Recent data from comScore has shown that online video ad viewers are seeing a growing frequency of ads this year. New research from FreeWheel confirms that the same trend is occurring when looking specifically at multichannel video programming distributors’ videos, as publishers try to replicate TV ad loads online without turning off viewers. During Q3, FreeWheel says that the typical long-form (20+ minutes) video view carried 11.6 ads, up from 9.1 on average during the corresponding period last year. Ad completion rates haven’t suffered.
At 91%, the video ad completion rate for long-form content is essentially unchanged from Q3 2012’s 90%, despite viewers seeing 30% more ads this year. Concurrent with these trends is a continuing move towards TV-length ads during long-form content, a shift first explored in FreeWheel’s Q2 report. According to this latest quarterly offering, 65% of ads during long-form content are now 30-second creative. Interestingly, 30-second ads now comprise 49% of ad views for short-form content, too. Separately, the research indicates that viewers are now seeing a pre-roll ad roughly for every other short-form video they watch.
Given the increase in ad loads, it’s not surprising that long-form ad views have grown the most on a year-over-year basis, up 56% in Q3, compared to 30% growth for video ad views during short-form content. With more TV Everywhere deployments occurring, the researchers note that authentication rates – the percentage of total ad views coming through MVPD video players or applications – are rising quickly. These authenticated ad views now represent 14.2% of total ad views during long-form content, up from 5% during Q4 2012.
About the Data: The data in FreeWheel’s Q3 report represents video that is rights-managed: aggregate monetization data for professional content from FreeWheel’s customers, and does not reflect trends for user-generated content. Starting in Q2 2013, FreeWheel is solely reporting on U.S. based data. Any variation in data between this report and prior versions is due to extraction of international data. In upcoming quarters, FreeWheel will begin reporting separately on international results.
