Interactive video has been more frequently discussed in the online advertising and digital marketing spaces. A relatively new advertising concept that is gaining traction from major brands such as Carhartt, Troy-Bilt, Fisher & Paykel and more.
Our world is becoming more advanced and seamless thanks to technological advances such as AI and machine learning. Interactive video is no exception to this. Making your online video advertisement “interactive” essentially creates an all-in-one experience that is not disruptive to the user’s viewing experience.
Think of it this way: have you ever seen a person, place or item in a video that you weren’t able to locate from a quick Google search? That’s where interactive video comes in. As consumers are watching a video on any device, they can easily tap to learn more about specific products, features, history and pricing as well as click-to-purchase – all from within the video.
Here are a few ways that interactive video can help brands advertise:
1. Convert More Sales with Shoppable Video
Interactive video creates huge opportunities for digital advertisers to monetize inside the video, instead of before or after. Individual objects are automatically identified, and made clickable, so users can click-to-purchase directly from the video ad.
While the shoppable aspect has proven to be of major value for retail brands, interactive video can be a lot more than just shoppable. When you think about consumers’ purchase patterns, it is not common that people buy items without doing a little research beforehand. This is where the informative aspect shows value.
2. Tell Multiple Stories at Once
The evolution of digital marketing and technology now allows brands to tell multiple stories at once and add layers of participation to their videos. Your video can create an even richer experience for audiences by adding extra, informative layers to the story.
Each clickable object comes with unique descriptions that are customizable to describe products, services, etc. Links can also go beyond simply connecting people with products and be used to help the audience engage more deeply with a topic.
Travel brands have seen value in interactive technology for bringing tourists closer together with their destinations. Travelers are able to directly click within a video for information about unique neighborhoods, entertainment, culture, restaurants and more.
3. Generate Higher Video Engagement and ROI
Brands and advertisers are constantly tasked with the challenge of better connecting with audiences. Interactive video turns passive viewers into active participants and outperforms standard in-stream video 100 percent of the time.
KERV’s interactive video technology helps brands achieve 10 times higher video engagement, six times higher interaction rates and four times more time spent with your brand. Tested over 100 million unique users, KERV’s platform boasts the highest interaction rates in the industry.
KERV is the only interactive video technology that can identify objects at their pixel-level. Object-level identification allows brands to include more touch points for users to interact with. More points of interest mean more opportunities for users to engage, which creates higher engagement and interaction rates.
4. Increase Brand Awareness
Did you know 73 percent of advertisers and 89 percent of agencies aim to uplift brand awareness with digital video advertising campaigns? It is important to invest in audiences who are investing their time and money into your brand.
Advertisers need to integrate brand presence within content and make it something that viewers want to engage with by welcoming it as part of their experience. Essentially, content itself is now advertising and the best way to take advantage of that is by making it interactive.
Having access to information within a video ad can establish a deeper connection with audiences, and their understanding of your brand. While pre-roll can be forced upon viewers ahead of content, its presence is ultimately ineffective in that it cannot compel views or force engagement.
5. Understand Your Consumer Journey
Digital video is experiencing a rapid growth, and KERV’s vision is to improve the video and television paradigm for both advertisers and brands. Brands continue to shift toward interactive video marketing as they are able to see specifically what consumers are choosing to engage with.
Interactive content creates a multi-touch user journey within your videos. On the front end, multiple stories are told simultaneously to consumers with many touch points and link-out opportunities. On the back end, advertisers and brands receive unmatched data that tells the story of their consumer’s journey.
The data tells the story to brands of what scenes, frames, objects, etc. performed the best with their audiences. Brands then have the ability to use this information when creating new video ads and deliver powerful new stories.
“Our initiative for the campaign was to deliver new, interactive content to the right audiences in targeted environments to enhance the consumer experience with the Carhartt brand,” said Janet Ries, Vice President of Marketing at Carhartt. “On the front end, this created a new and immersive ad experience for consumers, but on the back end, it yielded new data points, user behaviors and trends that informed all aspects of the campaign.”
6. Receive Unmatched Data and Optimization
The value of interactive video shines with data. KERV provides 15+ entirely new data points to report and optimize against, on top of the standard industry metrics. This data advancement adds more accountability to your video content than ever before. The ability to receive and analyze powerful insights, in real time, are important for any online advertiser these days.
KERV’s object-level precision is an added benefit for the data aspect, by allowing for unmatched accuracy of reporting.
7. Add Accountability to Your Video
Do you know what’s wrong with the current industry measure of value for a static video? Completed views, or if the video was displayed on the user’s screen, is and ineffective measure to determine your video campaign’s success.
The problem advertisers face with this current measure is that there’s no way of really knowing if the ad was viewed or if the user was interested – the current measure is not about engagement or time spent with the brand. Turning your video ads into an interactive experience adds trackable accountability to your content.
8. Create an All-in-One Experience for Audiences
By 2022, online videos will make up more than 82 percent of all consumer internet traffic. Interactive video creates an all-in-one experience for online audiences. Adding layers of convenience, audiences are rewarded with the luxury of a non-disruptive, website capability within your video experience.
Interactive video is making its way into the future and is creating a more seamless ad experience for online users.