• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, August 19, 2015

Mobile video viewing habits are shapeshifting daily, and so is consumer behavior with ads on these platforms. Overall, the mobile video ad market is on pace to hit $6 billion by 2018, up from $2.45 billion this year, eMarketer says.

But the medium is still quite new, and advertisers are testing a range of formats, from short Vine-esque ads to longer-format ones, to interactive spots, in a quest to learn which resonate most with viewers.

There aren’t many hard and fast conclusions, but a new study from Google offers insight into how mobile viewers might respond. The tech giant tested a range of mobile video storylines with Mountain Dew and its ad agencies from the brand’s popular Kickstart “Come Alive” spot.

The three types of mobile ads were one with a middle, beginning and end; one with a countdown, then a video that starts in the middle; and one without a traditional storyline or structure. Interestingly, the last one fared the best. The nontraditional mobile video ad was viewed at a 26% higher rate than other edits of the same product ad. That cut was also three times as long as the other versions, weighing in at one minute and 33 seconds, with the average view time of one minute and nine seconds.

“Our speculation is that people were intrigued by the mystery of what they saw. They were more interested in seeing where the story went than in skipping ahead,” Google said in its report.

While this is only one study in a sea of studies, it does offer some potentially useful tips. Shorter may not always better in mobile. Sometimes, giving viewers the unexpected can deliver better results.

Perhaps consumers are being trained by Facebook video. With so many videos watched with the sound off on Facebook, consumers are increasingly comfortable with less linear, more unconventional video stories.