At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, Adobe released a report showing increased viewer acceptance of TV-like ad experiences on the Web. The report found high audience engagement with ads during live online events and mid-roll commercial breaks and that users are the most actively engaged viewers when it comes to consuming video ads on tablets and smartphones.
Compiling data from the last six months of 2011, the semi-annual report was generated using an aggregated and anonymous sample of 2.5 billion ad impressions served via Adobe Auditude, Adobe's video ad management and monetization platform and a key component of Adobe's Project Primetime. The report shows that online video ad consumption is beginning to mirror that of traditional TV commercials, opening the door to greater revenue potential for media companies. Compared to data from the first six months of 2011, there has been an increase in the average number of video ads per content stream in professional, long form content and the record high completion rates for video ads.
"Market research shows that over the next five years the number of people watching video content online could grow as much as 50 percent, and a significant number of them will be doing so on connected devices like tablets, IPTVs and smartphones," said Jeremy Helfand, vice president, Monetization at Adobe. "For professional content owners and media companies exploring TV-like ad experiences online, the latest data demonstrates the strong potential for extending traditional broadcast advertising dollars to digital video."
Key Findings of the Report:
- The mid-roll video ad format continues to hold its place as the most engaging online ad placement and easily outperforms completion rates of pre-roll and post-roll ads. With an 87 percent completion rate, mid-roll ads are performing almost 30 percent better than pre-rolls. This placement is most comparable to traditional TV commercial breaks, which suggests audience willingness for consuming TV-like ad experiences online.
- Completion rates on mobile devices are the highest of any environment with 94 percent, suggesting that mobile viewers are more engaged and open to watching ads on the go in exchange for the content they want, where and when they want it.
- Live content continues to drive the highest engagement rates when compared to video-on-demand (VOD) content. The completion rate of video ads in live content now reaches 85 percent, almost one quarter higher (23 percent) than ads within VOD content. This suggests viewers understand they may miss their opportunity to see the content once the live event is over so they are more willing to stay focused during commercial breaks.
- An average of 5.5 video ads are now being served as part of long form, professional content. With an average completion rate of 70 percent, viewers are willing to watch more ads through their entirety in exchange for professional content. Completion rates of ads in professional content are higher (76 percent) compared to those in user-generated content (UGC) with 63 percent, which indicates the ability of professional content to better engage audiences.
- The majority of overlay ads continue to be delivered across UGC while the majority of linear ads are served across professional content.