Americans Watch Billions Of Video Ads Monthly

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Whetting the appetites of marketers, consumers are watching more online video advertising than ever. Breaking all previous records, Americans viewed more than 8.3 billion video ads in March, according to new data from comScore.

Delivering another record month, Hulu recorded more than 1.7 billion video ad views in March, while Google Sites -- i.e., YouTube, ranked second with more than 1.2 billion video ads. The BrightRoll video network came in third with 953 million, followed by Adap.tv with 892 million, and Specific Media with more than 775 million.

Time spent watching video ads totaled 3.5 billion minutes, with Hulu delivering the highest duration of video ads at 690 million minutes, according to comScore.

Video ads reached 51% of the total U.S. population, an average of 53 times during the month, while Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 51, followed by ESPN, which delivered an average of 26 ads per viewer.

Overall, 181 million U.S. Internet users watched nearly 37 billion online content videos in March, while video ads topped 8 billion for the first time on record.

Google Sites, driven by YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in March with 146.1 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo Sites with 60.6 million; VEVO with 51.3 million; Facebook.com with 45.1 million; and Viacom Digital with 44.3 million.

Nearly 37 billion video views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 15.7 billion, followed by Hulu with 1 billion and Yahoo Sites with 815 million.

ComScore’s March 2012 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channels VEVO -- 49.1 million viewers -- and Warner Music -- 30.3 million viewers -- maintained the top two positions.

Gaming channel Machinima ranked third with 22.9 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios with 14.6 million, FullScreen with 12 million and BroadbandTV with 8.5 million.

Among the top 10 YouTube partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement -- 69 minutes per viewer -- followed by VEVO at 62.5 minutes per viewer. VEVO streamed the most videos -- 670 million -- followed by Machinima at 379 million.

Also of note during March, 83.5 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video, while the duration of the average online content video was 6.4 minutes, and the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.

Video ads accounted for 18.5% of all videos viewed, and 1.5% of all minutes spent viewing video online.

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9 comments on "Americans Watch Billions Of Video Ads Monthly".

1. Claudio Marcus from Visible World
   

   commented on: April 23, 2012 at 8:31 a.m.
   For some perspective (that should have been included in the article), the total number of online video ads cited in the article above represents less than 2.4% the number of total traditional TV ads (40 hours per individual (age 2+) x 285 million individuals (age 2+) that watch TV = 11.4 Billion hours of TV watching; of which roughly 25% of the time is TV ads or 2.85 Billion ours of total time with TV ads, equivalent to some 342 Billion 30 second commercials per month).
2. Jack Wakshlag from Turner Broadcasting
   

   commented on: April 23, 2012 at 1:42 p.m.
   Americans watch almost 40 hours of TV per week, not per month.
3. DM Drake from CableTV
   

   commented on: April 23, 2012 at 2:18 p.m.
   The synergy created when TV and online is combined is where the action is. Brand recall is doubled when online video runs along with a TV ad schedule.
4. Cece Forrester from tbd
   

   commented on: April 23, 2012 at 5:15 p.m.
   Are you sure they actually watch them?
5. Claudio Marcus from Visible World
   

   commented on: April 24, 2012 at 8:28 a.m.
   Jack, thanks for the correction. Per Nielsen, the . That means that online video ads represents less than 0.06% the number of total traditional TV ads (146.5 hours per individual (age 2+) x 285 million individuals (age 2+) that watch TV = 41.8 Billion hours of TV watching; of which roughly 25% of the time is TV ads or 10.4 Billion hours of total time with TV ads, equivalent to some 1.2 Trillion 30 second commercials per month).
6. Claudio Marcus from Visible World
   

   commented on: April 24, 2012 at 8:29 a.m.
   Jack, thanks for the correction. That means that online video ads represents less than 0.06% the number of total traditional TV ads (146.5 hours per individual (age 2+) x 285 million individuals (age 2+) that watch TV = 41.8 Billion hours of TV watching; of which roughly 25% of the time is TV ads or 10.4 Billion hours of total time with TV ads, equivalent to some 1.2 Trillion 30 second commercials per month).
7. John Grono from GAP Research
   

   commented on: April 25, 2012 at 5:57 p.m.
   Cece, given the number of video ads that are auto-played when not on the visible screen, you're probably correct - maybe the article should refer to 'plays' and not 'views'. Oh, you meant TV ads. Well Australian research shows that the figure is circa. 90% 'watching' the TV during ad-breaks (lower for younger demos, higher for older demos).
8. Augustine Fou from Marketing Science Consulting Group, Inc.
   

   commented on: April 27, 2012 at 10:12 a.m.
   Claudio, citing "1.2 trillion TV ads" served is irrelevant if no one can show how many of those ads are EVER seen by the intended audience. Also, it is curious that Nielsen counts individuals (age 2+). I guess 3 yr olds may have budget to spend or may have some kind of impact on purchase decisions, for which the advertising may have influence on. Makes you go hmmm, doesn't it?
9. Augustine Fou from Marketing Science Consulting Group, Inc.
   

   commented on: April 27, 2012 at 10:16 a.m.
   Here's some data points to consider: Nielsen (2010) estimates that around 56% of ads are never seen (because they are skipped using DVR) http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/do-americans-watch-more-dvrd-commercials-than-you-think/ IPG/YuMe (2011) shows that 63% of TV ads are ignored (because users turn away or are doing something else when commercials come on). http://adage.com/article/adagestat/smartphones-a-bigger-distraction-dvrs/227725/

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