The hero image is crucial in creating a visitor’s first impression when they land on your website. As the main visual element appearing at the top of the page, the hero image sets the tone for the entire user experience. It conveys the essence of your content, attracts attention, and encourages visitors to engage further.
Publishers report up to 74% increase in reader retention when text articles are complemented by relevant short-form videos.
Check out another blog post to see how Hero Section containing video improves user engagement and dwell time.
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Benefits of Adding Videos to Articles
- Enhanced Storytelling: Video has proven to be a powerful medium for telling persuasive stories that resonate with audiences. An animated image or a well-crafted video can evoke emotion, provide context, and communicate complex ideas more effectively than static visuals or text. By adding HeroVideo to your articles, you can create an immersive experience that will keep readers engaged for longer.
- Better Ad Monetization: Video ads yield a higher CPM (cost per thousand impressions) than static display ads. This is because video ads tend to be more engaging and have a higher click-through rate. By including video in your articles, publishers not only improve user experience but also increase the value of their ad inventory, making it more attractive to premium advertisers.
- Higher Audience Retention: Studies show video content can significantly increase audience retention (dwell time). Visitors are more likely to stay on the page and explore it further if it has captivating video content. This extended time spent on the webpage is good for publishers’ SEO rankings and can further increase their advertising revenue.
How to Make Engaging Videos from Existing Articles, Blog Posts, and Images
Creating video content doesn’t necessarily mean doing it from scratch. With the right approach and tools, publishers can efficiently convert their existing content into dynamic videos that captivate the audience. Consider the following steps to make the most of your existing resources:
- Pinpoint High-Performing Content: First, review your website analytics to identify the articles, blog posts, and visuals that are already performing well in terms of traffic and engagement. The best-performing content pieces are ideal options to be converted to video as they have already proven to attract and engage your audience.
- Draft a Video Script: Outline your content main idea and key points and then structure them into a concise, engaging video script. Consider including an introduction, main takeaways, and a call to action (CTA) at the end.
- Strengthen Visual Appeal: Leverage existing hero images and other visuals as the basis of your video. Add stock footage, animations, or graphics to make your video more dynamic and visually appealing. Ensure all the elements are consistent with your website’s identity and messaging.
- Use Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools: Leverage AI solutions to automate your video creation. They can transform static images or texts into engaging videos by adding animations, transitions, text overlays, or synchronized voiceovers. For example, HeroVideo by Bidmatic can instantly transform your article into a compelling video presented by an AI avatar, providing visitors with two options — to watch or read the article, thus improving their user experience.
- Test and Improve: Once the video is ready, embed it in the respective article and monitor its performance. Leverage analytics to track metrics such as play rates, engagement, and ad revenue impact to refine your approach for future videos.
Transforming static content into video can not only revitalize your existing media but also allow publishers to engage with the audience in more immersive and versatile formats.
Video Content Challenges and Practical Solutions
While the benefits of converting hero images to video are undeniable, it’s still essential for publishers to consider the potential risks associated with video content. Here are the most prevalent challenges and practical solutions to address them:
Loading Time
One of the main issues associated with video content is the negative impact on page speed. As a result, slow page loads can frustrate users and hurt SEO rankings. To mitigate this problem:
- Optimize Video Size: Use video compression tools to reduce file size without sacrificing the quality.
- Adopt Lazy Loading: Delay the loading of video content until it appears on the user’s screen, thus reducing the initial load time.
- Leverage a CDN: Host your videos on a trusted content delivery network (CDN) to ensure faster and more consistent delivery across different regions.
All things considered, employ video players that meet Core Web Vitals (CWV) standards.
At Bidmatic, for instance, we use a fast, lightweight, and reliable HTML5 player to ensure a seamless user experience for visitors accessing publisher content.
Relevance
Publishers should take into account that not all content is right to be converted into video. Since inappropriate or irrelevant footage can distract users and reduce the overall performance of the article. To ensure relevance:
- Keep the Text and Video Aligned: Make sure the tone, style, and message of the video are consistent with the main topic of the article.
- Add Value: Use video to enhance your content strategy. Provide additional insights and perspectives, such as visual demonstrations, animations, or compelling storytelling, to create dynamic and engaging media.
- Get to Know Your Audience: Seek regular feedback from your viewers to enhance the existing video strategy. By learning which videos engage your audience the most, you can ensure that future content is better aligned with their preferences.
Resource Constraints
For many publishers, the idea of video production sounds resource-intensive, demanding time, specialized skills, and a budget. However, AI-powered tools present a solution that can simplify the overall process. How?
- Automate the Workflow: Leverage AI tools to convert static images into videos with animations, transitions, and captions within minutes.
- Use Editable Templates: Many AI platforms have customizable templates that enable publishers to generate high-quality videos fast and at a reasonable price.
- Scale Up: As soon as you’ve fine-tuned your workflow, it gets much easier and faster to replicate it for other articles.
By dealing with these challenges head-on, publishers can safely incorporate video content into their strategies and maximize its performance.
AI Text-to-Video Solutions for Creating Hero Videos
Diverse solutions for content creation already exist, but none match the unique approach of HeroVideo.
HeroVideo is an article-to-video AI generator that can promptly create an engaging video from your long-form article. It allows publishers to give their audience the flexibility to choose between reading and ‘watching the text.’
Why HeroVideo?
- AI-powered Storytelling: Publishers can automatically turn the article text into a comprehensive, engaging video.
- Enhanced Hero Section: Videos containing relevant content capture the user’s attention fast and increase dwell time on the webpage.
- Choice for the Audience: With HeroVideo, publishers provide your readers with a choice to read the article or watch a short review.
- Additional Source of Revenue: Pre-, mid-, and post-roll video ads in Trueview format is a good chance to monetize an ad inventory.
How AI-Powered Video Content Drove a 30% Revenue Boost for a Publisher
Monetizing content effectively is a constant challenge for publishers, especially when relying solely on traditional display ads.
One Ad Unit, Multiple Revenue Streams
With HeroVideo, an AI-powered technology by Bidmatic, the publisher unlocked an entirely new monetization channel. Instead of relying only on static display ads, they leveraged AI to automatically create engaging video content based on their articles. These videos seamlessly integrated video ads, allowing the publisher to generate additional income from a single AI-powered ad unit.
The results? A 30% increase in advertising revenue without the need for extra content creation or major website changes. This streamlined approach maximized earnings while keeping operations efficient.
Expanding Reach with AI-Optimized Video
Beyond boosting revenue, AI-powered videos helped the publisher attract new demographics and engage audiences across multiple platforms. By embedding dynamic video content within articles and optimizing it for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, they expanded their reach to younger, video-first audiences.
Readers could now choose how they engaged with content — whether reading, listening, or watching — leading to impressive engagement metrics:
- 42% increase in overall traffic
- 25% growth in visit depth
- 2x boost in engagement rates
Scaling Content Production Without Extra Workload
One of the most significant advantages of HeroVideo is its ability to automate video creation and publishing. With AI handling repetitive tasks like editing, formatting, and scheduling, the publisher saved over 320 hours per month — allowing their team to focus on creative storytelling instead of manual production work.
This level of automation and efficiency enabled the publisher to scale their content output without increasing team workload, ensuring consistent quality while maximizing reach and revenue.
The Takeaway: AI as a Game Changer for Publishers
This success story highlights that our article-to-video AI generator is a revenue growth engine. By leveraging HeroVideo, the publisher achieved higher ad earnings, expanded their audience, and optimized their content strategy — all with minimal effort.
