• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, May 17, 2017

Connected TV and mobile devices are gaining ground, as marketers increase completion and click-through rates, but "time earned" has become the more important metric.

Time earned refers to the average number of extra seconds a user engages with an interactive video, which extends the amount of time spent with an ad.

On average, marketers have tripled their 15-second investment without buying more time simply by adding interactive features to their video ads, according to a study released by video marketing platform Innovid. 

Custom interactive video campaigns deliver an average of 41 additional seconds in time earned on top of the time spent watching the 15- or 30 -econd pre-roll, nearly tripling a 15-second ad spot.

The findings released in Innovid's 2017 Global Video Benchmarks Report are part of a year-long study analyzing thousands of video campaigns with billions of impressions across more than 200 global brands.

Overall, the findings suggest advanced video is driving more value and yielding higher benchmarks across the board over standard pre-roll video, but the performance varies across publisher types, ad lengths, and player sizes.

For example, targeted custom video messages delivered on connected TVs generate the highest completion rates compared with any other device or format, up 73% compared with mobile and a 23% when compared with desktop.

"The relationship between the content and experience matters when it comes to capturing the attention of viewers, but having the ability to stay with the viewer gives marketers extra time earned," said Ronnie Lavi, SVP of Product at Innovid.

"It's not really about the completion rate but the time earned with the consumer," Lavi said.

The study also looked at ad blocking. Innovid's technology can detect "bad impressions," either fraudulent, nonhuman or not safe. In partnership with DoubleVerify and other partners, Innovid can block the impressions in real time and save marketers from having the ad serve and costing them unnecessary dollars.

It turns out that fraud was the biggest cause of impressions being blocked.  About 38% of impressions were due to ad fraud; 9.1% blocked for low media quality;  21%, for content; 11%, geolocation; ; and 8%, keywords.