Start-Up Watch COD: AdGenesis targets your videos to prospects who WANT to see them

By applying the classic TV "intrusion model" to online video, advertisers have seen good results. Pre-, Mid-, and Post-Roll have demonstrated strong impacts in awareness, purchase intent, and even buying behavior for countless brands.

AdGenesis doesn’t dispute the power of pre-roll. What they believe, however, is that brands can benefit even more when they get their messages to people who actually WANT to see them, versus those who are willing to see it in exchange for content.

Rather than interrupting or pre-empting viewing experiences, AdGenesis has a database of millions of consumers who have raised their hands to be willing to watch videos that match their brand and category interests. They get notified that a video is available, watch it, and get a reward for their time and attention.

Here’s the 1-2-3 for advertisers:

1.Brands identify the kinds of consumers they want to reach. They can specifically target by interests, demos, locations, and brand affinities.

2.They then upload a video, be it a TV ad or a piece of sponsored content. The company accepts both commercial length vids AND long form content of up to 10 minutes (!) in length.

3.AdGenesis contacts hand raisers and tells them that a new video is available. In addition, they communicate the reward a brand has offered to provide in exchange for the video viewing. This reward could be free product, a discount, special viewer-only content or access, or really anything that the brand and AdGenesis believe will motivate a consumer to view your message. Part of the offering is a virtual currency system that enables users to purchase goods and services with rewards they receive from multiple brands.

4.The consumer clicks to view the content in the AdGenesis environment. To confirm that the consumer is paying attention, they scroll two numbers across the top and bottom of the screen in an overlay. At the conclusion of the message, the consumer must recall these digits in order to get their reward. If they submit the right digits, they receive the reward.

5.Brands pay on a CPE basis – only for the verified viewing of a consumer in the target group they have identified.

Ad Genesis identifies hand raising consumers through its partnerships with large broadly targeted pubs and not-so-large niche media properties. Its partnership with Parade, for example, helps provide needed scale to the total offering. The company also actively recruits and manages a home grown community that has opted in to watch these videos. The community tracks the rewards consumers earn, making the solution more turnkey for advertisers.

Reported response metrics are colossal. Huge multiples of response rates for pre-roll.

I am a huge believer in the power of sight, sound, and motion to motivate consumers. The voluntary nature of this model is also very appealing because it ensures both an engaged audience and rapt attention. In my view, this would serve as a great component of a total video strategy including more reach oriented pre-roll and in banner video. Reach and depth. And what more can you want than that?

Thanks to ad:tech for publishing this first!