Take advantage of video ads in AMP

There are a variety of extensions that help you monetize your AMP pages with video ads

This post is part of a larger AMP monetization series that you can read about here.

Generally, there are two types of video monetization on the web:

1. Instream: When the video ad is placed to appear as pre, mid or post roll amidst organic video content
2. Oustream: When the video ad is standalone and appears in-line (or instream) with regular web page content

AMP supports both types of video monetization with the help of 3rd party extensions that are contributed to the AMP Project.

Instream Video using AMP components

If you are already serving video ads amidst your organic content on your non-AMP pages, you are probably using a video player that is compatible with the Interactive Media Ads (IMA) SDK. The video player handles important details like where the ad should appear and measurement using a common protocol called VAST (Video Ad Serving Template). Most popular video players already support the IMA SDK and almost all video networks support VAST responses.

Sounds complicated, right? On AMP pages, the complexity can be minimized by using the <amp-ima-video> extension, which gives publishers a simple interface where you can specify:

a) where you want to source your ads from using the data-tag attribute

b) where you want to source your video content from using the src attribute.

Chromecast pre-roll ad before organic video content using <amp-ima-video>

<amp-ima-video
    width=640 height=360 layout="responsive"
    data-tag="ads.xml" data-poster="poster.png">
  <source src="foo.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  <source src="foo.webm" type="video/webm">
  <track label="English subtitles" kind="subtitles" srclang="en" src="subtitles.vtt">
  <script type="application/json">
  {
    "locale": "en",
    "numRedirects": 4
  }
  </script>
</amp-ima-video>

The purpose of the <amp-ima-video> player is to help publishers easily monetize their video content. The component also implements the <amp-video> interface, which means most of the features developed in amp-video (e.g. ability to auto-play or docking on scroll, video analytics) are either fully or partially available as part of <amp-ima-video>.

In addition to the generic IMA component, there are a number of video players that have natively integrated with AMP and implemented the <amp-video> interface. I’d recommend going this route if you are already using one of these players on your non-AMP pages:

• amp-3q-player
• amp-brid-player
• amp-dailymotion
• amp-nexxtv-player
• amp-ooyala-player
• amp-video
• amp-wistia-player
• amp-youtube
• amp-mowplayer

And finally, there is also support from Brightcove using the <amp-brightcove> component.

Instream Video using <amp-iframe> or <amp-video-iframe>

It isn’t recommended to use <amp-iframe> or <amp-video-iframe> (which is still experimental) for advertising purposes for the following reasons:

1. They are unable to collect all the proper analytics from inside the iframe
2. The iframes are sandboxed by default and therefore even if the video appears to play, the click through to landing page might not work

Other reasons and more details are available here and here. The right approach is to have the publisher submit an AMP extension and implement the <amp-video> interface.

Outstream Video using AMP components

From a placement standpoint, there is no difference between a video and a display ad “slot.” Therefore, the primary way to deliver Outstream video is to serve them using the <amp-ad> component. Most ad networks that allow you to serve both display and video ads make the video serving capability a server side configuration. I know this is the case for the Google Ad Manager.

Teads Outstream video ads

Popular Outstream video ads provider Teads also has a native <amp-ad> integration, and publishers are seeing some great results with it:

Along with these publishers, we’ve been delighted to see that video ads perform significantly better on AMP’d pages than on the traditional mobile web. Completion rates are 15% higher, clickthrough rates have jumped by 200%, and our ads appear 18% more frequently. This tells us that faster performance and relevant, respectful ads don’t just prevent abandonment and ad blocking — they also increase engagement.

Too many options? Simplify.

Video monetization is no joke and we’ve barely scratched the surface. Here is one simple path to follow: if you produce original video content, use one of the instream solutions. If you already work with a video player or video ad network, use a similar setup on AMP pages. Chances are they are already supported. If not, request them to integrate with AMP. If you don’t work with a video player on your non-AMP pages or are video player agnostic, use the <amp-ima-video> player.

On the other hand if you don’t produce original video content and want to take advantage of the video advertising trend, work with one of the ad networks to serve to existing display ad slots. You can also work with vendors like Teads to directly add <amp-ad> support on your pages.

Does this satisfy your video advertising needs? What can we do better with video advertising in AMP? Let us know!