Publisher Case Study: Optimize your In-Stream ad zones with ExoClick’s Frequency Capping

If you are a webmaster with a video website, the main goal is for your engaged users to spend as much time as possible exploring your content, and also interacting with your video ads to allow you to maximize video ad zone revenues. One way to increase the number of In-Stream ads that are shown per single end user is by enabling ExoClick’s Publisher tool Frequency Capping, which allows you to experiment in order to find the perfect sweet spot between monetizing engaged end users and providing the best possible user experience. Which is exactly what the 2 Publishers in the following Case Study did by testing out new Frequency Capping options in order to optimize their video ad zones’ performance and boost revenues. So let’s explain why you should optimize your In-Stream zones with ExoClick’s Frequency Capping and the great Publisher benefits using Frequency Capping for video ad zones. We also include some tips to increase your video ad zone revenues from ExoClick Publisher account managers. All of this to help you maximize video ad zone revenues.

Publisher benefits using Frequency Capping for video ad zones

ExoClick’s Frequency Capping tool allows you as a Publisher to choose the number of times that a specific visitor on your website is shown an ad. Or, in other words, determine how many impressions are shown per unique user per minute/hour. 

You can adjust the frequency capping from your admin panel, where you edit your In-Stream ad zone. You can set your zones to show as many In-Stream ads as you need, but remember: Don’t overdo it! Providing a great user experience depends on finding the optimum amount of times your ads are shared, without overwhelming the end user. For In-Stream, we recommend to use a Frequency Capping between 5-15 minutes, or 1 every 2-3 videos, depending on user behavior on your website. Here are 3 Publisher benefits using Frequency Capping for video ad zones:

#1 Increase your revenues: In-Stream eCPMs are of a higher value compared to Banner eCPMs, which means that you have a greater potential to earn more revenues from your In-Stream ad zones, setting the best possible frequency for your specific website and end user behavior. 

#2 Increase your In-Stream zones’ value: Your video Impressions will increase and you will be able to offer advertisers more volumes for your In-Stream ad zones, also increasing your zones’ value and demand. 

#3 Achieve a great user experience: Because you are in total control of how many times your ads are shown, you can make sure that it is just the right amount for your website and end users. Plus, after years of watching YouTube videos, online audiences are more than used to seeing ads before their selected piece of content plays. Meaning that they are more than happy to see an ad every so often whilst on your website – It is an OK price to pay to watch free online entertainment! To ensure that the user has the option to close the video ad, ensure that the Skip button is set to 5 seconds.

So now we have discussed the Publisher benefits using Frequency Capping for video ad zones, let’s now look at 2 Publishers that optimized their In-Stream video ad zones and maximized revenues using ExoClick’s Frequency Capping tool.

#1 Publisher Case Study Mobile and Desktop

In order to give you real tips to increase your video ad zone revenues, her’s the first case study. Publisher number 1 wasn’t getting the amount of impressions, views and revenues that he was hoping for. Upon reviewing his In-Stream ad zones with his Account Manager, the conclusion was that the frequency in which his ads were shown just wasn’t high enough: 

• His frequency capping was set up so that each single end user would be shown 1 In-Stream ad every 24 hours, so there was a lot of room for improvement. 
• He changed the capping setting to show 1 ad per single user every 3 videos – That is, every 3 pieces of video content watched on his website per single user.

He changed the frequency on In-Stream ad zones for both mobile and desktop devices. 

Mobile

For Mobile, comparing the week before implementation to 7 days after the new frequency was set, he could observe high increases in impressions, views, revenues and clicks:

• The Impressions reported over 7 days on his Mobile In-Stream zones and all GEOs went from 4.1M to 5.8M, which is a +44.1% increase.
• Video Views increased by +44.2% and Clicks by +28.6%.
• Overall revenues for his website’s Mobile ad zones increased by +41.22%.

Desktop

On Desktop, comparing the week before implementation to 7 days after the new frequency was set, he could observe the following metrics increases:

• The Impressions reported over 7 days for Desktop In-Stream across all GEOs went from 856k to 1.3M, which is a +60.3% increase.
• Video Views increased by +34.6% and Clicks by +40.4%.
• Overall revenues for his website’s Desktop ad zones increased by +38.8%.

Top 5 GEOs

Continuing on you can see impressions, clicks, views and revenue increases achieved after 7 days of changing the Frequency Capping settings across the top 5 GEOs targeted on his website:

As we can see on the table above, the 2 GEOs that achieved the highest increases were: 

• Canada, with +50.1% revenue
• Germany, with +47.5% revenue

#2 Publisher Case Study Mobile

For more tips to increase your video ad zone revenues, let’s see how Publisher number 2 did it. He had the Frequency Capping tool set to 1 ad to be shown every 1 hour per single user on his In-Stream ad zones. As an experiment, he decided to increase the frequency to 1 ad every 10 min on his Mobile In-Stream video zones. If the experiment worked, he would do the same for his Desktop ad zones later on too.

Comparing the week before 7 days after increasing frequency, he could observe promising increases in impressions, video views, revenues and clicks:

• The volumes of Impressions reported over 7 days on his Mobile In-Stream zones and all GEOs went from 5M to 7.6M, which is a +52% increase.
• Video Views increased by +56.3% and Clicks by +38.8%.
• Overall revenues for his website’s Mobile ad zones increased by +48.33%.

Top 5 GEOs

This is how impressions, clicks, views and revenue increased after 7 days of increasing frequency on his Mobile In-Stream, ad zones, across the top 5 GEOs:

As we can see, the 2 GEOs that experienced the biggest increases are: 

• Thailand, with +45.7% revenue 
• Malaysia, with +30.6% revenue

By optimising the frequency capping on his Mobile zones was a huge success!

Account Manager Tips to increase your video ad zone revenues

In order to help you further optimize your In-Stream ad zones with ExoClick’s Frequency Capping, here are some tips to increase your video ad zone revenues from our Publisher account managers:

Experiment with your Capping Options: Experiment with the Custom setting and then look at your website’s analytics in order to find the timing that works best for your website and ad zones specifically. It is always best to start small, so you could try between 5-15 minutes to start with. When you set the frequency to show 1 video every 15 minutes, if a user stays on your site watching videos for longer than 15 minutes another in-stream ad will be shown. This will continue every 15 minutes. So test out increments from 5 minutes, 10 minutes and 15 minutes and see which brings you the best return.

Keep your end user engaged for longer: If you have the technical capabilities, keep your end users further engaged by suggesting more content related to what they are watching, similar to what YouTube does. The longer you keep the user engaged, the more opportunities you have to show them more video ads, further increasing your revenues. Engaged users are a high quality traffic source for your Advertisers, compared to a short stay end user, which means once again a higher value for your ad zones.

Use all of ExoClick’s video tools! Along with Frequency Capping, also use other ExoClick video tools such as the Close/Skip Button feature to improve end user experience. Other tools include Friendly URL and CTA feature, and more. Read this article to learn how to optimize your video ad zones to find out more!

Enable Fluid Player’s Mini Player! With ExoClick you can easily integrate the free open source video player Fluid Player. It is light-weight, flexible and customizable, allowing you to attract more Advertisers by offering popular formats such as In-Stream and Live Streaming ads. If you are already using Fluid Player for your website, make sure to enable the Mini Player option. This will allow your end users to continue watching a selected video whilst navigating your website, so they can engage with specific videos for longer, increasing watch times.

Test Post-roll or Mid-roll: Because you are using In-Stream ad zones, you can also enable Post-roll and Mid-Roll placements, which can help you further increase your ad zones revenues. Again you should test and experiment to find the end user ‘sweet spot.’

Combine video ad formats: If you have a video site, you could easily combine other ad formats with your In-Stream ad zones, such as Slider and Outstream. This would not only provide your end users with more variety, but also offer video advertisers more options to test and convert their offers on your site!

We hope this article has shown you the Publisher benefits using Frequency Capping for video ad zones and to help you maximize video ad zone revenues. If you have any questions about Frequency Capping or our range of platform tools to help you optimize video ad zones, get in touch with your Account Manager or with our Customer Success team here!