Increase engagement with 6-second video ads for apps

This is how mobile marketers can leverage this short-form creative format to drive incremental revenue for App User Acquisition and App Retargeting.

As we pointed out on our 2020 Trends Recap, video has been steadily growing for the last couple of years. In HY 2019, mobile video ads revenue rose to $9.5 billion, up 35.7% from HY 20181.

Most marketers in the advertising space have started testing shorter video formats, from 30 second ads to 15, and now 6. Understandably, 6 seconds doesn’t sound like much, but given the gradual reduction of attention spans, it seems that showing a series of short ads actually works better than showing one long ad.

Why brands should use 6-second video ads

• Easily created: unlike lengthy videos, which require a lot of footage or visual assets to keep users engaged for longer periods of time, 6-second ads are a quick sequence of images which can be swiftly and effortlessly put together.
• Non-intrusive: keeping it short and sweet ensures a better user experience. 6-second videos are dynamic enough to catch users’ attention yet short enough to minimize the disruption into the in-app experience.
• Improved reach: easily unlock video inventory to reach more users. Keep in mind video competes in 95% of all interstitial inventory on exchanges. This means that when bidding only for display ads (with display prices), marketers will be left at a disadvantageous position: they’ll be competing against marketers bidding for video, at higher video prices.
  

Drive growth with 6-second video ads across each vertical

Video ads are an efficient way to drive reach and engagement, we’ve collected some examples of how brands can use short form mobile videos to drive incremental revenue.

Use Case #1: Fintech 🏦

Fintech app marketers can use this format to:

• Keep users updated on new services available on the app based on their preferences
• Displaying animations, in-app screens or a series of “how to” pictures to demonstrate how practical and easy-to-use the app actually is
• Display a series of benefits their business offers without generating text-heavy creative units

Use Case #2 Ecommerce

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Shopping and Marketplace apps can use short videos to:

• Announce new brands or products available on the app based on users’ preferences
• Feature different products of a brand users have previously demonstrated interest in
• Show different models of a product users have previously demonstrated interest in
• Communicate special offers and deals such as free shipping    

Use Case #3: Food Delivery

Short form videos are often used by Food apps to:

• Show new and top restaurants/meals available
• Offer coupons and discounts only available in the app to boost orders
• Leverage key dates and special seasons to feature specific products, such as pizza promotions for game night or chocolate deals for San Valentine’s Day

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Use Case #4: Entertainment

6 second ads give Entertainment apps plenty of time to:

• Keep users updated on new offers and packages
• Use videos to show users what kind of content they can enjoy and/or create
• Introduce the latest releases to bring users back to the app

How to create successful 6-second video ads

A while back, we wrote a blogpost with our friends at MoPub outlining technical and creative best practices for killer mobile ad videos.

Despite our industry’s rapid evolution, a lot of that still holds true, like making sure the brand’s logo or app icon is present in the video, avoiding dark backgrounds, and ensuring the ad makes sense without sound. That said, here's an udpated list of best practices to keep in mind for this shorter format

Best Practices

⏱️Think simple: to create a message in the 6-second format, focus on using powerful imagery and engaging copy. Delivering a straightforward message leaves users wanting to learn more about the brand.

📏Create multiple ad sizes: make sure to build multiple variations of your video ad, adapting it to both landscape and portrait mode.

🔇Make videos work even without sound: marketers should not expect users to turn on the volume to watch an ad. Using powerful imagery and captions while drawing users’ attention to the brand and call-to-action (CTA) is an effective method to communicate the right message, no matter the volume settings.

🎨 Use different ad sets for each strategy: If you’re targeting your audience across the complete user lifecycle, take into account that encouraging a new install is not the same as taking an existing customer back to the app. Therefore, it’s key to create different ads for each strategy, opting for distinct images, copy texts and colors to make each ad set stand out.

🌟Update creatives to increase interaction: even if the ideal lifecycle of an ad set will vary per campaign, creatives should not run for more than a month: ads lose relevance over time. Keeping ad sets updated or adding new ad versions allows for optimizing campaign results based on top performing units.

Start using 6-second video ads today

6-second video ads bring many opportunities to the table: this format not only maintains a non-disruptive user experience, but also increases scalability and engagement. By adding 6-second video ads to their digital marketing efforts, app marketers can leverage tried and tested mobile-first templates to easily turn pictures into video ads that resonate with users’ interests.

We’ve been using video ads and seeing great results across a variety of verticals, ranging from Ecommerce to Fintech.

“Jampp's Video Ads Builder was a shortcut to generating impactful ad units without adding extra work for our design team. Their technology gave us full visibility on top performing assets which were of great value for both optimizing campaign results and assessing our marketing efforts.” - Alexandra Kleemann, Head of Marketing (Shpock)

Through Jampp’s Video Ads Builder, app marketers can create multiple video ads without the need for an in-house design team, and improve campaign success based on top performing ad units.

Wrapping up

Read more about how Shpock leveraged Jampp’s Video Ads Builder or request a demo to learn more about this feature and see how our platform can help you drive incremental revenue through App User Acquisition and App Retargeting.

References

[1] “IAB Internet advertising revenue report H1 2019,” IAB.