Video publishing is a complicated operation. Over the course of our series on Video Publishing Best Practices, we’ve covered audience, speed, viewability, content, and user experience, all of which are fundamental to amplifying video CPMs.
While a successful video strategy couldn’t exist without these elements, there is one more aspect of video publishing to consider before you put your game plan into effect: optimizing your technical performance and ad demand stack.
1. Make Sure Your Video Player is Compatible with Your Ad Server
There’s a lot involved in making sure your video player integrates with your third-party ad server partners. First, be sure to use a video player that’s HTML5-compatible. Then, confirm that the player supports integration with your Ad Server or SSP.
If your ad server of choice is DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), confirm that your player supports Google’s IMA software development kit (SDK).
2. Develop Relationships with Advertisers
Programmatic advertising is all about automation, and that’s what makes it so appealing. Designed for efficiency of connecting audience data with ad inventory, it doesn’t require the same level of human interaction as the traditional digital media sales process. With eMarketer reporting that for the first time, more than half of all U.S. digital video ad spending was purchased using programmatic technology in 2016, and that’s projected to grow to nearly three-quarters in 2018.
Still, adopting programmatic doesn’t mean you should eliminate all human interaction. In fact, retaining the human element of digital ad sales is critical to ongoing success. Working directly with advertisers, ad networks and DSPs to set up buys can increase your rates and drive more demand for your ads. Take a look at who’s buying your inventory on the open market, and then take the initiative to reach out to them. Establishing personal relationships with these key players will only enhance your power as a video publisher.
3. Explore Video Header Bidding
Over the past year, header bidding — the process of pre-bidding on digital inventory before it’s available to the masses in an open exchange — has made tremendous strides. Header bidding enables publishers to generate additional advertising revenue, and according to some reports it’s being used by 70 percent of publishers for display ad inventory already. Now that it’s being applied to video, excitement is mounting.
The caveat is that video header bidding is still brand new. This sales strategy has loads of potential when it comes to increasing demand for video inventory, transparency, and CPMs, but because the process takes place within the video player, it’s inherently more complex. If you’re a publisher or broadcaster interested in navigating this trend, we encourage you to contact our video experts for some guidance.
4. Limit Multiple Tag Wrappers to Avoid Slow Ad Delivery
We’ve talked about the importance of optimizing your pages for speed (link to part 1), but another technique for achieving faster load times is working with your advertisers to verify their ad tags have limited wrappers, which slow down ad delivery.
5. Talk to the Experts
Even when your video publishing strategy is perfectly calibrated to produce the results you’re looking for, it pays to enlist the help of those who live and breathe video performance and industry standards every day.
All JW Player customers have the opportunity to consult with our JW Demand team for additional advice on everything from how to improve CPMs to testing ad placements, optimizing video discovery, and using tag variables for a better fill rate. When the ever-evolving advertising ecosystem and ad tech jargon get to be too much, give us a call. We’re always happy to help our customers meet their revenue goals.
Be sure to check out the other 4 posts in our “Video Publishing Best Practices” series.
Contact JW Player today to talk about how we can help you improve your site’s viewer experience in order to achieve higher video CPMs.