Viewers Pay More Attention To Connected TV Ads, Study Finds

A new multiscreen viewability study that measured consumer attention to advertising reveals that overall attention to pre-roll ads is highest among connected TV (CTV) watchers.


Eye tracking showed that 89% of a CTV pre-roll ad was viewed, compared to 81% on mobile and 78% on desktop. The mulitiscreen viewability research, conducted by Nielsen and video ad tech firm YuMe, found that CTV ads achieve a higher level of attention, recall, favorability, and purchase intent, all key brand metrics.

The study compared the actual time a viewer spent watching an ad (according to eye tracking) against the total time the ad was viewable for CTV, desktop, and mobile campaigns. The study defined a viewable ad as the total time an ad is in view in seconds.

Among the study’s findings:

--Unaided ad recall is highest on CTV. Pre-roll ad recall for CTV was 73%, compared to 69% on mobile, and 65% on desktop.

--Nearly all CTV ads meet the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Media Ratings Council standard for viewability with 98% of all CTV ads tested exceeding the minimum mobile viewable display advertising impression standard of two seconds and 50% of an ad in view.

--Time spent viewing an ad correlates with overall brand lift. Across all the devices and ad formats tested, length of viewing time correlated with higher recall and purchase intent.

“It’s a credit to an experience that closely mirrors broadcast and cable TV viewership,” Michael Hudes, chief revenue officer, YuMe, told Real-Time Daily via email. “Given the positive brand resonance, CTV should be considered core to marketers’ cross-screen strategies.”

Hudes noted that the findings build on insights gleaned by YuMe through a study with IPG’s Media Lab, in which pre-roll was found to be the most engaging and least intrusive video format. 

Ads from auto, consumer packaged goods, financial services, and retail marketers were viewed by consumers for the study.  YuMe said 400 respondents interacted with video content across CTV, desktop, and mobile to compare viewability.

Connected TV users are forecast to reach 202.1 million by 2020, and represent 60.4% of the US population, up from 56.1% in 2016, according to eMarketer.

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