The online video industry has been booming for the last few years as video viewership is at an all-time high. According to Social Media Week, 78% of people view at least one video a week, while 55% watch them daily.
This surge in popularity of online video created an appealing new market brimming with opportunities. Many publishers and media companies quickly capitalized on this growing trend and began investing in on-demand video and live streaming. Today, some of the most successful streaming services are already earning billions from it.
But online video likely had the biggest impact on the digital advertising industry. From ad-based streaming services to advanced programmatic techniques like video header bidding, video advertising has proven more lucrative for publishers than traditional display advertising. In 2021, the digital video advertising industry is worth over $80 billion, and that number is expected to grow to $120 billion by 2024.
Despite its widespread use, ad-based video monetization comes with its fair share of challenges. But there is one hurdle in particular that stands out.
Viewer Retention: The Biggest Hurdle of Ad-Based Video Monetization
When relying on ads to monetize videos, publishers generate revenue through ad impressions, which go hand-in-hand with video views. That means the more videos users watch on a website, the more ad calls publishers can make.
![an illustration of the relationship between video views, ad impressions, and revenue](https://brid.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/More-video-views.jpg)
However, with the ever-growing competition in the online video world, viewer retention is becoming increasingly more challenging. There are millions of videos out there from world-renowned brands and content creators you have to compete with. That is why the first options that come to publishers’ minds when looking to increase video ad revenue are the following:
- Improving content quality
- Scaling content production
- Investing in growth
Ensuring your content is better than your competitors is a no-brainer for attracting no viewers. The same goes with upping your content production and publishing more content. The more content you push out, the more views you’re going to accrue. Investing in growth marketing to expand your audience is also a viable option. However, all of these points have one jarring flaw — they take a lot of time and require a significant investment.
A more cost-effective way to boost your video views and ad revenue is to leverage your existing audience. How? By taking advantage of the vicious circle of content consumption.
The Vicious Circle of Content Consumption
How many times did you get stuck binge-watching videos on YouTube and ended up losing precious hours of sleep because of it? Or how many times were you late to pick up your kids from school because you were watching video after video on your favorite news site? If you can relate to any of these examples, you’ve been a victim of the vicious circle of content consumption.
The reason people get stuck in the infinite loop of watching videos is because of people’s innate curiosity. And publishers who use that to their advantage can increase their video views without any substantial investment.
Many online video platforms offer publishers various features to improve their video discoverability. Some of the most common ones are video recommendations and related videos. Here’s how these features look like on a platform like YouTube:
![a youtube screenshot highlighting its video discovery and recommendations features](https://brid.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-2.png)
Each platform has its own algorithm for recommending related content, so choosing the right one is the only challenge publishers face. The efficacy and accuracy of this algorithm can make all the difference in publishers’ revenue generation.
How to Boost Video Discovery With TargetVideo’s Advanced Video Content Matching
Publishers who wish to boost their ad impressions and revenue through video discovery must ensure they recommend the most relevant videos. That is why TargetVideo’s advanced video content matching algorithm uses video tags to determine which videos to recommend to your viewers to keep them engaged.
Publishers who implemented video content matching saw a 15% increase in video views across the board.
This system will tailor the recommendations to your videos without much hassle on your end. If you don’t want to manually populate your videos with tags, our A.I. content matching system can do that for you. This feature is available for content in more than ten languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, and more.
TargetVideo users can activate this feature from the Video Matching in our CMS.
![brid.tv cms screenshot - video matching menu](https://brid.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image.png)
From there, all you have to do is select your desired language and press Apply.
![brid.tv cms screenshot, apply for video content matching page](https://brid.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-1.png)
So if you are on a budget or are out of ideas on how to boost your revenue stream, why not try TargetVideo’s HTML5 player and video platform with advanced video content matching? We have a fully customizable plan suitable for publishers of different sizes.
Otherwise, get in touch with us and let us tailor your plan to your needs to help you scale your ad-powered online business!