YouTube Adds Cards, Making Videos More Interactive

Last week, YouTube launched a new Cards feature this week that is seen as the evolution of annotations. Items to note on these new cards are below:

• Allow creators to add interactive, Google-now like pop ups on videos.
• Can inform and link viewers to: merchandise, fundraising, other videos and playlists, websites and fan funding.
• Available on mobile (a big win)

As marketers develop Cards it is essential ensure these cards are truly adding value in the user journey of discovering video content. These cards should not disrupt the viewing experience unless it can provide unique and interesting interactivity—a feature that annotations for the most part have not supplied.

You can learn more here.

Kate Spade, Anna Kendrick and Cinematique Give "Window Shopping" a New Meaning

Holiday shopping is upon us as retailers push new promotions and advertising at consumers across platforms.

But, following up on a successful Google Display Network campaign during Holiday 2013, Kate Spade pushes digital video even further with a new shoppable video via Cinematique, giving "Window Shopping" a new meaning in the digital video sphere.

And, if you haven't seen the new video starring Anna Kendrick, then you should watch it now:

The Cinematique technology on this video is outlined below:

• Users can watch the video and click products they like
• The video aggregates your clicks/products via a secondary page within the player (found when clicking the Cinematique logo "Q" on the player)
• Users can then be taken to the product page to purchase the images selected
• Via the screen after clicking "Q" users can also log-in to the Cinematique experience via email or Facebook for future updates and information on your products
• Cinematique not only allows shoppable information, but also can provide more details about an actor, location or any item within a video
• Touchable video is enabled on mobile via the App Store

Beyond Kate Spade, retail has led the way in interactive video campaigns. For more, see these campaigns below:

Juicy Couture Shoppable Annotations
Gap Back-To-School with Cinematique

Digital Video Ads Help Hit Marketers' Goals

Nearly 75% of marketers plan to increase their budgets on branded video content or video ads in the next year.  This digital video trend is expected to be a major component in driving engagement with consumers.

According to the study:

• More consumers reported having a positive attitude toward ads in original streaming content (25%) than in TV programming (22%)
• 58% of marketers thought digital video ads performed better than TV ads in achieving engagement goals
• 47% of marketers thought digital video ads were better at driving awareness than TV ads
• 87% of marketers said targeting was an important factor when planning a branded digital video campaign

There are opportunities for brands to further leverage video ads by:

• Leveraging existing TV spots as pre-roll and video banners
• Create new advertising especially for digital video (perhaps shorter than the 15s spots), to distribute during related programing on popular streaming sites and major networks sites
• Monitor the user of Instagram Video and Vine in this space

For full results of the study, please see the article link:

For Driving Engagement, Digital Video Ads Beat TV by a Wide Margin