The Most Hated Digital Ad Tactic

The price is user annoyance. The Washington Post hits the double whammy as it has an autoplay video ad right before a slideshow. For example, for this slideshow about Caroline Kennedy, readers are forced to watch a 30-second FedEx commercial. This ABC News story about a man who died in Singapore who may or may not have been a spy has a 15-second Claritin commercial before heading into the “Good Morning America” segment.

There’s also the question of what the advertiser is getting. After all, a video impression shoved downed someone’s throat unwillingly is hardly the same as a standard in-stream ad that is shown as part of a quid pro quo for accessing content.

According to buyers, pricing ranges depending on the kind of buy and the site. But those pesky and invasive autoplay ads, which are usually sold direct-to-publisher, are typically $10 to $15. Buying via a video ad network, CPMs are lower because it’s more about remnant inventory.

“I hate autoplay and discourage clients from using it, on their ads and their websites,” said Barry Lowenthal, president of The Media Kitchen. “I find it annoying and intrusive. I think advertisers use it because they’re afraid that their message isn’t engaging or relevant so they have to use cheap tricks to get noticed and heard.”

The issue is that ultimately these autoplays are up to the publisher. Advertisers and agencies rely on publishers to know what’s best for their audiences and recommend things that make sense. Often, a publisher won’t properly label if an article will have an autoplay video component, much less if there’s an autoplay ad component.

“It’s not our job as advertisers or agencies to create a good user experience on the site,” said Danielle Sporkin, senior manager of portfolio management at Universal McCann. “That’s the job of the publisher who’s providing certain ad units for sale. Our job is to evaluate and see how it performs and when it doesn’t optimize out.”

Buyers look at autoplay as part of pre-roll, associating a brand’s video creative with a piece of video content. It’s the digital industry looking to TV as a model. If you watch a TV show, you’ll get commercials. If you watch video online, there’s a commercial.

“It’s not as simple as autoplay versus non-autoplay,” Sporkin said. “What we once knew as online video is starting to expand, and there are so many opportunities where advertisers and publishers can place video. It becomes interesting as we navigate the video landscape because it’s ever expanding.”

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