HTML5 Video Player Ad Monetization Options

If your website isn’t making enough revenue, you might want to reconsider your marketing strategies and website design. Believe it or not, inserting a simple yet effective HTML5 video player is a great first step towards improving your online presence.

Besides making your website more appealing, a good HTML5 video player can bring you additional revenue with pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll ads, as well as offer a fair share of customization options. The only thing you need to think about is whether you’re ready to pay for it and how much.

In the video industry, we have the ultimate king (YouTube), runner-ups (enterprise level platforms) and these rare gems listed here that are building a better pathway to easier monetization for all.

MOW Player

Though they might be a new name in the video industry landscape, they are industry veterans, and by the looks of what’s MOW Player packing they know what it takes to make a fast, nimble, and responsive at all times, on all screens, HTML5 video player.

While there is obviously more work to be done here, they do have an ace up their sleeve: MOW MarketPlace.

Currently, their MarketPlace is integrated with several ad platforms and ad exchange networks like ADX / Rubicon / Pubmatic / Cedato (mentioned here) and they have a dedicated sales team working hard on integrating programmatic partners directly to MOW Marketplace utilizing inside deals, and connect with DSPs (demand-side platform). This all means they are able to achieve better CPMs for their publishers.

Bitmovin

The second product you should consider for your website is Bitmovin’s Adaptive HTML5 Video Player whose main characteristic is contained within its name. Bitmovin takes great pride in the fact that their player can work on all browsers and all devices, with absolutely no buffering. With it, you can completely customize your videos and include ads anywhere in the video.

Cloud encoding, AV1 playback, server-side ad insertion, robust analytics….they’ve got it all and they’ve got it good.

On the downside, Bitmovin’s player is a bit pricey and can be quite an investment if you’re not sure about the views you’ll get. For larger companies, this player is a logical choice that pays off quickly.

Fluid Player

If you’re looking for a cheaper version (so cheap that it’s free), you ought to give Fluid Player a try. It can be a bit of a gamble since it’s an open source HTML5 player that anyone can contribute to, but that’s the whole point. Fluid Player is a collaborative effort that expects you to add to the code and help others get free players as well.

While not VPAID compatible, Fluid is compatible with VAST, which means you’ll be able to implement basic, non-interactive ads. It may seem like a constricting element, but VAST is actually more useful and widespread. You can’t really expect to make some quality interactive ads for free, can you?

Oz Player

When it comes to streaming abilities, one of the best HTML5 video player you can find is probably Oz Player. This player was designed by AccessibilityOz, a group of web advisors who specialize in internet accessibility, so when it came to developing their own video player, this was their number one concern.

Oz player has everything you need to successfully stream your videos from your own website, YouTube, Vimeo or anywhere else. There is an option for an interactive transcript, captions, keyboard navigations and a lot more.

As you may have guessed, it’s not really free if you’re looking to earn money with it. However, it is free for personal use, so you can test it out extensively before deciding whether it’s worth the money.

Cedato

Now, for those of you who need a somewhat more complex video playing experience, there’s Cedato. Sure, the player itself is intelligent and instinctive, but it’s the features that go along with it that are most important here. The thing is, Cedato is not only a player but also a yield optimization tool that measures the revenue of all your ads and automatically displays the highest-grossing ones.

Besides that, you get an extensive overview of the ads, the number of views, clicks, impressions — basically everything you might need without leaving the player itself. It is this integrated nature of Cedato that still makes it one of the most desirable players out there.

We tried to step out of the video industries comfort zone with this list. No usual suspects but alternatives build to satisfy modern-day publishers demands for quality video experience and ad monetization options.

We’ve tried to cover different grounds, features, characteristics and price segments, so you’ll be able to use each one of these as a comparison point for other, similar players. Let us know in the comment section which one you like best or what we may have missed.

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