The Differences Between Television and Web Video

Video is perhaps the most effective advertising medium ever developed in the history of mankind . However, if you are attempting to market on the Internet, you need to come to grips with a very significant fact. You need to keep in mind that video for the web is somewhat different from video for television, and I wanted spend a little time explaining the differences that I see.

Let me begin with describing the contrasting landscapes. It is widely known that repetition in advertising increases effectiveness, but the repetition issue is one of the main differences between television advertising and web advertising. On the web, all viewership is voluntary.

That last statement begs the question...but isn't all viewership on television voluntary as well? The answer is...well...yes and no.

On television, the viewership of programming is indeed voluntary. The viewership of advertising is considered by the viewers as a cost of viewing the program, a necessary evil, and something to be ignored as much as possible. Its time for a bathroom break, to call a friend, to discuss whats for dinner, to grab another beer, or whatever other distraction the viewer can think of. From this distraction/break phenomena has, I believe, arisen the concept that a viewer must see the same message seven times before it becomes effective.

In my research, I have not been able to confirm that actual study, but intuitively, I believe that its true. More specifically, the ad must be on the screen in which the viewer resides at least seven times before it has an effect. Actually, I would guess that the number is much higher then seven.

I know from my own experience that when the message contained in the advertisement finally dawns on my awareness, I am always sure that I have seen it several times in the past already. Its my guess that this effect comes mostly from the “tuning out” process, where the viewer goes on a short mental vacation when advertising comes on the television.

None of this is true on the web, because the nature of surfing the web is that we go where we want to go and absorb the content we choose to absorb. Combine that with the highly interactive nature of Internet surfing, which frequently requires specific click input from the surfers mouse, and you have an audience that is paying much closer attention then a television audience.

Let me summarize the difference. When watching television, a viewer will wait until the inevitable commercial break to use the bathroom. When surfing, the viewer interrupts the surfing proactively, and usually reluctantly, to relieve themselves. When watching TV, you can usually chat with the other viewers only during a commercial break, because the viewers are normally focused during the programming.. On the web, that same intense focus can be present, and runs virtually uninterrupted.

Further, if something happens that might break the focus of the surfer, such as a pop-up or a household event, it causes some measure of annoyance in the surfer.

And for that reason, I believe that fewer repetitions are required for web advertising in order for message to register. Which is a very good thing, since the voluntary nature of web viewership makes it highly unlikely that your ad will be seen three times, twice is quite rare and a compliment to your video.

It then becomes necessary to reach your audience via several avenues to achieve the repetition necessary to create a buying situation; It also becomes necessary for each repetition to have a much higher impact then a television ad would have.

From a producers standpoint, thats a beautiful thing, because it pushes back any artistic boundaries to great distances, and allows latitude in creative license. On the other hand, it raises the bar on creative requirement.

Although the impact of still graphics and audio as a combination is arguably less then motion pictures, it is much more practical to produce, especially from the standpoint of the new video producer, mainly because its easy. You should by no means sell the impact of still graphics and music short, the power contained within those tools to move an audience is immense.

We are F and C Marketing, and we teach video advertising for the web. We invite you to visit our website, at http://vur.me/FandC/Introduction.


We give classes twice a week in video production at the University of Internet Science, and have a fair number of videos posted on You Tube at 
fandcmarketingenterp

Our company home page is
http://fandcmarketingenterprises.com.

We have a lot of video ads posted there, and a lot of free gifts as well.

And you can find our company news at
http://pressroom.prlog.org/fandc1mark/