WSJ on SMB Video

There’s a longish, general piece on SMB video ads online in the WSJ. It has some pricing data in it. The most interesting bit of the article is an anecdotal case from a Jivox customer:

In April, Mirek Boruta, co-owner of the Princess Port Bed and Breakfast, a family-owned B&B in Half Moon Bay, Calif., was looking for a way to attract customers because bookings were down for the typically popular summer season.

He was unimpressed with Internet banner ads and search-related listings, so he turned to Jivox, a Web-based video-ad service based in San Mateo, Calif. Jivox lets customers create commercials at no cost, but charges about $5 to $20 per 1,000 views of the video, depending on where the advertiser chooses to distribute the spot.

Mr. Boruta pinpointed users located in California, Nevada and Washington who were surfing local television and newspaper Web sites on Wednesday and Thursday nights, when he thought potential clients would be contemplating their weekend plans.

“Our Web traffic tripled instantly, from 10 hits a day to 30,” and soon “all of our rooms were booked solid,” Mr. Boruta says. The cost of running the ad for 40,000 views (measured as how many times a user watched the video through the end): $500.

Mr. Boruta says 85% of customers brought in the online coupon, so he knew the ad was working. “We’re a small bed and breakfast, so tripling the visits to our Web site and having to actually turn customers away is a big deal,” he says.

(my emphasis)

The coupon as a tracking tool is interesting, in terms of its uptake. And the pure effectiveness of the ad is also striking.

Part of its effectiveness is about novelty and the fact that not everyone has video ads (more than 90% of SMBs do not). That will change somewhat over time, as video advertising becomes more pervasive. Indeed, most static graphic ads online will be replaced by rich media and/or video.

Another interesting thing about video is that it can, to some degree, be a “replacement product” for YP publishers where the print ad spend is reduced in favor of online — notwithstanding the figures in the article excerpt above.