At what point do viewers typically abandon online ads? Does time-of-day impact ad completions? Join Akamai Technologies' webinar Tuesday 12/10 at 1pm EST on "Understanding the Effectiveness of Online Video Ads" to find out! Register here: http://www.media-server.com/m/p/8gha6vvh#!

1. Understanding Video Ads
1
ABANDONMENT RATE
COMPLETION RATE
Percentage of viewers who
have abandoned before a
given point in the ad.
Percentage of ads that a
viewer watches completely
without abandoning.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Ads placed in the middle of a video have higher completion
rates because viewers are more engaged with the video then.
COMPLETION RATE
FOR PRE-ROLL ADS
97
45
%
%
COMPLETION RATE
FOR MID-ROLL ADS
PATIENCE
Viewers watching a long-form video
(such as a TV episode or a movie)
are more likely to complete ads than
viewers watching short-form videos
(such as news clips or highlights).
COMPLETION RATE
FOR POST-ROLL ADS
100
Completion Rate (%)
74
%
80
60
40
20
0
Short-form videos
Long-form videos
SLOW VIDEO VS. ADS
People have more patience for ads than for slow-loading videos. Viewers abandon 3X
faster when waiting for a video to start than when they are watching a pre-roll ad.
THE FIRST
FEW
SECONDS
After ten seconds,
46% of viewers
will abandon a
slow loading video,
while only 13% of
viewers will abandon
a pre-roll ad.
LONGER ADS
MEAN LOWER
COMPLETION
Because viewers have less patience
for longer ads, they complete fewer.
WELCOME BACK
%
%
85
78
COMPLETION
RATE FOR
REPEAT
VISITORS
COMPLETION
RATE FOR
ONE-TIME
VISITORS
Repeat viewers are likely more interested in the video content
offered by a site than a viewer who only visits occasionally.
Repeat viewers tend to have much higher ad completion rates.
To learn how you can improve video performance and maximize
engagement, visit akamai.com/sola
1. “Understanding the Effectiveness of Video Ads: A Measurement Study” — S. Shunmuga Krishnan
(Akamai Technologies), and Ramesh K. Sitaraman (University of Massachusetts, Amherst & Akamai Technologies),
ACM Internet Measurement Conference, Oct 2013.
The data analyzed for this study spanned:
367MM videos watched | 257MM ads | 65MM unique viewers | From 3,000 publishers around the world