Video advertising is a proven way for brands to reach and connect with consumers. It’s rich content that’s watched and not read. Video creative can be more emotive through the use of verbal and non-verbal communication. Furthermore, the combination of visuals and audio can be used to incite action.

We’re also big fans of video at Ozone because it generates greater attention – especially in our premium publisher environments. An independent study by Lumen Research highlights how video campaigns running across Ozone receive twice as much attention versus other sites, 2.5 times more attention than the equivalents on social platforms, with even greater results seen on mobile sites.

Video is also a growing part of the broader digital advertising market. According to PwC, UK internet advertising revenue is expected to grow to £33bn by 2026, driven by a 27% contribution from video. In the same report, PwC says for advertisers to create stronger, more relevant connections with consumers, the smarter use of technology – like video – will be crucial for growth.

Ozone has responded to the importance of video to our advertising partners by developing a suite of Premium Only Video products. As part of our broader proposition, which also includes our non-intrusive, pause-out-of-play outstream player, our instream pre-roll capability builds on the opportunities already available to run video at scale across our premium environments.

Instream video ads are video advertisements that are played within a video. These ads can occur at the beginning, middle or end of a video. Pre-roll ads appear as soon as the user tries to watch a video. At Ozone, these are click-to-play, with sound on, and are currently unskippable.

Launched in partnership with the integrated creative, marketing and advertising agency AKA last November, we’ve now delivered more than 25 pre-roll campaigns for brands across Ozone – and the results so far have been fantastic.

VTR has averaged between 65% and 92%, which is dependent on video length. Average Viewability sits very comfortably above MOAT benchmarks. The 81% Viewability average we’ve seen to date is a stellar +25% higher than MOAT’s 65%. We’re also seeing high CTR, which makes pre-roll a strong all-round performer.

Looking at a more specific campaign, the results in the case study below so impressed the client that they have now rebooked with Ozone on multiple occasions, effectively making them an always-on client.

With the aim of driving awareness and engagement for our agency partner and a leading entertainment brand, we used our Premium Only Video pre-roll to delivers superb VTR and other results:

• 69.8% VTR for a 30 second video

• 74.4% overall Viewability score

• +300k impressions of added value

• 1.13% CTR; far above benchmarks

If you’d like to know more about pre-roll at Ozone and how it can help your brands, please speak to a member of the team by emailing [email protected] who would be more than happy to help.