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Bleecker Street flips video ad format for native viewing

Film distributor Bleecker Street is the first to embrace vertical video advertisements on mobile content aggregator Flipboard, in a campaign that focuses on the most harrowing moments of its latest film to drive engagement with a native viewing experience. 

The campaign is leveraging Flipboard?s Cinema Loop ads, which showcase the most attention-grabbing moments of an advertisement in a silent format that operates as a GIF, which interested users then click play to see the rest. The ads have seen double the click rate, and now the campaigns are enticing more opt-in users by formatting the video to be vertical, which is more convenient to the viewer. 

?For Bleecker Street, Cinema Loop captures consumer attention with an autoplayed loop of the most compelling three to 10 seconds of their video while still enabling the most engaged consumers to experience the video in its entirety,? said Nicole McCormack, head of advertising strategy at Flipboard. ?From a consumer perspective, Cinema Loop gives them the option to preview the best moments of the video before opting in to watch it in its entirety.  
 
?Cinema Loop creates a win for both the advertiser and the consumer,? she said. ?It delivers a 2x click rate and a 33 percent higher video completion rate than industry benchmarks for opt-in video.  

?We believe that one of the key factors in delivering this engagement is the Cinema Loop preview that generates stronger interest in the full-length video.?

Video goes vertical

The Cinema Loop ads provide an intimate viewing experience for users, as the continual loop ensures that viewers will see the most interesting aspects of the ad and can click to view more without having to leave the platform. The new vertical format will eliminate the need to turn smartphone devices, creating a more natural and native experience. 

Anthropoid, set during World War II, releases in theaters on August 12 and the campaign will run leading up to and during the premiere. The first loop features exciting and intense moments from the film without audio but in a constant loop. 
The loop will likely peak the interest of readers who then click play to view the rest of the trailer. The full ad gives users a more in depth look at the film with sound and features its release date. 

Millennials and vertical
The Daily Dot was similarly among the publishers planning to test a new programmatic vertical mobile video ad unit, reflecting the need to deliver experiences tailored to mobile users as traffic from smartphones continues to grow (see more). 

Ontario Lottery and Gaming also targeted younger demographics by shifting a new ad campaign into a vertical format to follow the evolution of user behavior and engage consumers on social media platforms in a way that aligns with how they normally view content (see more). 

?Since people tend to hold their mobile devices upright, the vertical video format grants Flipboard users a unique perspective to view branded content that does not interfere with the overall content experience, compared to horizontal video,? Ms. McCormack said. ?Also, we have always leveraged stunning, edge-to-edge full-screen ads throughout the Flipboard mobile environment, so offering the same immersive treatment to brands with vertical video was a natural next step for us. 

?The result is an immersive ad that enhances Flipboard?s overall reading experience, rather than detracts from it,? she said.