• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, July 30, 2012

While the mobile revolution is shrinking everything in sight, expect marketers to throw increasing support behind larger display screens.
 
That’s because new data draws a direct link between video player size and ad performance, including engagement and completion rates.
 
Proprietary data from Tremor Video shows that when viewers watch a video within a larger-sized online player, they are far more likely to interact with the ad. Engagement rates nearly double when ads are served within a 400-pixel player.

They continue to climb for video ads served in even larger players. Viewer habits also began to resemble traditional TV watching behavior as player size expanded, Tremor found.
 
Viewers were relaxed and more likely to sit through ads before watching content -- as demonstrated by the rising completion rates that Tremor saw across its network.
 
About 62% of all viewers watched an ad through to completion when it appeared in a 400-to-500 pixel environment, while completion rates jumped up nearly 75% when the ad appeared in a player at between 500 and 700 pixels.

Marketers appear to be aware that size matters when it comes to online video displays.
 
Consumers “are turning to online video during prime time, and they’re doing so on devices with high-definition screens that offer TV-like viewing experiences,” said Ron Amram, senior media director at Heineken USA. “We want to be on those screens in larger video environments.”
 
Based on its findings, Tremor is encouraging publisher partners to increase their player sizes.
 
This year, eMarketer expects online video advertising to rise 40% to reach $3.1 billion.