New Advertising Skipping Technology – SkipIt – Gives Consumers Control of Their Online Video Experience
Now Consumers Have a Say in their Online Viewing Experience; Publishers Provide A Better User Experience and Advertisers Eliminate Wasteful Spending
DENVER, CO(02 Apr 2012)
SpotXchange, Inc., the largest global marketplace of video ad inventory, today announced SkipIt – a new service that lets consumers control their online video ad experience by providing them the option to skip online video ads at their convenience. SkipIt was created to address high abandonment rates in online video advertising, and to strike a balance between publishers, advertisers and consumers.
According to Forrester, consumers continue to gravitate toward online video content with 77% of US online adults watching online video at least monthly.[1] Despite this growth in online video consumption, according to a survey run on the SpotXchange network, 30% of respondents would pay to skip online video ads if given the option.[2]
When consumers encounter a SkipIt invite on a website video ad, they can choose to skip the ad for a small fee or use any free skips they’ve earned. Using Facebook, Twitter, or Google, or signing in on SkipIt.com, people can quickly and easily skip a video ad with one click, wherever they encounter the SkipIt invite. When they click to skip the ad, their account is debited, the publisher is paid, and the advertiser is credited for the skipped impression. Several publishers and partners will offer and start testing SkipIt at launch including CineSport, Film Annex, IDG TechNetwork, OneScreen, TechMediaNetwork and Tetris Online, Inc. Upon launch, SpotXchange estimates the SkipIt invite will be served on over 20 million video ads every day, reaching more than 100 million people worldwide each month.
“When 10 – 40% of online video ads are abandoned, some consumers are sending a clear signal to the market. The online video advertising industry is shifting beyond the TV model of forcing users to watch video ads. We’re introducing SkipIt to provide a viable solution for consumers demanding choice and a better online experience,” said Michael Shehan, CEO of SpotXchange. “The industry has long needed a solution that places control in the hands of the consumers while delivering value to both online video publishers and advertisers. SkipIt is the service that truly levels the playing field for everyone involved.”
SkipIt Helps Publishers Strengthen Relevancy and Engagement
SkipIt delivers clear advantages to publishers with video ad inventory. First and foremost, SkipIt provides a better experience to their visitors, which ultimately leads to lower abandonment rates and an increase in available video ad inventory. In turn, a publisher’s advertisers will benefit as well. When publishers give consumers a choice to watch or skip an ad, and a user chooses to watch that ad, they remember it. Ultimately, choice enhances engagement and increases ad response metrics. In addition, SkipIt provides publishers an additional revenue stream that exceeds even the highest CPMs in the industry.
“Providing the best user experience is always the end goal for every publisher, because without it, users will go elsewhere to find the content they are looking for,” said Larry Weitzman, Chief Content Officer of CineSport. “By integrating SkipIt into our various national and local properties, visitors are finally given a choice in how they want to consume advertising. We feel this model is going to help us drive loyalty with our users as well as advertisers who will now receive greater insight as to who is engaging with their ads.”
“Empowering our viewers is paramount to our success as a publisher, and SkipIt will enable them to choose how they consume video,” said Francesco Rulli, Founder and President of Film Annex. “As the user experience becomes more interactive, it’s incumbent upon us to do everything we can to make it feature-rich, non-disruptive and flexible. SkipIt drives relevance to the unique and targeted specialties of our Film Annex Buzz corporate clients. This allows viewers to skip a video ad if they want. In Italian, we would say SkipIt is ‘perfetto’.”
“SpotXchange’s new ad skipping technology puts a new twist in the mix of video advertising,” said Marc Ropelato, Marketing Manager of TechMediaNetwork, Inc. “Our visitors have more control over the ads they view, providing a better experience for our consumers and driving more loyalty to our sites. We also can better track the ads that consumers view, providing important feedback to our advertisers. I’m expecting a positive response by our users to this new ad skipping technology.”
Advertisers Gain Efficiencies and Improve Media Spend with SkipIt
Advertisers can eliminate waste, improve performance and increase impact of their media spend by not paying for ads served to the segment of consumers who don’t want to see their ads. This strengthens the relevancy of their message to the target audience. Every time a publisher is paid for an ad that has been skipped, the publisher credits the advertiser for the skipped ad, eliminating wasteful spending. Separately, SkipIt allows advertisers to gain valuable insight into how consumers are engaging with their ads. This insight will enable advertisers to better target their audiences and tailor the most relevant video ads to those consumers most likely to watch and engage with them.
Consumers now have a third choice when they encounter a video ad on a SkipIt-enabled website: watch it, click away, or pay to skip. Later in the year, users will be able to earn free skips at SkipIt.com by engaging with certain brands in a variety of ways (e.g. – surveys, coupon downloads, social sharing, and purchasing goods and services).
[1] Forrester Consulting, ”Online Video RTB Primed for Dramatic Growth,” March 2012
[2] SpotXchange survey to 17,000 respondents, July 2011
For more information:
· To watch how SkipIt works or to sign up, please visit http://www.skipit.com
· To become a SkipIt publisher, visit here
· To learn more about benefits to advertisers, visit here
· Follow SkipIt on Twitter at @SkipIt
· Be a fan of SkipIt on Facebook here
About SkipIt
SkipIt, an online consumer service from SpotXchange, enables consumers to control their online video ad experience by skipping ads of their choice with a single click of the SkipIt icon. Publishers and advertisers benefit from a better user experience, less wasteful ad spending, and increased insight into user behavior. For more information or to sign-up for a free SkipIt trial, please visit www.SkipIt.com.
About SpotXchange
SpotXchange operates the largest global marketplace of video ad inventory and is the leading provider and innovator of comprehensive online video advertising solutions. SpotXchange reaches more than 110 million unique visitors in over 30 countries, and is the leader in real-time bidding (RTB) for video with billions of ad calls each month through its exchange. Publishers monetize and maximize the value of their in-stream video inventory through the SpotXchange marketplace, which connects them to a large ecosystem of buyers (advertisers, agencies, agency trading desks, ad networks, and DSPs) competing in real-time for their inventory. Headquartered in the Boulder/Denver region of Colorado, SpotXchange has global reach and key market leadership positions in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. For more information, visit http://www.spotxchange.com.