With the incredible rapid growth that online video sharing and video search sites are realizing, more and more advertisers are pumping money into video advertising. According to the latest research, online video advertising revenues in the US are expected to reach $7.1 billion by 2012 which is a 72 percent compound annual growth rate for the next five years. In 2008, the projections are just shy of $1billion.

Since video sites have been realizing more and more traffic growth, they have had a unique opportunity to innovate and test various different online video ad formats. And the advertisers as well are more than happy to experiment as they are looking to these leaders to develop the most effective online video advertising formats. Traditionally, pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll ad formats (aka in-stream ads) have been favored by advertisers due to the availability of inventory and prominence of the advertisement itself.

Pre-Roll Ads - In this format of advertising, the advertisement clip is inserted before the actual video and while playing the video, the advertisement clip is played first and the viewer is compelled to watch the advertisement before the start of the real video file.

Post-roll Format - In post-roll, just like the other in-stream ad formats, a short clip is played and streamed within the player at the end of the video stream itself. This is not as desired by advertisers as they know that many users never watch a video all the way until the end.

Mid-Roll Format - With mid-rolls, a short clip is streamed in the middle (sometimes every X minutes) of video content that is playing. This tends to be less annoying to users as they are acustomed to this format in television advertising.

As stated earlier, due to the demand, many of these video websites have begun to test and offer new, innovative ad solutions for video. One of these experimental format is the In-Player ad: With in-player ads the player skin itself can be used to place relevant images or text content for the advertiser so that the ad is displayed for the entire time that the video is played.

Contextual in-video advertising seems to be the way of the future with many different sites attempting to match videos with advertisements that are most relevant to the subject matter. Users like this format more as well as it does not disturb the experience of watching the entire video. This quality of the format makes it one of the most promising advertising formats for the future and there are many diverse ways in which to serve either images, clips, or text ads.

Some of the video sites like to go through the video and include only relevant in-video text advertisements, which match the contents of the video and at the same time it does not disturb the process of video watching by the viewer. Youtube was one of the first sites to adopt this format as a standard and it is called Overlay Video Ads.

I have given you a brief overview of the most common formats of video ads that are being tested and utilized at the moment. That being said, with growth being what it is, and video discovery as new as it is, we will certainly see many different companies innovating in regards to developing new and exciting formats for online video advertising.

This post is going to evolve around 2 terms: Viral Marketing and Viral Video Marketing

What is viral video marketing anyway? It is marketing in such a way that your video (or the ad being promoted) gets forwarded from viewer to viewer simply because they like the video and want their friends to see it. There is nothing forced upon the viewers to forward it to their friends, but they want to on their own terms and do anyway.

Many people and businesses view viral video marketing in different ways.

• Some people see it as a way to simply get people talking about their product, service, business, or website.  Such people and businesses do not necessarily care if people like the videos or not.  The video was created mainly for the purpose to get people talking about it.  When people talk about it, the website will increase it’s viewers.
• Others however, utilize viral marketing to get their ads in front of millions of viewers just like a traditional commercial (reminds me of Superbowl half-time advertising).
• There are people who create such videos, just for the sake of doing it.  This is where the whole viral marketing craze began - people liked creating their own materials for others to see.

Whichever way you see viral marketing,  there is no doubt that it can be incredibly effective method to generate website traffic to your site.

Over the years, there has been an incredible number of videos that have successfully gone viral and have had millions of viewers as a result. Such exposure can lead to very large amounts of website visitors and profits for any website or business. This no doubt provides excellent exposure.

Viral marketing videos do not need to make sense to be effective and successful. They need to be entertaining and able to maintain a viewers attention long enough to send a solid message across. If a video is well fit for a market, people will like it and will send it on to their friends. Whether the message being portrayed is to visit a website, try some product, or even just to sign up for more information, a entertaining video that viewers like will get passed on for others to view.

There is no “best” viral video because they come in so many forms, varieties and in are targeted towards many different markets. However, there are good and bad viral videos which is why some videos make it big online, and others have troubles even getting a few hundred views.

I can’t count how many videos I have seen shown on television programs that originated online. When something goes viral, it can become a worldwide phenomenon, or a localized success and as a result, so can your webiste or business. This is just another potential updide of viral marketing though!

Viral videos can be anything from a home video taped on a cell phone, to an expensive commercial advertisement. Whichever format you use for your video, there are a few things that you will want to keep in mind.

1: Identify your market

Just like when you market anything anywhere, you should first identify your target market. It is your target market that you want watching your video the most because they will be the ones “best fit” to be interested in your video. Many of them will send it on for their friends to view as a result.

2: There is no NEED for professional grade video

Take a look at many successful viral marketing videos. You should notice that in no way is it necessary to have perfect video skills with fancy effects. A majority of successful viral marketing videos are actually home made clips shot by someone with minimal experience. It’s not the quality of video that is important here, it’s the entertainment factor of the video itself.

3: What will make your video go viral

What is it that your video has that makes it stand apart from others? It is this factor that will help your video climb to the top of the charts and have people passing it on to friends. Take a look at videos that you enjoy and have already (or would) passed on to friends and understand why they became successful in the first place.

Maybe there is some hilarious moment that was caught on tape, possibly something very shocking happened to be video taped, maybe some kid acts in some desperate fashion, you may even have some incredible performance etc.

The truth is, there is no limit to the amount of things that can potentially go viral… but you should ensure that you include factors in your video that will help it stand apart from others (in a positive way).

4: Distribution

Possibly the most critical part is the distribution. Your video is complete, and ready to be sent to video websites. However, if you mess up on this part, all of your previous efforts can go down the drain.

Here are a few prime viral marketing video examples at work:

This first video is not professional quality by any means, yet it has received over 18 million viewers at YouTube alone. This video itself does not promote anything, not even a website…but in the comments the website is promoted. www.laughingbabyethan.com. If the site was included in the video somewhere, massive traffic would be advancing to the site daily at a much larger rate than they most likely received.

The next video premiered back in 2006.  This guy, now known as the Numa Numa guy, became incredibly popular online. He was talked about and responded to many times over both in text and video responses.

This is a great example of a viral video that became very successful because people find it entertaining to watch. As you will see, there was lots to talk about (and make fun of) after this video went viral.

The next example is a video that was taped without any professional equipment…no professional taping here! Its a funny moment caught on tape that I am sure has proven incredibly profitable. There has been over 22 million viewers to this video. This demonstrates a simple yet highly effective way way to get your site in front of people … simply a funny moment!

Okay, this next one I don’t completely understand why it became so popular… but it did. It appeared during the whole Britney Spears breakdown thing.  I can’t even watch the whole thing myself.

Over 22 million viewers watched this and made his youtube and myspace page very successful.

Below is an example of a massively viral video that isn’t like most others. This actually shows Ronaldinho testing out new Nike shoes. This ad has had over 25,000,000 (yes that’s 25 million) viewers since it was released on YouTube alone. Just think about what this can do for the nikefootball.com website that is promoted in it, even if only less than 1% of viewers actually advance to the site…

The next example of an effective viral video that has become incredibly popular is titled “Potter Puppet Pals”. As I mentioned earlier, a viral video does not NEED to have a point…and this is such a video.  At least I don’t see a point behind it…yet, it is entertaining! This has proven to be incredibly popular with over 50,000,000 views. They tie it into the already HUGELY popular Harry Potter phenomenon. (Does this give you any ideas? … think about combining your video with something that is already very popular…).

Now to the cream of the crop in my opinion. This beauty has has over 99,000,000 (Yes, 99 million!!) viewers on YouTube alone…This is exposure at it’s best! It is a very well thought out dance performance titled “The evolution of Dance”. Once again, if a website had been promoted at the end of the clip, very large numbers of visitors would be flocking the site, but unfortunately one wasn’t.  It does still demonstrate a type of video (performance) that has become very popular online (and can be again).

If you are lucky enough to have your video become a viral success, then you will see great results.  If your business or product has a marketing strategy with a viral nature behind it where people may create a video about it on their own, (hint: or with some enticement!!), then you can receive some amazing free exposure for your product, service, or website.

Before I finish, I want to provide you with a little hint if you are ever interested in making your own video.

Hint: Make a short clip to direct viewers to your main video … if your short clip is good enough, you can have it receiving millions of viewers and directing them on to your main video and then to your website. Your main video can drive visitors to whereever you want them to go!

Creating a video that becomes a viral masterpience can be a very powerful way to market your product, service or website online.  Don’t overlook the power of video!!

If you have enjoyed this post, why not tell your friends?, after all… I wrote this so people can read it and watch the great videos.

To your success,

Mark Garland

P.S. If you are interested in learning how to quickly and easily submit your videos to over 20 video sharing websites with just a few mouse clicks, then you should follow the link I have provided below:

http://www.AnalyzedMarketing.com/presents/video-pro

P.P.S. If creating video is not for you, yet you would still like to drive large amounts of website visitors to your site, DO NOT get frustrated.  I have a traffic generation program that is perfect for you.  Check it out by going to: http://www.AnalyzedMarketing.com/business_area