Backed by research: Online video advertising

Online video advertising is a growing area in marketing communication.  Agency people are advising their clients to start investing in this form of marketing to reach a wider audience. An eMarketer  report estimates that video views among internet users grew by 23% in 2013.Although there are some local brands that have pioneered in online video advertising, there are still a large number of clients who are hesitant to. A spokesperson from MEC shared that the research from the Malaysian market is still not substantial enough to convince clients so they have to rely on results of global research.With YouTube being the highest ranked video portal in Malaysia, brands have been choosing this platform to feature their video ads. Google who owns YouTube recently acquired comScore, an ad measurement firm to come up with a method of measuring ad impact similar to that used for TV.Akamai Technologies conducted a study that took an in-depth look at when viewers complete watching video ads and when they abandon them. The study involved 367 million videos and 257 million ads from over 3,000 publishers, viewed by 65 million unique viewers worldwide. Some of the key findings included:The position of an ad is one of the largest factors to affect the impact of a video ad. A mid-roll ad is 18.1% more likely to be viewed right to the end compared to the same ad being played pre-roll.Ads that play with long format content (movies and TV episodes) are more likely to be watched at a rate of 87% than those that play with short form content.Visitors to site that keep coming back are more tolerant of the ads and more likely to compete the ad as one-time visitorsThe day of the week or the time of the day does not affect ad completions rates