The video advertisement journey is an exciting one, but even the most captivating content can encounter stumbling blocks during production.

Two very common types of video ads are videos featuring actors, and videos featuring gameplay. Both have their strengths and weaknesses and may or may not convert well depending on the execution.

But fret not, fellow creators, for we’ve traversed these treacherous waters and we’re here to ease your minds by imparting the wisdom we’ve gained along the way.

We’re about to dive into the nuances of Actor Vs. Gameplay video ads. 

In this article, we’ll shine some light on the strengths and weaknesses of each to guide you toward advertising excellence!

Trustworthiness

As you already know, actor videos feature actors, while gameplay videos will have your game’s gameplay as its main focus point.

Actor videos, or more specifically UGC videos that we specialize in offer an excellent way to hide the fact that your ad is an ad. They tend to stop the user from scrolling and they tend to convert fairly well.

However, some users may scroll past them as soon as they notice that the content they’re viewing is an ad. The user may be less likely to believe what’s being said if they know that the actor was paid to say it. Are they really excited to see the game, or is that money in their pocket? 😏

Showcasing & Presentation

Having an actor to enthusiastically showcase and point at your features with all their “Oohs” and “Aahs” certainly doesn’t hurt. But as we already mentioned, the consumer wasn’t born yesterday. They know that this is an actor and that they may not be completely genuine in their reactions.

So where you gain the human touch and potentially a charismatic performance, you’re risking authenticity.

When a player sees a gameplay ad, they know what they’re looking at. They can immediately tell if your game is their jam. 

This doesn’t only allow for the user to know what they’re getting into when they click, but you’re also filtering out users who may not download the game or who may delete it after a minute if they don’t feel that the ad matched the in-game experience.

With gameplay ads you know where you stand. 

Turnaround Times

You’re unlikely to deal with bigger-than-life personas when working on video ads. And if you do happen to come across someone like that, you can always go to the next actor. Not much harm done.

With that said, you’re still likely to expect longer turnaround times when making an ad using actors, even simpler UGC ads.

Not to toot our own horn too much, but with our new AI tools, you can make gameplay videos in minutes with just a few clicks. 

You don’t have to hunt for an actor anymore. Simply choose from a wide selection of languages, genders, and accents and let the AI read your script. Much less hassle, and much faster turnaround times. What’s not to like?

Of course, turnaround times are faster for gameplay videos even if you use a real-life actor, but still much slower than if you use our super-duper new tool.

Production Costs

You know how this goes. In order to produce an actor video, no matter how simple, you need to pay for the script, actor, editing, and possibly makeup and costumes if any are needed. 

That’s already a little hill of cash that your ad is going to set ablaze.

If you’re making a gameplay video with an actor doing the voicover, you still have to hire an actor with the right features  which takes time; you need an editor to make sure it all fits together nicely and to clean up any smudges that may come up.

A slightly smaller hill, but still one that your ad will happily set on fire.

Lastly you have our AI tool that will do all of the work for you, and all that just for the cost of Flixr subscription. 

In fact, not only can you make a video fast and cheaply. You can make dozens and use them to A/B test and see what works best. It doesn’t even have to read a script if that’s too much work. You can have it read some of your best reviews which will save you time, and we know that good reviews are great for conversions.

Quality Control

A charismatic actor can work wonders for a video ad’s performance. But who’s to say that you’ll be able to find a perfect candidate for any specific project? 

When you use actors, you’re bound to get varying quality from time to time or from project to project. Even the cream of the crop of (voice) actors can have a bad day. It happens to everyone. And of course, the higher up the ladder you look, the higher the price.

With the advancements in AI, we were able to create a tool that gives you consistent, reliable results time after time, while allowing you to keep the freedom of choice that you have when using actors. You get a whole bunch of choices of voices, genders, languages, and even accents.

All this allows you to create lots of content, fast, cheaply, and reliably. 

Why does that matter, you may ask? We’ll tell you. It allows you to test, save money, and get reliable results (conversions) with every ad you make. And if something doesn’t work? You make a new ad with different footage, settings, or scenarios. 

Brand Representation

Ideally, you want your brand to be represented and vouched for from multiple sides. If you can get a huge influencer or YouTuber to promote your product, that’s going to be a hell of a feather in your cap.

But being realistic, you’re more likely to be working with smaller, lesser-known influencers or actors more times than not. That means that the quality will sometimes vary. 

A great brand representative is the product itself. If you’re confident in the quality of your game your best bet is letting it speak for itself. 

Getting an interesting or authoritative narrator to read over the gameplay footage is a great way to draw attention and stop scrolling. Oh and did we mention that you can make dozens of variations to see what works best? Yes, we did. 

Final Decision

So should you opt for Gameplay or Actor video ads? Our suggestion is to mix them up as much as possible. No ad type is going to work for all audiences or for all seasons of the year… Or for 1001 other factors that can influence human behavior. 

But if you’re looking for the best bang for your buck, we recommend going with gameplay ads combined with our AI tool that’s going to open a whole new world for you when it comes to making and testing ads.

Interested to learn more? Chat with us and we’ll be more than happy to tell you all about the details and other various pros of using our new AI ad maker.