Video Banners - what’s putting affiliates off? VOTES PLEASE!

[Miche]

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Morning All,

Whilst more merchants are offering video banners, the uptake appears to be quite slow, I’m curious to know why this is… please take your time to each pick 2 statements from the poll and add any comments/feedback :tup

Many thanks

Michelle
Client Strategist
michelle.boxall@affiliatewindow.com

[Mogga]

The ones I can think of are product specific which means taking a punt on writing content and getting a whole new page spidered...

And the drop down menu system is a pain to go through when there's 60+ link details in there ... it was just very tedious being able to get the link in the size I wanted for the product...

That's off the top of my head from the last time I looked at the video banners

[Richard101]

I use video extensively in my sites - I have given up on video content provided by merchants via the networks as the quality has not been suitable for my sites - I prefer more detailed product information with subtle branding to help reduce browsers get to know the product. Perhaps I was too early on the adoption curve and should recheck what is on offer

I use product or sale demo type videos to back up content that I write. Typically need larger format of 300 x 250

To see how I use video, view my latest website on pushchairs

[Spreader]

Brilliant post!

Excuse me for putting my two penneths in, but this is a great question which needs addressing IMO.

We launched our Video Content units a couple of years ago and take up has been really low even though we've got proof that videos really improve conversion rate (click here).

We're keen to improve our video offering and develop a snazzy video builder like Firebox and Buyagift have, but at the moment can't justify the time/expenditure because of the lack of take up.

I'm looking forward to seeing the results of the poll, and keeping my fingers firmyly crossed that video content units/banners will be high on the agenda for Christmas 2009.

Toodle pip.

Zak.

[Tawnyfrog]

Michelle can you list all the merchants that have them please? Id like to see if they fit any of my sites.

[Miche]

Michelle can you list all the merchants that have them please? Id like to see if they fit any of my sites.

Give me half hour or so and ill get this to you

[Richard101]

It would be useful to list which merchants are offering video now

[Richard101]

Hi Michelle

This will be a useful thread and it is good that you have created it.

However, as with all polls, the results should be interpreted with caution as the questions may or not be relevant to different publishers. For example, “If the video is for a specific product, I don’t want to have to keep replacing when the deal expires” may or may not be an issue. For me, I don't mind as if offer is time limited then I would delete video automatically or make page generic enough so that when special offer has finished, the links and any link juice can still be squeezed to the appropriate merchant pages.

Perhaps the poll could be changed to strongly agree / strongly disagree, question not relevant etc... format to help get a balanced view - I fear the results could be skewed due to the poll format & closed questions.

[Miche]

Hi,

Thanks for all the responses!

Richard - good point, I will look into amending the format to give clearer results.

ALL - so far we have the following merchants that have Video Banners/content (I will add more as account managers feed back to me):

NPower - for their Juice energy product
Blue Chip Vacations
eHarmony
Prezzybox
Red Letter Days
Firebox

Any merchants viewing this that have video please add yourselves to the list!

cheers

Miche

[Tawnyfrog]

Ta, now how do I find these video units within each merchant? Maybe I'm being a bit silly but I can't see them within the links section?

[nim-b]

I can't speak for all the merchants, but we only allow you to get video code from our own site, not through AWin.

This is partly because when we built the system AWin didn't have the technology to host videos, but also because we wanted to host the video content ourselves, rather than stretch the network or affiliate sites.

Our video player page is here www.firebox.com/admin/aff_video

Should be self-explanatory. Videos are listed in alphabetical order by product name. All product information and prices is dynamically updated so will be up to date.

As well as standard 'how to use this' product vids, we also do some amusing ones, like the retro science programme for the USB Microscope, and the Kareoke sing-along for the Lucky Voice box.

Latest video is for the Muvi Micro Camcorder, featuring our work experience guy. We like to get everyone involved

Any questions please get in touch with me- I'd like to encourage all affiliates to at least try out videos to see if they work for them.

[Jason]

For me I guess, it's being able to promote the one merchant only which prevents me from using the video units. I utilise video on our sites (usually via You Tube) which works well, then add in our ECUs to give a price comparison for the product in question.

So in short we do use video on our sites, but not those created by the merchants (in most cases).

Jason

[Tawnyfrog]

Miche, can you make those links clickable? I can't find them within my account. Nim-b - great, I'll check them out soon.

[QualityNonsense]

I've just started playing with Awin videos. I can't comment on how well they do/do not perform, but from the experience of setting them up my feedback is:

- The videos are a headache to find on the awin interface. IIRC, some were listed as text links? Either way, there's no 'video' category under a merchant's links section

- The resolutions are low 300x250. Yes, they're perfect to replace a regular 300x250 banner, but since the videos are not shot at that resolution it's a huge missed opporrunity to not supply the videos at larger sizes. Users are watching HD videos at YouTube, so we need to keep up.

- Most merchants I looked at weren't using 'post-roll' ads or links to let users clickthrough to the site. So a user watches the video... then nothing. No call to action, no end screen, no link. Far from ideal from a conversion perspective.

[Miche]

Hi,
Sorry that it’s not that easy to find these, we will ensure that merchant’s details pages and communications direct affiliates to the right place (in the absence of a video category for the time being).
You can find the videos as follows:
NPower – within the flash links section, 250 x 250 labelled “Juice TV ad”

Blue Chip Vacations – go to dynamic, then text links, they are 300 x 250, various holiday videos (the labels end with “video”), you may need to scroll down the page for these

eHarmony – go to dynamic, then text links, there is one 320 x 270 labelled “VIDEO-eHarmony”

Prezzybox – go to dynamic, then text links, there are a wide selection of vidiboxes, 540 x 340 and 300 x 300

Red Letter Days – go to dynamic, then text links, selection of videos for different experiences all in 320 x 270
Cheers
Miche