Incentives may help magazines regain a foothold

Magazine publishers are jumping to incentivize their products, hoping that offering freebies will help them increase their flagging profiles. Online video ad network AdPerk is helping, offering users who watch online videos free magazines.

by Kristina Knight

It is one of many ways that advertising firms are hoping to make online video more mainstream. They offer free or reduced-price magazine subscriptions in exchange for users watching their online video ads.

"We're able to bring [users] ads that are relevant to who they are as an individual, ads that they are genuinely interested in," said Harrison Wise, vice president, corporate communications, BrightSpot. "It's very different than the shotgun approach to traditional advertising where they target large buckets of consumers and hope for the best."

BrightSpot is not affiliated with AdPerk.

Here is how it works: AdPerk displays banner ads on host magazine's websites, offering users free or discounted magazines if they watch short videos. Users click on the banner ads and are taken to the website where they choose which videos to watch. They earn points depending on the number of videos they view. Users use an automated system where they indicate that they watched an entire ad. This has a dual purpose - the advertisers are certain users are watching entire ads and AdPerk receives measurement numbers that help them determine which offers are getting the most attention and return.

Giving users an incentive is not a new happening; marketers have been offering freebies as incentives for many years. However, with the advent of online and mobile advertising, incentivizing content and offers has become more popular.