Rise Of The Mid-Roll Shows That Online Video Is Maturing

• by Ross Fadner , May 16, 2012

The online video industry -- which has long been held back by supply-side scarcity and measurement problems -- is finally maturing, it seems.

A recent report from FreeWheel highlighted that mid-roll video ads are on the rise, having grown 115 percent year-over-year in Q1 versus pre-roll video ads, which grew 45 percent year-over-year. ReelSEO’s Christopher Rick says the shift indicates that the online video industry is maturing, because more mid-rolls means more viewers are watching long-form content online.

The FreeWheel report also shows that mid-roll completion rates held stable at 85 percent, meaning that consumers didn’t find the ad loads to be too much to keep them from consuming ad-supported video content. Moreover, mid-rolls currently only represent about 23 percent of all video ad views, so they may have a long way to grow.

As a consumer, Rick says he is much more inclined to continue watching a video that serves a mid-roll rather than a pre-roll ad, because with a pre-roll, “if it’s on something I haven’t seen before I feel like I’m being forced into it… giving me a mid-roll instead of a pre-roll makes me less likely skip out of the video.”

However, he adds that with mid-rolls, it’s important to get the ad load right. “Hulu is certainly pushing the limits of acceptability with their ad loads,” he says.