We know, old habits die hard. Especially when you can cut the line.<\/p>\n
Because they’re used to a world of red-tagged mail and election window pricing for TV, some political folks don’t worry about placing online ads until after Labor Day.<\/p>\n
But the Internet changes everything. Online ads can and do sell out as The National Journal’s Shane Goldmacher explains<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, he’s talking mostly about one specific kind of ad: Video pre-roll for 2016. And video pre-roll has benefits – it looks like TV so it’s a comfortable transition to online. But it also has limits.<\/p>\n The biggest limit: Many online videos are never seen.<\/p>\n The good folks at Google recently said that 46% of video pre-roll is NOT viewed by a live human<\/a>. Now, The Google is out to boost ad buys on its YouTube channel so they’ve got a dog in the fight. But they are also the premier ad delivery servicee. Everyone – yup, even us – uses Google’s DoubleClick to serve ads and monitor performance.<\/p>\n This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this.<\/p>\n Last year, the New York Times ran a story saying that some video pre-roll was never seen.<\/a><\/p>\n And we can’t say this often enough: Using voter roll or demographic targeting for your pre-roll distribution doesn’t guarantee it will be seen. Regardless of vendor, of matching partners or technology, those pre-roll ad buys run on the same delivery and buying networks that The Times and Google are monitoring.<\/em><\/p>\n Team Spot-On takes a different view of this pre-roll fad. It’s a fad, for starters. Too many people are buying the same stuff for the same reason which triples prices immediate before an election – after Labor Day. So a gang of people are bidding against each other, paying top dollar for ads placements that, well, disappear. Like Beanie Babies<\/a>, it can’t last.<\/p>\n There are alternatives: Rich media placements that have in-banner video or animation; roadblocks that carry a message for 24 hours, fixed on local news pages, above-the-fold ads bought directly from outlets and monitored daily. All are good, sound alternatives to pre-roll. And many are far less expensive.<\/p>\n More importantly, they’re seen.<\/p>\n What’s all this mean? Well, plan ahead – further ahead than you may have thought necessary in previous elections. Even if you want a lot of pre-roll buy early and save money.<\/p>\n