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Online Video Completion Rates Can Boost Interaction with Brand, Study Finds

Click-through rate is a dirty phrase.

But yet, it is a metric still used widely in digital media and also in online video.

Online video ad firm Videology studied the clicking behavior  in online video ads in February and found that viewers are almost three times more likely to click on a video ad at the 25% to 50% viewing mark in the video. If a viewer hasn’t clicked by the three-quarter mark, there’s a good chance they’ll finish watching the entire spot.

But advertisers can’t optimize for both click-throughs and completion rates. “If a viewer is clicking through on an ad, they are not completing it,” Videology said. “So an advertiser needs to decide upon goals up front, then execute against them. If click-through is an objective for an advertiser, this study confirms the importance of placing your call-to-action and key value propositions early in the advertisement. The first seven to fifteen seconds appear to be the sweet spot for consumer interaction. After that, a viewer is likely to continue to watch the entire ad.”

If the brand is aiming for completion rates, there are strategies that can be applied for greater success, such as emphasizing creative execution, storytelling elements and messaging. But completion rates can also yield actions, not just brand awareness, Videology found. In a case study with an insurance provider, Videology said that consumers who viewed the ad to completion were 45% more likely to request a quote within the next week than those who only saw part of the ad.

(Which, you know, is sort of the goal.)

This data point shows that clicks are not the only path to action and that completed views can deliver actions and leads.

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