Web Watchers Ditch Video Ads

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When are Web watchers ditching video ads?

Through March of this year, an average of 80% of abandonment occurred within the first half of the ads, according to new research from Vindico.

Full-episode players -- i.e., sites that run premium, full-episode content like Hulu -- and video portal sites showed the highest rate of first-half abandonment, the video ad platform found. However, their high completion rates ensure that the brand message was delivered to a high percentage of all viewers.

Yet, even though viewers did not complete ads, they were still exposed to the ads, and, as Vindico suggests, advertisers should take advantage of every second of exposure.

In a world of repurposed TV creative, adding branded elements at the beginning of an ad can increase exposure. Indeed, 98% of all video ads in the first quarter were re-purposed TV creative.

Judging by "completes" -- or ads that viewers actually complete -- mid-roll is the way to go, Vindico found. In fact, mid-roll ads achieve the highest completion rates (94%) of all ad positions in 2011, based on tens of billions of ad impressions served in 2010 and 2011.

Video ads placed during long-form content had a higher completion rate -- 88% -- than those placed with short-form content, at 76%.

A viewer who makes the commitment to watch a 30-minute episode is more invested in watching the associated ads, while a comparatively less-invested viewer “snacking” on short-form videos is somewhat more likely to click away when presented with an ad, Vindico finds. Completion rates across site types indicate that premium content on video-centric sites yields higher completion rates.

Overall, 2011 was a year of massive growth in online video ads, as it saw a 134% growth in digital ad volume and 16% growth in average campaign size, per the company.

Ad-served impressions also rose last year as marketers pushed for ad-serving to be used on their digital video ad campaigns. Year-over-year, Vindico saw a 92% increase in ad-served impressions, with ad serving making up nearly half of all total impressions delivered 

That said, attention spans remain short, Vindico finds. As such, 15-second ads remain the most successful (78%) with audiences; while 60 seconds are the least (54%).

As Vindico notes, not all ads will be seen to completion or even to the halfway mark, but advertisers can take steps to ensure maximum brand exposure. To do so, the company suggests adding branding -- like social buttons and information-rich overlays -- at the beginning of ads to maximize the experience.

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2 comments on "Web Watchers Ditch Video Ads".

1. Mark Walker from aka Media Mark
   

   commented on: May 18, 2012 at 1:43 p.m.
   Viewers are likely to drop early when they have seen that same, tired re-purposed ad dozens of times already. Why not create unique ads for the web-based viewer- and take advantage of the medium. Be creative, for goodness sake!
2. Dan Greenberg from Impossible Software, GmbH
   

   commented on: May 19, 2012 at 12:14 p.m.
   Or, adding to Mark's point, why not repurpose the content to take advantage of retargeting or other data. We make it possible for ad networks to offer that capability to their advertisers.

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