Across all interactive advertising verticals, beverage/spirits produced the highest average interaction rate -- 8.62% -- during the first quarter of the year, according to new research from
rich-media solutions provider Unicast. Retail came in a close second -- with an average interaction rate of 8.24% -- followed by TV Entertainment with an interaction rate of 5.06%. Consumer packaged
goods produced the longest average interaction time -- 56 seconds -- across verticals, followed by sporting goods -- 50 seconds -- and technology -- 36 seconds.
Among all ad units, Unicast's
"Messenger Units" -- which are served in instant messaging platforms -- ranked the highest in both interaction rate and average exposure time. Meanwhile, branded canvas ad formats -- which are fully
custom interactive units positioned within full-episode video players -- produced very high interaction rates and average video view times.
"Some common features that are found within some of
the campaign executions with the highest interaction rates are video features such as: HD, movie Finder, full-screen video, live streaming video, and social media integration features such as Twitter
feeds, social network posting/sharing, etc.," according to the report.
"Ads that incorporate rollover elements into their tags will lead to a much higher interaction rate than an ad that does
not track rollovers," adds the report. "Creative design and tagging considerations can greatly influence the Interaction Rate for an individual campaign execution."
Unicast's benchmark report
analyzed 24 different vertical industries -- including entertainment, travel, retail, automotive and pharmaceutical -- along with 12 different ad formats.
Unicast defined "interaction rate" as
the total number of "positive" user interactions in an ad format divided by the total number of rich media impressions. A "positive" interaction is defined as when a user actively engages with the ad
and performs a desired action like a click to watch a video, or rotate a product 360 degrees for a better view. An example of a neutral interaction would be turning sound off, closing an expanded
panel, turning a skin or background off. Put another way, positive interactions represent a user actively engaging with ads, while a neutral interaction is a user trying to disengage with ads.