The concept is basically to install a narrow frame at the top or bottom of a Web page that contains an ad with the sponsor's branding. The ad then contains a prompt, like “hover to see video,” which when rolled over, plays a video advertisement for the company featured in the frame. Because of this design, the ad will stay static in your browser as you scroll up and down a webpage.
VideoEgg says that the target market for Twig is blogs, since they tend to be exceptionally long vertically. Troy Young, CMO of VideoEgg, said in a statement that, “By offering a unit that’s always in view, VideoEgg provides bloggers and publishers with a powerful new way to monetize content. Like everything we do, Twig is performance based and expands to a highly rich full-page experience, so brands love it as well.” You can see a demo (sort of) in the overproduced video below:
Personally, I like this format, both as a user and publisher. While many publishers may just add Twig as yet another way to monetize, if they were to actually trade out some of their poor performing banners in favor of the service, it means more screen real estate devoted to content instead of ads. And as a publisher, I can sort of buy the argument that these ads are more likely to drive engagement, given how easy it is to ignore the typical banner ads when scrolling up and down a blog.