What’s Out Is In: Maximizing The Impact of your OLV Buy

First, A Brief History

Web video formats, often called Online Video (“OLV”) are a natural extension of legacy linear TV buys. Although online video ads were available of varying quality and quantity before 2007, this marked the year that YouTube began offering its “InVideo” ads at scale. 

Since then, relative profitability of this ad space for publisher monetization, improvements to hardware device capabilities, and the increasing consumption of video content has propelled video investment to surging growth. eMarketer projects a 20% increase in year-over-year video investment in 2024, outpacing the 12.6% increase for all digital spend. 

As we’ve discussed at length in previous Teads’ blog posts, 2/3rds of media effectiveness is driven by creative. Indeed, from a video marketer’s perspective, the premiums for video advertising compared to a display ad is justified to compensate for this price discrepancy, which can range from 2x – 10x or more. In return, the video marketer expects greater impact from this experience and higher likelihood of producing their targeted business outcome or KPI. 

Or so theory goes…

But Not All Video is Created Equal

As highlighted by the IAB video guidelines released in the summer of 2022, and finally adopted by Google’s AdX in March of this year, there are 4 main types of video on the open web: Instream, Accompanying Content, Interstitial, and Standalone. Despite the nuance of these classifications, most conversations around video boil down to, understandably, a dichotomy between Instream vs Outstream. 

Instream is a YouTube-like experience where the user navigates to the page expecting a video. The video content is the main experience on the page, however, a viewer will experience pre-roll, mid-roll, and/or post-roll plays, usually with sound on by default. 

Outstream, colloquially, can refer to each of the latter three types of experiences: accompanying content, interstitial, and standalone. If you don’t know what characterizes each of these, don’t worry – you’re far from alone. 

The perception of Outstream video is most typically reduced to the one voiced by a consultant in a July 2nd AdExchanger article: 

With a lack of quality Outstream inventory across the web, the above opinion may be shared by many. 

Given the scarcity of sound-on Instream video, which is estimated to be in the 5% – 15% range of video inventory, there is pressure to increase the supply of this premium instream experience. This is often done fraudulently, where the aforementioned non-premium Outstream is mislabeled as Instream in the bid request. 

But Wait! Hear Me Out

Is it possible that Outstream could be a valuable buy to both users and advertisers when done right and properly represented? Some aspects of Outstream offer, in fact, a unique advantage over Instream formats.

Standalone Outstream video offers an advertising opportunity that is just that: standalone. In other words, it does not accompany content and therefore can end on a static end-card once the video experience is over. Think of it as a display ad and a video ad for the price of one. 

In the case of Instream or “surrounding content” Outstream, the video content (or another podded video) will play after the ad experience, losing an opportunity for more interaction with the ad, including the ever-important click to the advertiser’s landing page. 

If the ad slot is dynamically sized, Outstream video also allows the opportunity for persistent branding in the form of a header, footer, and other hero elements surrounding the standard 16:9 video format. 

On the supply side, not all publishers can make video content to bolster their video supply, and they might not want content recommendation units to take up precious real estate. 

And finally, some users aren’t reachable with Instream content. As of June, YouTube reach of 18+ users in the US is 77.7%. That’s almost a quarter of US adults that can’t be reached in the top Instream environment. 

Outstream Done Right

At Teads, we reach 95.7% of US adults. As the original inventors of Outstream video, Teads prides itself on delivering highly attentive and respectful ad experiences that resonate with consumers without detracting from the content they’re engaging with. Teads has redefined Outstream video by prioritizing premium journalism and a user-first approach.

The proof is in the latest LUMEN attention benchmarks, which show a Teads benchmark 53% higher than standard Outstream capabilities, and as a scalable, incremental middle ground between standard Instream video on the open web and YouTube. 

We’ve found that when the creative is fully optimized, our premium sound-off video drives greater results in greater brand impact than the original sound-on video. 

Teads Outstream runs in a curated portfolio of brand safe, fact-based editorial via our inRead slot – loading only when 50% or more is in view, this placement in the heart of editorial content is embedded within a slow-scrolling environment. Most of all, it’s a polite ad experience, in that a user can scroll away if they are not interested. Despite this, when paired with enhanced assets using Teads Studio, users spend on average 11.3 seconds viewing Teads ads. This high attention is 3x and 1.8x more correlated, respectively to brand and sales lift than viewability alone. 

So, What Now?

Outstream and Instream both have their place in a marketer’s toolkit, and both can drive outcomes for brands. Like most discussions, it’s not as black-and-white as it seems at first glance: Instream is not the only video worth investing in, and the right Outstream experiences can move the needle. 

The efficient CPMs of outstream video comparative to Instream, and scale across pages without video content, are both important value-adds to consider as you plan your buys.

The keys are found in working through trusted partners that represent their supply accurately, and utilizing measurement over and above the vanity metrics of VCR and Viewability to optimize media along with your measurement partner(s) of choice. 

In a digital advertising ecosystem where Outstream video is synonymous with disruption of user experience, Teads Outstream video stands apart as the gold standard in advertising. By fostering quality journalism, prioritizing user engagement, and continually innovating within the Outstream space, Teads offers a superior alternative to the intrusive, low-quality video ads that flood the market. 

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Written by Alec DiPietro, Senior Account Executive, Enterprise, Teads