Leveraging video is one of the biggest earning opportunities in digital advertising and with all of the hard work, time, and resources you’ve invested in creating videos to present your craft in a unique way, we want you to take home as much video revenue as possible!
Our performance team dug into video data and analytics across our network to show you how to turn these insights into actionable solutions for higher earning opportunities.
Here are five insider tips to get more bang for your video buck!
New to video?
Check out our step-by-step guide to Get Started with AdThrive Video Players!
1. Topical videos keep your readers more engaged
When the video matches the subject matter of your post, more readers watch the video!
We offer two different video players to support your video content. The first is the Playlist video player. This is a collection of your video content that you can create in your dashboard by choosing which videos to include. This player is great for posts that don’t have a related video.
The second player is the Related video player. Use this player when you have video content that relates to a specific post, like a recipe demonstration or a DIY project.
Each player type has the option to be either ‘stationary’ or ‘sticky’. Sticky video players start inside the content, then collapse into a smaller size on the side of the screen and scroll with the reader (earning you more).
We looked at close rates for the sticky video players (how often readers close the player entirely) and discovered that readers close Playlist videos more often than Related videos.
That means you’ll tend to earn more from Related videos — especially when the original embed location is placed at the top of your post, capturing reader interest right away. If you currently have the sticky Playlist video player on a post, swapping in a sticky Related video player can result in a 4-5% bump in your video earnings for that post!
Plus, this topical video content can enrich your post in a new way, leading to more user engagement, increased time on page, and more revenue from all your display ads.
Start here:
- For the highest ROI, use your RPM by Page dashboard to identify one of your top traffic posts without a Related video and create a stellar visual experience to complement the content.
- Embed that video using your AdThrive sticky Related video player with the optimized location setting that lets our ad code place it high on the page for maximum earnings.
- And if you need any help with this, our video experts are just an email away.
You’re already getting great traffic — boost those earnings with video revenue too!
2. Clean up mobile clutter to improve video completion rate
With our culture using smartphones for just about everything these days, your readers’ experience on mobile will leave a lasting impression, influencing whether they want to keep coming back.
A great user experience means they can find what they’re looking for without having to weed through a lot of clutter to get to it — making readers less likely to close your high-earning sticky video player.
“Completion rate” is a metric that looks at how many users completed a video ad, as opposed to closing the video player before the video ad was done playing. On sites with multiple sticky elements — anything that sticks to the screen as your reader scrolls — readers close out the video player twice as frequently as sites with minimal sticky elements.
Minimizing sticky elements on mobile can lead to a drastic increase in the completion rate for video ads, boosting your video earnings!
Start here:
- Keep sticky social media sliders, navigation buttons, newsletter opt-ins, and scrolling headers to a minimum on mobile, so readers are more accepting of your high-earning sticky video player and sticky footer ad.
- Check out your site on a variety of mobile devices using Google Chrome’s Emulator to spot the clutter you can clear out, making way for bigger video ad earnings!
3. Position your pop-ups for success
Giving your readers a chance to settle in and get immersed in your content before they encounter a pop-up creates less overwhelm and a higher likelihood that they’ll keep the video player open while viewing your site.
Your engaged audience — the users who are most likely to convert — are typically the ones spending more than your average time on page. Delay pop-ups for newsletters, etc., until later in the session (30 seconds–3 minutes), allowing your reader to become invested and want more of your content.
Make sure your video player doesn’t overlap any ‘Close’ or ‘Submit’ buttons on mobile pop-ups. This can force your reader to close the video player too, costing you the opportunity to earn from one of your highest paying ads.
Start here:
- Check out your pop-ups and video player positions using an incognito window on multiple devices to make sure everything is playing nicely together.
- Revisit the timing settings for your subscription pop-ups in light of your average time on page. Are you asking readers for their info before they’re totally hooked and ready to provide it?
- Test pop-up timing to find your optimal conversion rate!
4. Location, location, location
Our goal is to keep your content front and center! Your sticky video player starts playing inside the content, then collapses once the reader passes the original embed location. There are actually several different options for where the video player collapses — the top right, top left, bottom right, and bottom left of the screen.
Looking at our aggregated data on video player close rates, we’ve found that readers are more likely to close sticky video players that collapse and stick to the top of the screen on mobile. Users seem to prefer a video player that sticks to the bottom of the screen.
By adjusting your sticky mobile player to collapse to the bottom of the screen, your content is at the forefront while your video player earns for you in the periphery!
Start here:
- Check your sticky video player positioning on mobile. Does it collapse to the top or the bottom of the screen when it becomes sticky? Shoot us an email and we can help you move it to the perfect location for your readers.
5. Short and sweet videos earn more
Over the years, we’ve found videos that are 30-90 seconds in length — 60 seconds being the sweet spot — result in higher ad revenue.
Why is that?
Our Playlist video player takes a collection of your videos and plays them one after the other with ads served between each video. The Related video player plays your video on a loop with ads at the beginning of each repetition.
Think about the average amount of time readers spend on your page. If readers typically spend 2 minutes (120 seconds) on the page, a video that’s longer than 2 minutes only gives you one opportunity to earn from video ads. Shorter videos allow for more ad impressions and more revenue while the reader is on your site.
Of course, serving your readers is always top priority! Longer content may be doing that perfectly, and if you feel like you’ve found your perfect video niche — your readers are happy, you’re happy — keep doing exactly what you’re doing.
If you’re looking for levers to pull for higher video earnings, though, consider the length of your videos!
Start here:
- Look through the videos you’ve included in your Playlist (there’s a handy “In My Playlist” filter in your video dashboard!) and swap out longer videos for shorter ones wherever possible.
- Think through your video creation strategy for specific pages. Are you frequently creating video content that’s longer than your average time on page? Test shorter, bite-sized pieces of video content.
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If you have questions on implementing any of these tips to optimize your site for top video earnings, your AdThrive team is standing by and ready to help!
And stay tuned — we’ve got even more great tips and tools coming down the pipeline to support you and your video endeavors.
