GumGum yesterday announced the preliminary rollout of a new In-Video ad unit. The In-Video ad unit is a non-disruptive alternative to pre-and mid-roll ads that have been made available to select partners through a pilot beta-test program.

The beta-test will run through December, before moving toward a wider release in 2020.

According to GumGum, the In-Video ads appear for six-second periods in the lower-third portion of a video, and they do not interrupt playback the way that pre-and mid-roll ad units do. GumGum says the In-Video ads are equally memorable, according to preliminary brand recall research.

“These In-Video units have a simple but crucial advantage over pre-roll or mid-roll: they deliver messaging and creative to highly engaged users who are actively viewing video content, and without disrupting their user experience,” said GumGum CGO Ben Plomion. “We feel that In-Video represents a new realm of branding opportunities for the advertiser and we’re obviously proud to have partners like Sprint –– a company known for leading technological transformation –– who share our interest in developing alternatives to pre-roll and mid-roll.”

GumGum has a patent pending on a Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) overlay technology that will allow the company to serve its In-Video units also in OTT environments.

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