A video advertisement, like those you see on TV or the internet, is a short (60 seconds or less, but ideally 30 seconds) branding-oriented video that promotes your company, product or service. A commercial video is inherently high level and should not dive into the details of what you do and how you do it, like an explainer video would.

An advertisement is meant to grab attention, garner interest, and get people excited about what you do. It’s a teaser designed to draw in potential customers. If you’re working on online-only content, we think a digital ad campaign is one of the best ways to really spread your brand message and also make the most of your commercial video production efforts.

Just keep in mind, to get traction, you’ll likely need to invest some marketing dollars to promote your spot. Don’t expect an overnight viral sensation though a few of our paid ads quickly racked up over 1 million views.

Unlike most video content, view count is one of the leading indicators of success when it comes to commercials. If no one is seeing it, the ad doesn’t have a chance to do it’s intended job. Like we mentioned earlier, getting a significant number of views may require allocating some budget towards promoting your spot. Once views are up, keep an eye on engagement to see how much of your ad people are watching. For a short 15-30 second spot, engagement rates should be around 80%-90%.

Because video ads are meant to grab attention, that often means additional time for commercial video productions. For example, our spot for CertainTEED required 3D environments and characters, while ClubWPT had a live shoot plus 3D animation done in post. All of these things take time, but you can plan for 6-12 weeks.