Longtime users know that JW Player is synonymous with video and advertising innovation. Some key achievements include JW Player being the first:
Embeddable web player
VAST web player
HTML5 web player
Web player to support HLS and MPEG-DASH
Only video solution to be Google Certified
JW Player 8 continues to honor that legacy of innovation with early support for VAST4 and Facebook WebView. The final part of our three-part blog series focuses on JW8’s INDUSTRY-LEADING SUPPORT.
VAST4: The Next Stage in Video Advertising
JW8 supports VAST4
Video advertising is fraught with challenges despite the allures of higher CPMs.
The worst of these challenges involve long ad load times and poor insight into ad performance, reducing a publisher’s overall earning potential. JW Player’s support of VAST4 solves these issues by integrating UniversalAdID, Ad Categories, Media Files, and ConditionalAd.
Greater Insight into Ad Performance and Error Rates
Ad performance is notoriously hard to track, especially when digging deep into error rates. Analytics provide little insight for customers experiencing poor fill rates. This problem leads to publishers relying on trial and error, which wastes time and development cycles. JW8 and VAST4 offers a world of new possibilities.
UniversalAdID directly addresses the tracking issue because it is a unique identifier for ad creatives. Simply, it allows publishers to pinpoint which ads are performing the worst, so they can be removed, and conversely, publisher can identify which ads are most effective so they can be leveraged against more content. The end result for publishers: increased ad revenue.
Similarly, Ad Categories groups ad creatives by genre (category metadata). With the new ability to match ad and content categories together (for example, exercise machine ads with fitness videos) publishers can maximize ad performance.
Improving Load Times and Viewing Experiences
It comes at no surprise that poor ad viewing experiences create headaches for viewers and publishers alike. The advertising industry is notorious for poor practices and we will be talking about two specific issues:
Many advertisers use VPAID improperly by coding in functionality not native to the spec, such as verification or programmatic logic. This leads to long load times and buffering.
Advertisers often supply just one quality level for their ads. The resulting experience is jarring when, for example, a high definition video gets served with a low-quality ad, or when a viewer on mobile gets interrupted for buffering for a high-quality ad.
JW8 and VAST4 solve these problems by introducing ConditionalAd and MediaFiles functionality. ConditionalAd allows publishers to opt out of VPAID ads which enhances ad load times. JW8 will support MediaFiles detection which analyzes an ad tag for multiple media files and provide a notification if the tag is not compliant, thus providing publishers an opportunity to improve viewing experiences.
Facebook Browser Support
Publishers are increasingly relying on Facebook to generate discovery
There’s no doubt that Facebook is a content powerhouse. In fact, Facebook is so important that the average user spends 50 minutes per day on the platform. Publishers are looking to get a piece of the action and increasingly incorporating Facebook into their content strategy. That is why we are officially announcing Facebook Browser Support for Android and iOS in JW8.
This release unlocks the Facebook mobile app (in-app browser) as a content discovery platform, facilitating publishers to publish content on their Facebook page and drive users back to their own website with higher CPMs.
As you can see, JW8 packs in a ton of new support, and we’re excited for our customers to try it out. Interested in an early sneak peek? All of these features are available in the JW8 Beta. Customers can access the Beta by logging into their JW Account and creating a new player. You can expect to see VAST4 support as well as a more in-depth walkthrough on functionality on the production release in October.