By: Steph Dlugon
Even though mobile advertising company AdMod recently announced it was being acquired by Google, it’s not sitting around twiddling its little cyber thumbs. Earlier today the company announced it would begin offering interactive video ads for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The videos are essentially commercials that play when an app is launched. Advertisers can choose from two video play options which are spelled out in a blog posting on the AdMob site. According to the post, “Advertisers can run Interactive Video Ads in one of two implementations: either auto-play or click-to-play. The auto-play implementation delivers a captive, engaged audience similar to video interstitials on the traditional PC web as they appear immediately upon app load. In the click-to-play implementation, users click a banner ad delivering them to the interactive video experience.”
“Click-to-play” users will be able to interact with the video by tapping buttons while it’s playing in order to learn more about an app, or to buy it from the iTunes app store. Mercifully the video demo on the AdMob site shows that there’s also a big blue “skip” button in case the user wishes to avoid the ad completely.
The ads will start appearing this week. AdMob Founder and CEO Omar Hamoui claims “Our Interactive Video Ad Units appear in select apps in our network of top iPhone apps, creating a new way for the developers behind the most popular and engaging iPhone apps to effectively monetize.” He goes on to add “AdMob’s new Interactive Video Ad Unit brings together consumers’ love of watching videos on their mobile device with advertisers’ goal of providing an interactive, social experience for consumers.”
