Online video advertising outstrips viewing
February 16, 2012
Findings from video technology company FreeWheel’s latest quarterly ‘Video Monetisation Report’ indicates that for the second quarter in a row, video advertising volume growth outpaced video viewing volume growth. Ad loads (the number of video ads per video view) increased over time, while video ad completion rates remained stable.
According to FreeWheel, this illustrates that digital video is increasingly monetised – as is the case with traditional broadcast television – with viewers continuing to accept an increased number of ads in order to view valued content.
FreeWheel’s report analysed more than 45 billion video views and nearly 28 billion video ad views throughout the 2011 calendar year, aggregated data from FreeWheel’s customers such as ESPN, Discovery, AOL, VEVO, Turner, Fox, CBS, and A+E Networks.
Other key findings:
– Consumers watched more than twice as many ads during videos 20+ minutes long in Q4 than they did in early 2011. Ad loads, or the number of video ads per video view, now stands at just over seven commercials.
– Despite surveys that may indicate otherwise, FreeWheel’s real-world data showed that viewers continue to accept an increased numbers of ads in order to view valued content. Completion rates for video ads held steady at 88 per cent for Q4.
– Mid-roll video ad placements had the most dramatic growth in 2011, for three reasons: more mid-form (five to 20 minutes) and long-form content was made available online, more mid-roll ad pods (or commercial breaks) were created within that content, and more video ads per pod were added.