeting based on audience behavior (for example, Insider can serve videos about 5G to audiences it knows have expressed interest in 5G stories). Insider sells a mixture of pre-roll ads, sponsorships and custom content like branded video series.

These capabilities — as well as improvements to Insider’s video production and onsite product features — can help convince clients to spend more with a publisher, said Stacey Stewart, U.S. chief marketplace officer at ad agency UM Worldwide.

Insider is taking ‘bigger bets’ on video

Insider’s on-site video — especially longer videos — is performing better in part due to improved production quality, user interface design and engagement tools that made it easier for videos to be discovered and surfaced next to relevant content, Milnamow said.

Tony Manfred, head of video for Insider, said the video team was reorganized in the past two years to focus on producing about a dozen longform video series, instead of short one-offs. Shows mainly focus on news, lifestyle and business, including “So Expensive,” “World Wide Waste” and “Deep Cleaned.” Episodes tend to be about five to 10 minutes long, though some are as long as 20 minutes in a mini documentary-style format. New episodes are typically published two to four times a month. Insider’s largest viewership is on YouTube, where the company has 28 million subscribers across its channels, and 60% of their audience is under 35 years old.

“When you are getting into making longer videos, you are taking bigger bets because each episode takes a longer time to produce and more resources. So you …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron