Flash is the Platform for Online Video Ads - by Ari Paparo

Kate caught up with Ari Paparo who heads up DoubleClick's rich media division. The term "rich media," which had previously referred to mainly Flash and other animated ads viewed online, is quickly expanding to encompass the world of online video. Ari has a lot to share with us about all this.

Flash is king. He says that the online video ad biz is moving "wholesale" to Flash, a platform that is reliable and user friendly. Real and Media Player are not going to win this game; Flash will be the predominant platform to host advertising, expects.

Ari also fills us in on "in-stream" video, contextual advertising and the metrics that come into play with online video advertising.

Ari is a speaker at Streaming Media West, which Beet.TV will be covering.

"Pirates" Gets Its Site on Its Banner

Embark on a quest for treasure and explore the scenes of "Pirates of the Caribbean" right from this clickable rich media banner spot. Engagement in ads might never be the same again.

Pepsi Mirinda - Thailand

Synchronized Banners with Email function - CSL One2Free

Cursor Chase - Shangri-La

DoubleClick Rich Media at the Box Office

Welcome to the 5th edition of our Creative Showcase. With the summer movie season upon us, we took a look at Hollywood's use of rich media as a motion picture marketing tool. We found that eight of this week's top ten box office hits used DoubleClick Rich Media and Video. Below are examples of seven of them. Scroll down to see all the ads.

As you browse through these box office ad examples, note the pervasive use of video within the ad units. In-Page video is by far the most popular video feature. As the summer movie season progresses, keep an eye out for innovative video implementations including the use of The Big Picture™, The Fullscreen Experience™, Live Streaming, and The Sweet-Spot™.

featured this month:

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End


Knocked Up


Shrek the Third


Spider-Man 3


Waitress


Bug


28 Weeks Later

Live Webcam Streaming in an Ad Banner

Wanted to share with you a great ad unit done by our Innovation Lab last month. It features live video webcams all around the world. You can see Piccadilly Circus, Waikiki Beach, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Hong Kong Harbour or the Tour Eiffel! First of its type and done with our live stream partners, Foglight in the US.

Check it out and enjoy! 728x90 or 300x250:

First Motif Ad on Xanga

After successful testing, we've launched our first Motif ad on Xanga Malaysia!

Xanga.com Site Statistics:
Hong Kong
Total registered users: 1,813,782
Average monthly page views: 123 millions+
Singapore
Total registered users: 40,000+
Average monthly page views: 2.7 millions+
Malaysia
Total registered users: 10,000+
Average monthly page views: 700K+

According to market research firm Hitwise, Xanga.com is the 2nd most popular website in Hong Kong, ranked by market share of visits across all industries with over 2.5% market share of all internet destinations by Hong Kong users.

DoubleClick Rich Media and Video Safari Announcement

We are pleased to announce that as of June 2nd, all DoubleClick Rich Media ad types (expanding, floating, in-page) trafficked using Motif technology will display all supported functionality in the Safari browser. This includes support for Safari versions 1.3.2+, which includes Panther, Tiger and higher versions.
For more information on DoubleClick Rich Media and Video, visit richmedia.doubleclick.com

First Motif Launch in Japan

the first Motif video campaign went live today in Japan:

site: http://www.kekkon-j.com/

press release: http://www.doubleclick.co.jp/company/press/2007/20070529.html

Creative Showcase: US - 24 seven

XML data feed - feeding real-time job postings onto the banner...
Advertiser: 24 Seven

The Future of Online Advertising is Video

Windows Live Hotmail and Motif

Good news!

As you may know, MSN is moving its content into AJAX environments. These environments generally refresh their ad slots in complex ways without updating the entire page. In particular, MSN is moving in this direction with its high volume email site.

Windows Live Hotmail is the replacement for Hotmail. The MSN team has developed some complex technologies which allow AJAX ad slots to be refreshed without using Iframes. Our engineering team has been working very closely with the MSN team on assuring that rich media ads using Motif technology work properly in these ad slots across browsers and OS’es.

The good news: Motif has been certified in Windows Live Hotmail and is the first vendor worldwide to have this certification.

Creative Showcase: US - Warner Bros. - TMNT

Advertiser: Warner Bros.
Creative: TMNT
Media: Beyond Interactive
Ad Type: Expandable with video, file download

Creative Showcase: US - Microsoft Windows Vista

To showcase the features of their new Windows Vista operating system, Microsoft chose a unique approach to ad interactivity. Using a built-in virtual knob that responds to a click of the mouse, the Windows Vista ad takes viewers on a mini-tour through the evolution of technology. From games to music to visual media, the ad demonstrates how all roads have led to Windows Vista, while at the same time providing an engaging, interactive experience as users "crank up the 'Wow.'" We love this ad for its ability to tie interactive elements within a rich media ad directly to the overall theme of a product launch.

Creative Showcase: US - NBC - The Black Donnellys

To promote the new television series, The Black Donnellys, NBC used an innovative, new ad type straight out of DoubleClick's Innovation Lab. Using the video button format, NBC placed their brand imagery, a flashing red and black four-leaf clover, into the top right of the browser window. The ad begins as a clover-shaped video button and expands into a larger unit that streams the show's trailer inside of the silhouette of the clover. We love this ad for the way that the shape of the four-leaf clover was maintained throughout the ad.

Creative Showcase: US - HBO - Def Poetry

The new HBO ad for the sixth season of Def Poetry is a rectangle of inspiration. The ad uses in-banner video to lure viewers in to watch the series' stars in motion. When the video stops playing, a single call to action to "CLICK TO CONTINUE" is presented to viewers. On click, the video and audio continues and Mos Def himself introduces the show. We love this ad for the respectful way it draws in viewers and exposes them to the poetic mood of the program through the use of in-banner video.

DoubleClick Research: Video More Effective

ClickZ is running a summary of an upcoming DoubleClick research study showing video ads outperforming image ads by a wide margin. Snop:

Online marketers should note the importance of getting their message across early on when creating videos. DoubleClick said most viewers stuck with the clips for two-thirds of their duration, meaning they typically watched about 19 seconds of each :30 video or 10 seconds of each :15 spot.

Read the article.