Insider’s video strategy shift to focus on longer form series seems to be paying off. Insider is making more money than last year from its videos on its website and is seeing particular growth from direct-sold video ads, where advertisers commit to spend a certain amount and buy ads across Insider’s owned & operated and other platforms like YouTube.

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For about a year now, all of Insider’s on-site video ad inventory has been integrated with the company’s first party data platform SAGA for video ad targeting based on audience behavior (for example, Insider can serve videos about 5G to audiences it knows have expressed interest in 5G stories). Insider sells a mixture of pre-roll ads, sponsorships and custom content like branded video series.

These capabilities — as well as improvements to Insider’s video production and onsite product features — can help convince clients to spend more with a publisher, said Stacey Stewart, U.S. chief marketplace officer at ad agency UM Worldwide.

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