Value-Exchange Video: Understanding the Brand Performance Advantage

Value-Exchange video is perhaps the most misunderstood ad format today. This is in spite of the fact that it has consistently proven to out-perform other digital video ad formats.

In fact, a number of recent studies have shown value-exchange video to be the top performing format across every major campaign metric including brand favorability, recall, purchase intent, engagement, acquisition and retention1, 2.

Furthermore, value-exchange formats have been explicitly whitelisted by all major ad-blocking software providers. Some 84% of consumers surveyed in one recent study2 reported they were favorable to value-exchange formats.

Unfortunately, in spite of its clear performance advantages value-exchange video is all too rarely deployed by brand advertisers.

The following paper lays out what exactly the value-exchange format is and provides specific information on how marketers can benefit from it.

Executive Summary

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84% Of Mobile Users Say They Are Favorable to a Value-Exchange Video Format

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● What exactly is a value-exchange format, with examples

● How consumers perceive value-exchange formats vs other video formats

● The key advantages of value-exchange for overcoming ad-blocking

● A few (unfounded) objections to the format

Read this paper to learn:

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Core components of value-exchange video

Value-Exchange video is any targeted user initiated video ad format that enhances the user experience by offering access to premium content in exchange for agreeing to watch a short sponsored video.

Videos are usually less than 30 seconds and users must watch the full video to access their content or reward.

It is a one-to-one interaction where the brand gets a user who is more open to their message and the user gets direct access to content that they want.

Targeted

Video

High-value video format with strong

engagement

User Opt-in

It is 100% user initiated, no

forced interruptions

Enhanced UX

Built into an app to improve the

overall user experience

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Value-Exchange video can be deployed across a wide range of apps including editorial, music, dating, chat and games.

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In fact, any publisher with premium content can use Value-exchange to create a more rich experience across its entire audience.

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Positive Priming with Value-Exchange - #userexperiencematters

Priming is a term from psychology describing how an initial experience will influence an individual’s perception of subsequent experiences either positively or negatively.

Priming happens all the time with digital advertising formats and can have a very real impact on important brand metrics. One study from Carnegie Mellon University researchers3 found that negative priming from interruptive ads like pre-roll video actually decreases purchase intent!

Here are two examples of priming in both Value-Exchange and Pre-roll formats:

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Value-Exchange

Pre-Roll

Brand provides something the

user wants

Positive Posture towards brand’s

message

Brand slows down user’s

access to content

Negative Posture

towards brand’s message

FORMAT EXPERIENCE #1 PRIMING EXPERIENCE #2

Better Performance, Brand Favorability,

Higher Purchase Intent

PoorerPerformance, Low Favorability, Lower

Purchase Intent

OUTCOME

Value-Exchange and Ad-Blocking

Considering what we know about negative priming and its impact on consumers’ perception of advertising, the recent consumer backlash towards digital advertising and the adoption of ad-blockers should really come as no surprise.

For advertisers and publishers trying to make sense of this shifting consumer sentiment, value-exchange provides a unique way to sidestep the whole issue of ad-blocking.

This is because - thanks to the opt-in nature of value-exchange ads - these formats are whitelisted by all major adblockers.

This means that value-exchange video ads will be served regardless of whether a user has activated an ad-blocker both on mobile and on desktop.

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So called “Incentivized” advertising evokes “click farms” generating high volumes of low-quality traffic via monetary incentives to non-targeted audiences.

Four key aspects set Value-exchange apart from these notions of “incentivized” ads:

Far from a cheap traffic gimmick, value-exchange is a smart format that allows brands to reach targeted consumers on their own terms and in a way that respects the user experience.

Objection #1 - Isn’t Value-Exchange just a new term for ‘incentivized’ ads?

Value- Exchange

Incentivized

Targeted

Before a reward is proposed

Views Only

No incentive for post-view

actions

Content Only

No money, gift cards,

lotteries etc..

Verifiable

Transparent & verifiable inventory

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A range of well known DSPs are launching “opt-in” or “rewarded” video ad standards for programmatic buying.

The trend towards programmatic value-exchange is in large part driven by growing concern around the quality of other video formats - pre-roll, interstitial and outstream - which are seen as interruptive by users and which are more prone to fraud.

With premium publishers also getting turned on to the format, media buyers can expect an explosion of high-quality value-exchange inventory in the near future.

Objection #2 - Value-Exchange sounds non-standard so it can’t be bought programmatically...

Value- Exchange

Programmatic

Conclusion - #UserExperienceMatters

Ultimately value-exchange advertising is all about encouraging openness to a brand’s message.

It’s akin to offering someone a coffee in exchange for a few minutes of their time. The person being invited can of course refuse the coffee being offered, but if they accept they are implicitly agreeing to listen to what the other has to say. The option makes them more open to talk.

In the same way, value-exchange is a win/win format that creates a different posture with your audience. The kind of mental openness created via value-exchange - or buying someone a coffee - is light years away from the interruptive advertising practices of the past.

As much as we seem to forget, user experience matters to how your brand is perceived. Done right, value- exchange is perhaps the best way to change the way users view digital ads.

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Sources:

1 MMA Mobile Media Buyers Guide, April 2014

2 Winterberry Group, In-app Advertising: Defining the Market and Its Unique Dynamics, January 2016

3 Acquisiti & Spiekermann, Do Interruptions Pay off? Effects of Interruptive Ads on Consumers' Willingness to Pay Journal of interactive Marketing. 2011

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