Outstream Video: 3 Things You Need to Know

What is outstream video? If you find yourself asking this question, you're not alone. According to a report from Teads, 63 percent of brand professionals hadn't known about it before spring 2015. If you're not already aware of this relatively new marketing tool, familiarize yourself with it soon, as it's projected to take off in a big way. Here are three things you need to know:

1. Learning Outstream

Simply put, this new video advertising format is a type of display ad that takes the form of an auto-playing video inserted into a traditional display ad space, typically between paragraphs of text or images. This ad type benefits from being much more flexible than its in-stream counterparts, which generally play pre-roll or mid-roll on videos hosted on YouTube and other streaming video services. In most cases, the result of this flexibility is a much more viewable ad format, as these video ads are designed to play only when in view of the browser.

2. Going Native

You may have heard this video format used interchangeably with native video, a reference to the broader native advertising term, with which outstream video has a surprising amount in common. Not only does this video type place itself alongside regular content in the same way as native advertising, but it helps marketers boost brand awareness, which is something native campaigns excel at. In fact, according to a Forrester study commissioned by Teads and reported by MarketingLand, these ads are much more important to agencies and advertisers compared to other formats.

3. Growing Conversions

Interestingly, in addition to boosting brand awareness, this video type can boost click-through rates as well. MarketingLand found that conversions from outstream video were approximately 2.5 percent higher than the average in-stream video CTR. So why is it so effective? One reason is it doesn't obstruct the viewing experience the same way instream does, giving marketers the chance to make a positive impression with their content.

While outstream video is still new, this marketing tool proved promising in the past few years, and marketers should think about giving it a try in the coming months.