The Annoying Orange Advertises Advertising to Advertisers

Online video is trying to its best to reach as many advertisers as possible. That was the whole point of the Digital Content NewFronts. It was a two-week long series of showcases where online video publishers and distributors aggregated as many individuals in charge of advertising dollars in the same room as possible and then told those individuals how online video is @#$%ing awesome, how many online video properties have bigger-than-television-sized audiences, and how – with tools only inherent to the internet – advertisers can better target, spend, and track their dollars in online video than on any other entertainment medium.

The events were half edutainment and half dog and pony show, but they’re also not the only ways to reach advertisers to inform them about all the benefits of online video. Another way is by advertising.

At least that’s what Michael Green, CEO of The Collective believes. The head of the “entertainment management, media and content production company” recently ordered a banner ad campaign to run on Adweek, a digital and weekly print publication for the American advertising industry.

The Adweek campaign was for The Annoying Orange, one of The Collective’s online video partners with over a billion views on YouTube, a toy line in Toys “R” Us, a clothing line in JCPenney, and a TV show on Cartoon Network in the works.

You would think with a laundry list of incredible achievements like that, the program wouldn’t have trouble getting advertisers, and I don’t believe it does. But – as is the case with 100% of online video properties in the current economic environment where advertisers are expected to spend $3 billion on online video in 2012 and upwards of $70 billion on television – it could certainly use some more.

Here’s Green with some more context as to why he’s buying advertising to advertise advertising opportunities on Annoying Orange:

The Annoying Orange recently achieved the milestone of streaming 1,000,000,000 views on YouTube and has also surpassed the 10,000,000 fan mark on Facebook. The ads were taken out to acknowledge these achievements and to remind marketers that television is not the only medium for reaching audiences of scale.

We have a number of advertising solutions including pre-roll, banners, custom integrations, and sponsorships that put a brand in front of a highly engaged audience, offering marketers tremendous value in pricing and speed to market. These Annoying Orange ads are just one part of our efforts to engage the advertising community with our content.

With initiatives like this and YouTube’s promise to spend $200 million to market its Original Channels, expect to see many more ads promoting online video in the very near future. Once we do, we’ll tell you how they’re performing. Stay tuned.