According to the latest figures from Web watchers at ComScore the UK’s online video viewing audience is now almost 30 million people, or half the total population. This is up 10 per cent on the same time last year and demonstrates that online video is fast approaching mass adoption, argues digital marketing specialist AdTech.

ComScore says that during January 2009 UK Internet users watched four billion videos online, of which just 2.5 per cent were watched on the websites of the top five television broadcasters: BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky.

Vincent Njoroge (pictured) is director of client services at AdTech, whose customers include Sky, Fox Networks and Reed Business Information. NMK caught up with him to talk about the growing online video phenomenon and its potential for marketing.

You say video is fast achieving mass adoption. Who are leading this field at the moment in terms of video advertising?

Premium content owners - broadcasters, film studios, music labels and so forth - are the biggest leaders and are attracting a huge wave of video advertisers. This is primarily because of existing relationships they have on television or with the agencies that they work with. Their content is also of a safe and known quality which assuages advertiser concerns of brand adjacency to questionable content.

Why is video so much different from other Internet advertising mediums?

Because the ad typically plays on user initiation and in the case of pre-roll, it is required to watch before the content can be viewed, it is difficult to ignore and in studies shows high levels of engagement and brand recall.

Is video advertising for everyone? Can a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) do some low-level video advertising or is it just for the big budget firms?

Yes it is. It’s a good part of an advertiser’s media mix as long as it is part of a planned campaign. Right now it is mainly used for branding, but we will start to see it used on an "actions and transactions" basis - purchases, registrations, etc. Due to streaming costs, it can create a preference for predictability and hence cost-per-thousand (CPM) and branding campaigns.

In terms of suitability for an SME, it is definitely appropriate. The lower costs of producing creatives coupled with an understanding of the large amounts of video inventory and targeting capabilities should make video advertising an interesting option for SMEs.

How do you measure the impact of a campaign with video? How can you tell who has seen it all the way through, for example?

How much of a video ad is typically tracked in terms of percentage viewed and yes, it is easy to see how many were watched all the way through.

Is it tough to create click-throughs on video?

Not at all. Click-throughs are tracked on the video asset, on the companion banner elements. Also, other points of engagement can also be tracked: mouse-overs, hide/show, pause/restart, etc.

What are your top five tips for video ad campaigns online?

1. Keep it simple
2. Ensure that the ad is appropriate for the content – for example, it should not be out of place against the content being viewed 
3. Know the audience of the sites you choose to advertise on 
4. Decide on the key metrics you need at the outset. There is a lot of data which can be gathered, but not all are always most relevant
5. Consider the viewers' user experience – for example, shorter length creatives for short content, how often they see the ad, intelligent placement within long form content

Do you think the public will ever tire of the ‘flash mob’ format? For example, lots of young actors in a public place dancing which every mobile firm seems to do ad nauseum.

Quite probably. Personally, I think it seems cool and a bit “faddy”, but it’s not consequential to online video advertising one way or another.