• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 18, 2017

A new study commissioned by mobile ad platform Jun Group and conducted by Nielsen Media Labs found people prefer opt-in mobile ads at a 2-1 margin (54% versus 39%) over traditional video ads.

Opt-in mobile ads are also referred to as value exchange or incentivized advertising or rewarded video and basically require people to watch an ad before doing something but are rewarded for watching. Think video ads before online game play or free Wi-Fi.

Compared to pre-roll and other digital ad units, those exposed to value exchange ads were more likely (74%) to enjoy the ad experience. A separate Nielsen Brand Effect study found that value exchange ads did better that Nielsen Digital Brand Effect Mobile benchmarks for brand awareness and purchase intent.

Value exchange ad units delivered a 34.4 percent lift in awareness more than 3.5x the Nielsen Digital Brand Effect Mobile benchmark.

Value exchange ad units drove a 26.4 percent increase in purchase intent, surpassing the Nielsen Digital Brand Effect Mobile benchmark by nearly 5x.

Additionally, a Nielsen-conducted focus group found that most media buyers are not aware of these ad units but that once they were informed about them, 75% said they would be likely to recommend them.