Online Video Will Not Save Advertising

There is a lot of speculation as to why advertising dollars have failed to follow eyeballs into online video. Tania Yuki over at comScore offered her two cents last week on this thought-provoking conundrum.

Yuki describes online video as a party crasher knocking on the door of Big Advertising with a bunch of unruly (and unsavoury) friends expecting to be welcomed into the fold and recognized as one of the guys. As Yuki describes it -- brand advertisers responded blankly and fairly, “who are you and what are you doing here?”

Yuki goes on to talk about the disconnect between agencies and content producers contributing to the lack of enthusiasm on the agencies’ part for online video.

I would take this even further and suggest that disconnect is between old-fashioned outbound marketing and the strength and importance of inbound marketing. Agencies are still trying to use video outside of a brand’s site to drive interest and build recognition for that brand. It’s the old problem of putting ads for cat food on TV when you know that only one in three households owns a cat. Most of the time you are trying to sell something to someone who will never need it.

The new reality is that everyone currently spending money on video is already spending more money on generating traffic for their property. By using video to attract business they are competing with their existing spend and, most of the time, wasting their energy.

I believe the future for online video is worlds away from the current advertising model. Following the principles of inbound marketing, an effective online video on your landing page will complement rather than cannibalize your SEO spend and be viewed by people who have already chosen to visit your site to learn more.

In other words, rather than trying to sell cat food to dog lovers, you first go out and attract the attention of cat owners and when they find you, you can tell them why your cat food tastes best.