Making a big impact with ultra-short video ads

Rob Gallagher/Ovum
29 Feb 2016
00:00

From the promise of digital…

Online video offers advertisers the opportunity to break free from traditional media’s constraints to experiment to provide more consumer-friendly experiences.

Many digital-first platforms – at least initially – limited ads to 30 seconds or less. Conversely, YouTube and Hulu have also allowed advertisers to offer ads several minutes long, as long as viewers can opt to skip the ad after 10 or so seconds.

Both approaches promise a better deal for the consumer. With ads of 30 second or less, someone watching, say, a three-minute short-form video is not forced to watch nearly as many minutes of ads. Skippable ads enable viewers to watch only the ads they choose to.
…to the problems of digital

Unfortunately, these supposedly consumer-friendly formats have had the unintended consequence of highlighting just how unpopular advertising is with many viewers.

Various reports over the years have suggested that viewers skip between 70–85% of skippable ads. People are also bypassing those relatively non-intrusive non-skippable 30 second ads, with YouTube star PewDiePie stating that about 40% of his viewers use technology to block ads from appearing.

Clearly, this is not what advertisers and platforms want. But, while some are looking to innovate, many are reverting to the ways of the past. Many broadcasters now offer video-on-demand services that feature several minutes of non-skippable ads in each pre- and mid-roll segment, just like good old TV.

The industry is also pouring a lot of energy into preventing ad avoidance, such as technologies that coerce viewers into switching off ad-blockers or trick the software by “seamlessly stitching” ad content with the main programming.
Ultra-short ads are a better deal for consumers

An alternative approach – and dare I say, a better use of energy – would be to focus on creating advertising that people are more willing to tolerate.

There are numerous ideas about how to make advertising more consumer-friendly, but many will be technically or commercially challenging to pull off, such as more accurate targeting or producing branded content at scale.

One simple way to would be to make ads shorter. It’s easy to see why this would be good news for consumers. They get to watch the videos of their choice with less interruption, while helping to generate ad revenue so that content owners can invest in more content.
The virtuous circle of eyeballs, algorithms, and ad loads

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