Long-form online video ad views are experiencing tremendous growth, according to data from FreeWheel, as reported by eMarketer.
This refers specifically to video ads that play during videos 20 minutes or longer. Those served on FreeWheel’s network experienced a massive 86% jump year over year in the fourth quarter, after experiencing a 56% YoY jump the prior quarter.
eMarketer shares this visualization:
Not only are the views growing, but completion rates have been significantly higher than they have been for ads on short and medium-length videos (0-5 minutes and 5 -20 minutes respectively). The completion rates are even better for the same length ads on long-form videos compared to short and medium-length. According to the data, fifteen-second ads saw a 92% completion rate compared to 82% for medium-length and 75% for short. Ads twice as long saw only a slight decline in completion rate (90%).
It makes sense. Consumers are likely committing to completing longer videos, and there therefore sitting through the ads to do so. With long-form videos, people know they’re going to spending some time watching. With shorter videos, users often aren’t going to give them as much of a chance to capture their interest, and may decide sitting through an ad isn’t worth the time they’re going to spending watching the video itself.
Image via eMarketer