Six-second video ads are on the rise in a big way. The number of vendors running this ad format is up 300% compared to the same quarter last year, according to Extreme Reach’s Q1 2018 Video Advertising Benchmark Report.
The TV and video ad technology firm says it expects “exponential increases” in six-second ad adoption, driven by completion rates significantly higher than other forms of video advertising.
The ad format, which gained in popularity in the latter half of 2017, now accounts
for 2.8% of all video ads, up from only 0.4% in Q1 of 2017.
The report also found that ad fraud continues to decline, with filtered general invalid traffic now at 3.7%, a decline of
32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Viewability, meanwhile, continues to rise, with modest gains in Q1.
While desktop viewership continues its steady decline, and mobile remains top of the media heap, over-the-top and connected TV devices were the fastest-growing category of devices in Q1. Those devices saw impressions rise 47.6% year over year.
“The way consumers interact with media is almost completely different than it was just a few short years ago. As ‘lean back’ is supplanted by ‘on-the-go,’ brands are learning quickly that their campaigns must also adapt -- and that means more video,” says Mary Vestewig, senior director of video account management at Extreme Reach, explaining the key findings in the report.
You can read the full report here.
The correct title for this article to avoid misleading readers is, "Six-Second Digital Video Ads Explode In Popularity" and, frankly, 2.8% of all digital video ads---up from .4%---- in 2017 may seem like an "explosion" to some but I would regard it as more of a "pop".
6-second ads take us half-way to the "blipverts" predicted by Max Headroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekg45ub8bsk
Personally, I would also find watching six second ads explode quite entertaining, hence the popularity?
Six second ads have higher completion rates than other (mostly longer) formats. Shocking. Who would have thought?
One second ads have even higher completion rates!
So if completion rate is your advertising goal - then go for it.
Coming soon will be a study that purports to show that one-second commercials have 50%of the advertising impact of six-second commercials, which, in turn, will be found to have 75% the impact of 15-second messages, etc. Ultimately, I expect that we will see "research" that credits zero ads with 33% of the impact of one-second commercials. I wonder what CPMs the sellers will charge advertisers for not running their ads at all?