EyeWonder Debuts New Video Ad Format

Rich media ad provider EyeWonder launched a new, full-video ad format, intended for campaigns seeking to drive awareness or create a visual impact.

“It’s for advertisers that really want to push sight, sound and motion and drive awareness as a primary objective,” said Mike Griffin, EVP of business development at EyeWonder. “This is about creating a visual impact. We have other formats that incorporate interactive elements for gathering data or providing more information when it’s rolled over.”

Four clients have used the format so far in their campaigns — SBC Communications, CBS Television, Red Bull and Pacific Broadband. The video content fills the entire length and width of most standard IAB banner sizes. Original video can be shot specifically for the ads, as SBC did with its campaign; or TV spots can be repurposed, either using the conventional 4:3 aspect ratio, or edited to fit another banner size, as Red Bull chose to do.

“It can be as simple or as complicated as the advertiser wants to make it,” Griffin stated.

EyeWonder charges a $3 CPM serving fee for the units, in addition to the publisher’s fees for ad space. According to Griffin, some initial campaigns have garnered click-through rates as high as 9 percent. Even so, that’s not the ads’ primary purpose, he said.

“If you look at the CBS example, they don’t necessarily care that much if you click the banner to go to CBS.com. They want you to remember that TV show and tune in that night,” Griffin said.

Publishers whose sites already run EyeWonder video ads don’t need any additional testing or changes to run ads in this format. They need only approve the format for EyeWonder to run the ads when they become available, according to Griffin.