Online Video Ad Types Ranked by Appeal to Viewers

January 29, 2014

This article is included in these additional categories:

Creative & Formats | Data-driven | Digital | Personalization | Video

Yahoo-Appeal-of-Online-Video-Ad-Types-Jan2014Online video ad views have gone on a tear in the past few months, with the growth in ad views outpacing content view increases by a significant margin. In a recent study, Yahoo looked at the online video space via a survey of 1,775 consumers aged 16-44 who watch online video at least several times a week. While respondents still prefer to see ads rather than pay for subscriptions, some types of ads are more appealing than others.

Across 6 ad types listed, pre-rolls emerged as the most acceptable type of ad, cited by 22% of respondents. Not far behind, interactive ads and sponsorships are relatively appealing to respondents (each type at 18%). And while banner ads and wrapped banners (each at 15%) are on the “less acceptable” end of the scale, it’s mid-rolls that are the least acceptable, favored by just 12% of respondents.

That’s understandable, given that mid-rolls are more disruptive than pre-rolls. But for advertisers, mid-rolls might be a better bet, according to recent research from Akamai. Akamai’s study found that the position of an ad within the video has the largest impact on its completion rate, and that mid-rolls are 18.1% more likely to be completed than the same ad as a pre-roll. (For their part, pre-rolls were 14.3% more likely to be completed than the same ad served up after a video has finished. Yahoo, curiously enough, did not measure post-rolls.) What’s more, data traced from Akamai’s video delivery network confirmed that mid-rolls had the highest completion rate ”“ of 97% ”“ followed by pre-rolls (74%) and post-rolls (45%).

That’s a fairly intuitive result: already invested in the video content, viewers are unlikely to abandon it due to an ad, however unappealing that ad might be to them.

There are certain ways that ads could up their appeal to viewers: many respondents to the Yahoo survey expect online advertising to be more interactive (57%) and to be directly relevant to them (48%). A majority 55% expect to be able to choose the ads they see.

As for relevance? About 4 in 10 would be happy to share information about their shopping habits in order to receive more relevant ads targeted to them. Another 4 in 10 would consider doing so, with only 16% unwilling.

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