Commentary

Video Engagement High on Tablets, Connected TVs, but Low on Mobile Phones

Don’t just know your audience. Know where they’re watching your videos and your video ads.

Because video viewing habits — from completion rate to engagement — vary widely depending on the device in front of a consumer’s eyes when an ad appears. That’s the conclusion of online video technology provider Ooyala’s latest quarterly report, released today, that analyzes video ad viewing habits across connected TVs, computers, tablets and mobile phones.

Specifically, Ooyala found that viewers are more than twice as likely to complete a video when watching on a tablet or connected TV compared to a desktop. The completion rates for connected TV ads makes sense intuitively — connected TVs are lean-back devices and viewers are less inclined to skip an ad or switch to another site, app or show. Similarly, iPads and tablets offer fewer distractions so viewers may opt to watch ads more.

 “Engagement is strongly influenced by the type of device used to watch a video,” said Bismarck Lepe, Co-Founder and President of Products at Ooyala. “Our data shows that videos over 10 minutes in length have 45% higher engagement on tablets than either desktops or mobile devices.”

Viewers on connected TVs and gaming consoles are most likely to watch a video all the way through — at a rate of 47%, with tablet owners completing videos 38% of the time. Mobile viewers had the lowest completion rates.

Even with the range of completion rates, viewership across non-desktops skyrocketed, suggesting consumers are indeed watching videos across many devices. The share of non-desktop views more than doubled in the fourth quarter.

So what lessons can media planners and buyers learn from these findings? As video ad viewing and buying becomes more multi-platform, marketers need to evaluate each medium on its own merits, look closely at the specific results of each campaign on each platform, and determine then where it’s best to spend their money. Because the data is available to show where ads are working and where they aren’t working.

The Ooyala research comes from a cross section of Ooyala’s more than 100 million unique viewers watching Ooyala-powered videos across various sites.

Next story loading loading..