YuMe Launches "Triple Play" Interactive Video Ad Format

Broadband video advertising technology provider, YuMe, on Tuesday announced the launch of a new video ad format dubbed "Triple Play." According to the company, Triple Play is a pre-roll video ad that is enhanced with an interactive menu that provides additional options for viewers to engage with a brand. The company claims that the new offering is unique "in that it lets viewers decide how they want to interact and engage with the advertiser." The offering was launched in partnership with Horizon Interactive and the latter's client, Livescribe, on a video ad for Horizon's Pulse pen: the ad is embedded above.

According to YuMe, the Triple Play interactive menu appears after the pre-roll runs, and features up to three calls-to-action with which the viewer can interact. For example, the company says, the viewer could be presented with the opportunity to watch additional videos, learn more about a product, sign up for promotional offers or visit a brand's Facebook page.

YuMe bills itself as focused exclusively on premium in-stream video advertising--i.e. on "integrating ads into the video player where viewers focus their attention, as opposed to placing video in banner ads." It says that, on average, its custom video ad placements enjoy a click-through rate of 1.6%, far exceeding the performance of in-banner video ads. The company claims that it served an average of 30 million in-stream video ads per day last month, and over 2.5 billion in-stream ads last quarter (which it says was its strongest quarter yet).

YuMe claims to have achieved a number of milestones last year: it says it launched new ad products called InSynch Video Takeover and PowerRoll DataConnect respectively; unveiled an iGRP audience measurement metric and launched a monthly video ad metrics report that is based on the 100 or so campaigns it has running any given day; and became the first company to support dynamic ad insertion into live video. "YuMe has always been aggressive about introducing new video advertising solutions, building an ecosystem with the best partners, and delivering unparalleled reach, scale and quality," YuMe CEO, Michael Mathieu, said in a prepared statement. "Despite the broader economic downturn, 2009 was a big year for YuMe in which we were able to grow as a business and continue to drive the video advertising industry forward."