Local advertisers may benefit most from online video

Small businesses and local advertisers could gain the most from the fever surrounding online video, according to a new report from The Kelsey Group.

by Kristina Knight

According to the Online Video: A New Local Advertising Paradigm report, while television spots are many times outside the reach of a small advertiser's budget, online video spots are quite affordable. Businesses who need foot traffic or want to generate leads can actually see how online video will work within their ad campaign.

The report goes on to say, "Video also has the potential for easier integration into a cross-platform product bundle because it is less abstract to advertisers and sales reps than an option such as pay-per-click. In addition, the vanity factor that has driven significant revenues for Yellow Pages publishers is clearly present in video."

With a broad base of users, online video is a smart choice for small and local businesses. Advertisers can use a traditional form of advertising (video) and combine that with different forms of targeting on the Internet to create ads targeted to specific segments of users for much less than what a television spot would cost.

"Given the demographics of broadband users, the online audience reached by these ads would also be well-educated, affluent and more likely to engage in pull-based content retrieval," said the report.