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Interactive Video Ads: An Innovative Approach to Digital Marketing
Where do today’s viewers consume video content? Increasingly, they’re using either mobile devices or their computers. This is significant because smartphones and PCs offer an easy way for users to interact with the content they consume.
A simple click or tap on the screen can connect a viewer with a brand, and video content optimized to offer them these interaction opportunities can offer new marketing possibilities.
Throughout its history, video marketing has been a passive form of content. You present an experience to consumers; they watch it and move on. By changing the nature of the medium, interactive video is unlocking exciting new possibilities.
What’s the ideal role for interactive video content?
Interactive clips are not yet universally used marketing tools. The numbers show that in a media climate saturated with video content, adding interactive features to video ad content is a promising way to engage viewers by offering them something new, different and specifically designed to make them participate.
The 2023 edition of Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing survey reveals that while 91% of companies use video marketing in general, just 31% use interactive video. This statistic makes it especially impressive that 27% of marketers name interactive video as an effective marketing platform.
The Wyzowl researchers specifically named interactive videos alongside TikTok social media clips and webinars as types of videos that are especially useful and powerful when comparing their usage and effectiveness rates. Companies that put interactive features in their videos are getting a reaction.
Interactive video can serve as a differentiating element that makes your campaign stand out while driving user engagement. With 69% of marketers still not releasing interactive videos, you have novelty on your side. While not every video needs to have clickable features — after all, content meant to be watched on a TV is less suited to interaction than web videos — they can bring you closer to your customers.
How do interactive features affect viewers?
There are a few levels of interactivity possible with videos — your brand can choose an approach that matches its overall marketing goals. For example, if you’re including interactive, clickable features in Google ads displayed on the search giant’s platform, there are a few basic types of content available, ranging from customized call-to-action screens to scrolling listings of products in your e-commerce store.
When you go beyond the Google ad ecosystem and use another player, your options can go deeper. Hubspot showed off a few promising examples. These include a YouTube video with full 360-degree camera rotation to show off a variety of products, as well as a video with branching paths and another that quizzes users as they go.
Different types of video features drive user engagement in different ways:
- Store-connected interactive ads, also known as shoppable videos, take away the disconnect between watching a video and making a purchase, bringing purchase options directly to the customers.
- Branching paths through a video make viewers active and let them focus on what interests them most. And if they want to go back and make different choices to see more content, they get to spend more time with your brand.
- A 360-degree view functions in a similar way to branching paths — the person watching the video is in control and can choose what they want to look at most, catching Easter eggs and keeping their hands on the controls.
- Content with quiz options encourages consumers to pay close attention, and reinforces what they’ve just seen through their answers, right or wrong. This is a low-stress form of gamification in action.
The common thread between all of these interactive video advertising features is that they ask viewers to do more than just watch; while driving brand awareness, they also get users clicking and choosing how to interact with the brand.
How do you get started on an interactive video strategy?
As with any kind of video marketing, quality matters when you’re producing interactive content. Today’s viewers are inundated with video content, and poorly made content may fail to make a mark. With that said, interactive advertising video may prove challenging to make for companies without specific expertise, with its need for digital features on top of the underlying audiovisual content.
This is where expert video production crews can make their mark. By teaming up with these producers, you can expand your capabilities and create highly polished content without adding permanent salaries or purchasing high-tech equipment.
A Crews Control video team can point you in the right direction when you’re crafting sophisticated interactive video content, providing both technical and creative insights. Read our free ebook to learn more about the tech trends shaping corporate video today.
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