Klipmart to Be Tacoda's Preferred In-Page Video Ad Provider
Tacoda continues its foray into video advertising through the partnership.
In its ongoing effort to incorporate video capabilities into its behavioral targeting offerings, Tacoda has named video ad firm Klipmart Corporation as its preferred provider of in-page video on publisher sites in the Tacoda Audience Networks ad network. Both companies expect the pairing of behavioral targeting with video advertising to enable higher ad revenues and better utilization of overlooked ad inventory.
In the initial phase of the technology team-up, Tacoda will enable its basic behavioral tracking system in Klipmart’s streaming video units. According to Tacoda CEO Dave Morgan, the two firms are in extensive discussions to “work on the second phase of a much more advanced integration.”
“We’ll be kicking off with some entertainment clients,” said Klipmart CEO Chris Young, noting a couple of unnamed advertisers are planning to deploy the behavioral capabilities in upcoming campaigns set to launch in the end of June or July.
In time, advertisers running behaviorally-targeted Klipmart ads may be able to alter elements of ad creative or serve up ads based on learned user interests. For instance, film advertisers might target ads to users according to their interest in particular movie genres, actors or directors. “This is definitely a work in progress,” commented Young.
It’s up to each Audience Networks publisher to decide whether or not to accept Klipmart ads. However, stressed Tacoda’s Morgan, “We’re certainly going to be evolving our network to do more video.” In keeping with that goal, the firm announced an agreement with rich media and video ad network Tremor last month to enable behaviorally-targeted pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll in-stream ads in Tacoda’s network.
Both Morgan and Young believe combining behavioral targeting with video ads makes sense because it will help eliminate waste and allow for more refined measurement. Because video ads are expensive to deliver, waste is a critical issue, added Morgan.
Klipmart’s Young concurred: “It’s really about fulfilling the promise of Internet accountability.” He suggested, “As we see declining GRPs and more fragmented end users…the notion of being able to behaviorally target is a huge promise and driver of the Internet.”
The two firms will begin working together immediately, and the first phase of the technology integration will take place over the next two or three months.
Tacoda is not the only ad network matching behavioral targeting to video. AOL, Advertising.com’s parent company, recently acquired streaming media ad network Lightningcast. Advertising.com network advertisers will be able to use the firm’s “Creative Leadback” targeting to identify users who have seen a client’s pre-roll video ad and target them with standard, rich media or video units from the same advertiser, according to Eric Eller, senior director of products and marketing at Advertising.com.
“There is going to be some demand from people that want to target video messages to people with particular behaviors,” predicted Eller. However, he suggested that advertisers may continue to focus on targeting video ads contextually based on site and video clip content. “What’s different is that with video ads there’s the relationship to the site content and also the video content the user selected, and that might be more important to advertisers.”
Still, it behooves publishers to offer behaviorally-targeted video spots since they can charge premium prices for them.
In general, Tacoda’s Morgan sees the move towards implementing video as a natural evolution for online advertising. Indeed, he continued, “We expect we’ll do even more things in video.”
Join ClickZ’s Online Video Advertising Forum in New York City, June 16, 2006.
