Yahoo! Has Video Advertising Breakthrough with New Clickable Units

In November, Yahoo! quietly introduced clickable pre-roll ad units with a "call to action," meaning visitors who watch a video, see a pre-roll ad and are encouraged to click on the ad to find more information. Rebecca Paoletti, Director of Video Sales Strategy told me on Friday that the some of these new units are getting clickthrough rates ten times greater than conventional ads. Yahoo! typically it inserts a pre-roll ad and companion banner ad adjacent to the video player. The company has more "professionally produced" videos on the Web, she said. In this video with Rebecca, we have inserted examples of the new interactive ads. Maven to Stay in Cambridge I asked Rebecca about about the Maven acquisition. She said the company will remain in its Cambridge, Massachusetts headquarters and continue to serve its stable of big publishers. While the company will exist as a stand alone unit, technology from Maven will be integrated into the Yahoo! offering, notably Maven's overlay ad technology which will be used by Yahoo! in by Q3, she said. As publishers seek a solution to manage and monetize video publishing the new Yahoo!/Maven platform looks very attractive indeed. -- Andy Plesser

Blip | February 18, 2008

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