Case Study
Online Video is helping thousands of technology companies promote their new software and hardware solutions. Microsoft is the world's #1 software company offering a variety of products and services, including its popular Windows operating systems and Office software suite. Microsoft has expanded into markets such as video game consoles, customer relationship management applications, server and storage software, and digital music players. Microsoft used Online Video to virally promote its new Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) browser and allow Internet users to download
IE8 to their PCs directly through the video ad online. Online Video Ads engage potential customers letting them interact with the ad, drive direct response (clicks, visits, downloads and more), and build brand awareness.
Microsoft was looking for efficient and effective ways to reach out to a young audience online in the age group between 18-27 yrs and generate interest for the new Microsoft IE8 browser. Through distribution of its forty five second (:45) online video ad — augmented by key video interactivity tools such as video sharing via email, sms and on social networks — Microsoft achieved spectacular results, far beyond the typical industry averages, thanks to the power of online video ads.
Microsoft used its existing television spot and customized it using the Jivox Platform adding strong call to actions to drive response from online audiences. Their online video ad was distributed across 25-30 partner sites including leading social media sites, community portals, news and financial publications online. Microsoft ran its video ad campaign from May through August 2009 and Jivox delivered a staggering 4.2 million video views and maintained a healthy CTR of 2.3%.
Microsoft used online video advertising to reach and engage with consumers online resulting in a big adoption of its Internet Explorer browser by Internet users. The video ad campaign performed nearly three times better than typical online display ads (static banner ads). Typical display ads only offer clicks that navigate the online viewers away from the page and disrupt the web experience. The online video ad achieved a click-through rate (CTR) of 2.3 percent, nearly 3 times better CTR than for typical display and video ads. * Jivox interactive features propelled the specific user engagement with the brand. The results were phenomenal:
- Clicks to Microsoft landing page: 94,800
- Number of downloads initiated directly from Jivox Ad Player: 11,300
- Number of users uploading the video ad to Facebook: 617
- Number of users sharing the ads via email: 581
- Number of users sharing the ads via SMS: 284
* The benchmark data is provided by DoubleClick's 2008 Year-in-Review Benchmarks Report. The DoubleClick Benchmarks Report is a free report of industry benchmarks that helps marketers, * The benchmark data is provided by DoubleClick's 2008 Year-in-Review Benchmarks Report. The DoubleClick Benchmarks Report is a free report of industry benchmarks that helps marketers, agencies, and publishers evaluate the performance of online display advertising campaigns in the U.S., relative to industry norms. DoubleClick benchmarks are derived from a robust data set of metrics across DART for Advertisers (DFA), based on rigorous methodology with input from the Advertising Research Foundation. The data set includes hundreds of advertisers, thousands of campaigns, and tens of billions of ad impressions. Data represents activity of a wide range of ad formats for DFA advertisers in the United States unless otherwise indicated. The majority of data are from January 2008 to December 2008. The data on interaction rates and interaction times are from April 2008 to December 2008.
