Google released (or I should say re-released) a new product earlier this year for paid search results called the “Video Plus Box”.  This is an interesting opportunity for advertisers who focus less on an absolute conversion and have more interest in the branding and awareness possibilities that search holds.

It also makes sense for advertisers who have a strong visual component to their product or pitch –  film and television promotion comes to mind.  On the other hand advertisers that are more focused on e-commerce- getting people to their site and converting and/or monetizing their paid search traffic in some way- might find this feature to be counterproductive to their core goals.

The Video Plus Box allows a searcher to watch a video within a paid search ad by expanding the plus box {+} link. An early form of this product had been released last year as one of Google’s many alpha tests. It went away for a few months but came back earlier this year as (you guessed it) one of Google’s many beta tests.

Users of Google are no strangers to the general concept of “expand plus box” links in their search results. Google has been showing this feature in their organic listings for quite some time. In 2006 Google introduced the feature that would allow a user to see maps for local businesses within the organic results:

In May 2007, it was blended into their universal search, allowing users to watch videos from YouTube and Google Video inside the organic search results. It was a quick way to play videos without having to load the entire page of a video hosting site. For whatever reason, Google only limited the plus box to its own video sites (YouTube and Google Video), while showing thumbnails and metadata for other sites:

Here’s what the Video Plus Box looks like before activation by the user:

Here’s what it looks like expanded:

Here’s a quick rundown of how it works:

• A paid search ad shows up on a Google as normal, but also includes a small link to preview a video.
• If a user clicks on the headline link as normal and goes to the brands website, as cost per click is incurred.
• If a user clicks on the (+) and expands the ad to watch the video, a CPC is incurred.
• After clicking to watch the video, if the user clicks through to the brand’s website, an additional CPC is not incurred.
• Only 1 CPC is ever incurred per 1 impression

What the “video plus box” does on the user end is encourage the searcher to find out more about the brand and its offerings by having them interact more with the actual paid search ads.  Obviously this can deter the user from clicking through to a landing page. The upside of this is branding. Users can still have a chance to interact and learn about a brand without leaving the Google search environment. The downside is that users might abandon the process before a more valued ROI action is completed.

Tags: Advertising, Cost per click, Google, Organic search, Search Engines, Searching, Television, Website, YouTube

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 4:29 pm and is filed under Advertising: Online, SEM: Ad Creative, SEM: Paid Search, Search: How-To, Search: Innovations, Search: Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.