What are Mid Roll Ads and Why They are Important?

If you consume loads of visual content on Facebook or YouTube, you must have come across mid-roll ads. It could be while watching an NBA match highlight, and you see an ad about your favorite snack. You could also be watching an industry-related video and come across an ad about a project management system.

There are endless possibilities when it comes to mid-roll ads. But every heavy internet consumer must have come across mid-roll ads one way or the other. Mid-roll ads have a way of not turning off the viewer. They are properly inserted within the video, and the viewer will most likely not get turned off by it.

In this guide, you’ll discover what mid-roll ads are, how to effectively use them, and other ways of using them for the proper execution of your project.

What are Mid-Roll Ads and its Importance?

Mid-roll adverts are video ads that play within the content (preferably in the middle of the video content). It does not play before or after the video content. If you want to promote your brand on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, or other digital platforms, you should consider mid-roll ads and how you can use them to generate more results for your brand.

During the early years of mid-roll ads, it drew lots of criticism and it was not widely accepted in the marketplace. Nowadays, it has widespread acceptance across YouTube, Facebook, and other digital platforms. Its completion rate has slowly surpassed that of pre-roll ads, and over 90% of the audience watches it through completion.

In the next section, you’ll see various examples of mid-roll ads. And since mid-roll ads have been accepted in the marketplace, the quality of viewer experience has greatly improved.

Automatic placements are ads that have been at a certain point by the Google algorithm. And that is due to the possibility of most people watching it at that spot. With the evolution of machine learning, more creators will opt for automatic placements. However, that’s not the case at the moment as creators manually insert these ads into their content.

If you’re an advertiser, you need to consider placing ads at every step of messaging and creation. You’ve got to take a close look at channels that offer mid-roll ads, and where such slots are found. As a general rule of thumb, you’ve got to keep the ad engaging and concise — anything less may not generate results.

Are Mid-Roll Ads Good?

Here are some reasons you should consider mid-roll ads for social video advertising.

• Mid-roll ads perfectly align with social media videos:

Facebook is arguably the major platform for video advertising. In most cases, pre-roll ads play with the sounds off, and it showcases when users are scrolling through their newsfeed. However, that’s the case with mid-roll ads. Since mid-roll ads are positioned in the middle of the video content, the sounds are likely to be turned on. That means your users will likely complete viewing the video. Due to the effectiveness of the mid-roll ads, it has been introduced during the Facebook live stream.

• TV advertising gave rise to the wide acceptance of mid-roll advertising:

Mid-roll ads have always been here since the introduction of video content. But it was showcased in a different format — and that could be television advertising. Users were not completely turned off by mid-roll ads. After all, such ad formats have been showcased during televised sporting events.

Think of World Cup, and other global sports events on TV, you will realize that there has been a form of mid-roll ads all along. Lots of users agree that mid-roll ads are better suited for larger screens. That way, it gets to mimic television ads.

• If properly placed and timed, mid-roll ads have the highest completion rates:

Mid-roll ads have experienced lots of acceptance in the marketplace. That was not always the case as the ad model was heavily criticized when it was introduced. Nowadays, everyone seems to flow with it, and it has a completion rate of 90%. That is, about 90% of the people who come across mid-roll ads tend to complete them.

The high completion rate of mid-roll ads is quite straightforward. By the time someone comes across it, the person must have invested lots of time into the video content, and going through a few seconds of ad video won’t be much of an issue.

As an advertiser, you’ve got to pay attention to the length of your video. 10-15 seconds is ideal for mid-roll ads, and you need to also pay attention to the ad placement. As a general rule of thumb, place your ads on video content that are highly relevant to your brand.

What are post-roll and pre-roll and its importance?

A pre-roll ad usually plays before the start of the video content — and that’s why the prefix “pre” is attached to the name. Let’s say you want to watch a video that comes with a pre-roll ad, the player will first play the pre-roll ad before diving into the video content.

Post-roll ads usually play after the complete play of the video content or before the start of the next video playback.

Monitoring and Optimization of PPC Campaigns

Regardless of the kind of PPC platform you opt for, you’ll likely spend lots of money to run ads and get your products (or services) in front of the right people. As a business person, wastage of any kind should be reduced if not eliminated — and that’s why you should pay close attention to your campaigns.

By keeping a close eye on your campaigns, you can easily identify when something is out of place. However, to keep a close eye on your campaign, you’d need marketing analytics software like the PPC Signal tool. The PPC Signal tool comes in handy for marketers who are managing multiple campaigns. With the tool, you get to track your campaigns from a single account.

The tool uses a data-driven approach, and it showcases information in the form of signals. With the tool, you can easily pinpoint what’s going on during your campaign — and that means eliminating excessive waste of resources and time. Monitoring your campaign can be done by merely using filters like keywords, Metrics, Device Type, and GEO.

Here is a typical representation of the PPC Signal dashboard below.

FAQs:

How many mid-roll ads should I put?

If you use a platform like YouTube, the platform allows publishers to manually slot mid-roll ad placement into their video content — and there is no restriction to the number of videos to be slotted. The number of mid-roll ads is largely dependent on the preference of the publisher. But it’s better not to insert mid-roll ads too frequently into your content.

Your best shot is to insert mid-roll ads within every two and half minutes of your video content. As a publisher or creator, you should know the number of mid-roll ads your audience can tolerate for an eight-minute video.

How do I place a Mid-roll ad?

You can opt for manual placement or auto-placement. If you choose automatic placement, then YouTube’s advanced machine learning will place your ads in such a way that the creator’s revenue potential and viewer experience will be balanced. Such a result is accomplished by taking a large volume of videos and pinpointing the right places to position mid-rolls for the best result.

To evaluate the right position, the platform had to evaluate factors like audio breaks and natural visuals. It’s been shown that manually placed mid-roll ads are two times more interactive than auto-placed mid-roll ads.

What is the difference between pre-roll and mid-roll ads?

A typical pre-roll ad is 15 seconds long and it’s played before the start of the primary video content. On the other hand, a mid-roll ad is about a minute long and it’s played within the halfway mark of the video content.

What is the difference between post-roll vs. mid-roll ads?

The minimum length of the mid-roll ad is about 12 seconds, while a post-roll ad is usually 10 to 15 seconds. Furthermore, mid-roll ads are typically loathed by the audience, and they are inserted in the middle of the video content.

Wrap Up:

Short ads that play in the middle of a video are termed mid-roll ads. Mid-roll ads are sure ways of monetizing video content that is published on YouTube, Facebook, and other digital platforms without disrupting the viewer experience. In comparison to pre-roll and post-roll ads, mid-roll ads tend to have a higher completion rate.

If users make it to the mid-roll ads, it means that they are enjoying the video content, and will likely see through the ad without much disruption.

As a general rule of thumb, it would be best to insert mid-roll ads every two and half minutes of your content. And if you’re running your ads using PPC platforms, then you’ve got to pay close attention to your campaigns — and that’s where tools like the PPC Signal tool come in.

Now you know what mid-roll ads are, how will you use them to grow a profitable business?