Digital Video Advertising: Definition, Video Ad Server & How to Advertise

Today, video has become the most powerful format in boosting user engagement. Billions of people worldwide consume videos daily across platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and streaming services, which represent a great business opportunity for brands. Video advertising technology is actively used by companies across many industries to reach potential customers with highly targeted, interactive content.

In this article, we will discuss:

• The fundamentals of digital video advertising.
• How ad servers work.
• Provide practical tips for ensuring the success of your video ad campaigns.

Video Advertising Definition

Traditional video advertisements are transmitted on TV. Unlike them, these ads are delivered through such platforms as social media, websites, video streaming services, and mobile apps. This way of ad delivery ensures more precise targeting and measurable results.

Such commercials usually combine visuals, audio, and storytelling, which makes them highly engaging and effective in capturing audience attention.

Types of Digital Video Advertising

Based on their goals and ways of placement, we can define several categories of digital video ads.

• In-stream ads (also known as linear video advertising). These ads are shown before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll), or after (post-roll) a video on streaming sites or platforms like YouTube. They can be skippable or non-skippable. Their main task is to reach engaged viewers.
• Out-stream ads. Video advertisements of this type appear outside of traditional video players. For example, they can be placed within articles or social media feeds. They start playing when a user scrolls down to them and pause when a user scrolls out.
• Social video ads. These are short, engaging videos that are optimized for social platforms like Instagram or TikTok. They can appear as stories, reels, or in-feed ads.
• Native video ads. Such ads are designed to be perceived not as commercials but as native posts. They are created and placed in such a way that they can seamlessly blend with the surrounding content. To achieve this effect, advertisers need to match the style and tone of the platform where their videos appear.
• Rewarded video ads. These videos are commonly used in mobile apps and games. Users can watch these voluntarily in exchange for rewards (like in-game currency, bonuses, or premium content).
• Connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) ads. Video ads from this category are shown on streaming services and smart TVs. Thanks to this, they can reach audiences who don’t consume content delivered via traditional cable TV channels.

Video Ad Serving: What You Should Know

In general, online video advertising works similarly to display advertising. The main difference is the content that is shown to users. Now, the process of serving ads is greatly automated. Here are the core AdTech solutions that are involved in it:

• Video demand-side platforms (DSPs). This software is used by advertisers, brands, and agencies to buy video inventory via real-time bidding (RTB). DSPs handle bidding, campaign optimization, behavioral targeting, measurement, and analytics.
• Video supply-side platforms (SSPs). These platforms are used by publishers to manage and sell video inventory through RTB auctions. SSPs typically offer analytics, yield management, and inventory optimization.
• Video ad servers. These centralized platforms store, monitor, and deliver video ads. They help publishers manage campaigns and decide which ads to display.
• Video ad networks. Such platforms aggregate ad inventory from multiple publishers and sell it to advertisers.

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The process of ad serving itself may differ, depending on the solutions involved. But as a rule, it looks the following way:

1. When a user visits a site, a video player requests content from the publisher’s server.
2. The server provides instructions for retrieving and formatting the video in the player.
3. When the main video is loaded, the player sends a request to the publisher’s ad server to retrieve an ad. The video ad server analyzes the required targeting parameters and decides which ad to display.
4. The chosen ad creative is sent to the player, which then contacts the advertiser’s ad server.

Video Ad Platforms to Rely On

Modern tech infrastructure makes it possible to run online video ads across multiple platforms that provide unique formats and targeting capabilities. Depending on where your audience spends time and how they consume content, you can choose just one option or a mix of them to achieve the highest possible efficiency of your ad campaigns.

YouTube

At the moment, YouTube is the largest video-sharing platform, with over 2.5 billion users worldwide, whom you can potentially reach with your video ads. In Q4 2024 alone, its ad revenue hit the mark of $10.47 billion.

Today, it offers a wide range of ad formats and advanced targeting options. However, it’s worth mentioning that over 90% of all YouTube visits come from mobile devices. This emphasizes the importance of creating mobile-optimized ads.

Social media platforms

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and X also allow video advertising within feeds, stories, and reels. These platforms attract different groups of users with different needs and interests, which means that you should carefully choose the most appropriate option based on the peculiarities of your brand.

For instance, it will be a good idea to choose LinkedIn when you need to reach business professionals. The platform allows you to target your ads based on people’s job titles, industries, specific skills, etc.

At the same time, TikTok can be your core choice when you need to promote your brand among younger audiences, including Gen Z. TikTok’s algorithm favors creative, short-form videos. As a result, it can be easier for brands to go viral compared to other platforms.

CTV and OTT services

Platforms like Hulu, Roku, as well as other streaming apps deliver video ads to audiences watching content on smart TVs and streaming devices.

CTV and OTT offer full-screen ad experiences that feel like traditional TV. However, for advertisers, such platforms can offer better targeting and analytics tools.

Brands can target viewers based on demographics, viewing habits, and available household-level data. Ads are not always non-skippable and appear during streamed content. That’s why this format is highly suitable for awareness campaigns.

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Publisher and news websites

Many publishers and online news outlets can embed out-stream or native video ads directly into their articles and news feeds.

This format provides advertisers with the possibility to reach highly engaged audiences while they consume written content. As such ads are served on trusted, niche-specific websites, they can improve brand credibility.

Key Metrics to Evaluate Your Video Advertising Success

What can help you understand whether your video ad campaigns are performing well? There are particular indicators that you can continuously track to identify the strategies and approaches that work best and those that require optimization. Here are some of the most important metrics that can be helpful for you:

• Impressions and reach. Such parameters show how many times your video ad was displayed and how many unique users saw it.
• View-through rate (VTR). It demonstrates the percentage of viewers who watched your video to the end. It is a good indicator of engagement quality.
• Click-through rate (CTR). This parameter demonstrates how many users clicked your ad or call-to-action. In other words, this metric shows whether your ad can effectively drive traffic.
• Completion rate. This rate represents the percentage of people who watched a video ad from beginning to end. It is calculated based on the division of complete video views by the total number of video plays.
• Conversion rate. It reflects how many viewers fulfilled a desired action (for example, bought a product or signed up on your website) after watching your video ad.
• Cost per view (CPV) and cost per conversion. These parameters are about the feasibility of your campaign. They help evaluate campaign return on ad spend.
• Engagement metrics. Such metrics include likes, shares, comments, and other forms of interaction with your video. They are particularly relevant on social platforms.

Video Ad Targeting: How to Reach the Right Audience?

You may create the best video ad in the world, but it will make no sense if it is not seen by people who can be interested in your products or services.

Reaching the right audience is crucial for the success of your video ad campaign. There is no need to appeal to everyone. Instead, you should focus on audience segmenting and tailor your campaigns to the people who are most likely to engage with your brand.

Let us share with you our practical tips on how to do it.

Tip 1. Start by defining your ideal customer profile. Who do you want to reach? Here, you need to consider demographics (age, gender, income), psychographics (interests, values), and behaviors (purchase habits, online activity) of your target audience.

Tip 2. Today, most ad platforms, including social media and streaming services, have robust targeting tools. And you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to use them. You can filter audiences by location, language, interests, keywords, or even past interactions with your website.

Tip 3. You can try to reach lookalike and custom audiences. To create custom audiences, you need to upload customer lists to the ad platform or use website visitor data. Based on this information, you can build lookalike segments that will share similar traits to your best customers.

Tip 4. We recommend you place your video ads on content that is relevant to your niche or target users based on their viewing habits. This helps reach people who are interested in topics related to your brand.

Tip 5. Continuously track performance metrics for each audience segment and adjust targeting based on the most efficient approaches.

Successful Video Ad Campaign: Step-by-Step Guide

If you want to achieve efficiency in serving your video ads, you need to choose the appropriate tools, strategy, and targeting to reach the relevant audience.

Here is a short step-by-step guide that will help you find the right approach to video ad campaigns.

Step 1. Define your goals

First of all, you need to clarify what exactly you want to achieve with your video ads. Is your task to increase brand awareness? Or do you want to boost direct sales? Your objectives will shape your targeting strategy, help find the most suitable creative style, and set KPIs.

Step 2. Choose the right ad server/programmatic video ad platform

Based on your campaign goals, you should select a programmatic video advertising platform or an ad server. These tools will handle ad delivery, help you target your ads, and track performance.

Step 3. Create video content

Your ads should not only reflect your brand identity and transmit your key message, but also correspond to the expectations of your target audience and the requirements of the platform. Ads should be short and focused on a single clear message or call-to-action.

Step 4. Set targeting parameters

To reach the right users, you should rely on demographic, behavioral, and contextual targeting options. To leverage improved conversions, you can also consider applying geographic targeting and retargeting approaches.

Step 5. Select ad formats and placements

At this stage, you will need to decide where and how your ads will appear. The chosen format should match user behavior on each platform.

Step 6. Configure campaign settings

When all preparatory steps are done, you can upload your video creatives to the ad server, define your budget, and set a schedule. Here, you also need to ensure that you have correctly identified parameters for tracking and analytics.

Step 7. Launch your campaign and monitor its performance

When your campaign goes live, such metrics as impressions, view-through rates, and engagement should be attentively monitored. This will allow you to make adjustments as soon as possible if you see that your ads underperform or audience targeting is not precise enough.

Step 8. Optimize and test

We recommend you run A/B tests with different ad creatives, calls-to-action, and targeting to achieve the best results. Continuous analysis and improvements will help maximize your ROI.

Wrapping up

As video continues to dominate online content consumption, digital video advertising is essential for any modern marketing strategy.

By leveraging advanced AdTech tools and innovative targeting strategies, brands can create campaigns that ensure excellent reach and strong ROI. The right approach helps companies stand out in the crowded digital landscape and achieve their business goals faster.