Media Firms Team Up to Test Online-Video Ad Formats

The Pool, which includes six media companies and several marketers, such as Allstate, Capital One Financial and DineEquity's Applebee's, will test five online ad formats. The two highest-scoring ad formats will be put into beta testing on the media companies' sites. The Starcom MediaVest clients involved in the Pool have agreed to use the winning ad format and buy time on the media sites involved in the research. Among the ad formats being tested are videos that contain elements that, when clicked on, display more information in a separate pane or open a new browser window and videos that allow viewers to pick the ad that they wish to watch. The lack of standard online video ads has been an issue for several years, but the call for some sort of standardization is growing louder as the ad recession deepens. Advertisers and media buyers fear that the recession could derail the growth of online-video ads.