It’s no secret, video on the web is booming.  More and more venues are being created to showcase online video, and as a result, advertisers are presented with increasing opportunities to use their existing spots on the internet.

But virtually all of them currently focus the super-short :30s and :15s length creative.  Where are the opportunities for DRTV marketers who use longer length spots?

The answer may surprise you: Hulu.

About a year and a half ago, Hulu ran an experiment where consumers were given a choice: they could view their online content with a longer-length :120 ad at the start, or with multiple 30 second ads during the program.  The results were astonishing – nearly 90% of Hulu viewers opted for the longer, two-minute ad.

What’s more, the overwhelming opt-in rate for the longer length ads strongly suggests a greater engagement level, as well.  A longer spot with a higher opt-in, greater engagement and more options for messaging than my :30s?  Marketers took quick notice, and blue chip companies from American Express to Sprint all used longer length creative on the site.

The takeaways are pretty clear to Eicoff: short copy may rule the roost now, but it would appear clear that :120s and :60s will eventually find their rightful place online, just as they have on TV.

Original article here: Why Long-Form Ads Are the Wave of the Future

Scott Ballew is Account Supervisor at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.

Tags: direct response television, DRTV, DRTV Best Practice, DRTV commercial, DRTV Direct Response TV, Emerging Media, interactive tv, online video

This entry was posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 10:50 am and is filed under DRTV Best Practices, DRTV Creative, DRTV Messaging, DRTV News, Emerging Media, Media Buying. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.