Video Publishers Are Ready to Make a Change — Are you?

Recently, we surveyed prominent video publishers on their thoughts and current experience with video advertising. With a majority of publisher content being published on primarily free platforms, it can be hard to monetize video content.

We know that we have to understand publishers and advertisers in order to better serve them. The survey showed us that publishers are having trouble monetizing their videos. They are facing low ad inventories and lower CPMs.

The most surprising finding was that of those surveyed, 100% stated that they publish content on their website, but 42.9% have trouble monetizing it. Here at CatapultX, we’re wondering whether that is an issue of ad inventory or an issue with their SSP (supply-side-platform).

In our survey, we also asked whether publishers were using programmatic buys or direct buys. Twenty-five percent of respondents were still using direct buys.

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If direct buys and SSPs are not working to monetize web video, it might be time to turn to another option, or another ad type altogether.

Pre and mid-roll ads are standard for monetization in the publisher space — even though more than 20% of those surveyed said that viewer retention is their biggest issue in making money from their videos. And 28% of publishers said that more than a quarter of their video viewers drop off during pre-roll ads, and 58% said that more than a quarter of their viewers drop off during mid-roll ads. That number may continue to grow as YouTube has started to show more and more ads, as a ploy to push users to subscribe to YouTube’s paid video subscription.

We’ve been clear in our mission to end pre-roll and mid-roll ads for good, and we’re hoping that this research will help publishers to swing our way. Of the publishers we surveyed, 76.9% stated that they would think about eliminating pre-roll ads if they could still make money without them. Another 23% said that they would absolutely make the switch.

We’re here to tell you that you can find out just how much you can make from ditching pre-roll and you can do it all while making your video viewers happier. Calculate your expected revenue from ditching pre-roll and we’ll send you our free Publisher Survey so you can find out what other publishers in your industry are struggling with.

Founded in 2019, CatapultX is an AI-based platform at the forefront of innovative video marketing. Serving contextually relevant video ads that don’t interfere with consumer experience, CatapultX brings a profitable, engaging, and enjoyable experience to publishers, advertisers, and audiences. If you are interested in expanding the profitability of your content or building a more robust advertising portfolio, reach out to us at info@catapultx.com or set up a meeting with someone from our sales team.