Report: Video Ad Viewing Grows 19 Percent

NEEDHAM, MASS.—It looks like viewers aren’t just eagerly awaiting the “skip ad” icon to appear on video ads anymore. A Q2 2017 Benchmark report from Extreme Reach reveals that there has been an increase in consumer response to video advertising, in part because advertisers are putting out better video content.

The key areas of increase in the report are in viewability, completion rates and time spent metrics. Findings showed that the average amount of time viewers spend watching video ads has increased across the board by 19 percent. Meanwhile viewabiliy has gone up 20 percent over the same period in 2016. In addition, there has been a 20 percent increase in completion rate; a 36 percent increase for premium publishers since this time last year.

Another key finding is that screen preferences are likely changing. The report found a 54 percent increase in Click-through rate of media aggregators on desktops, while premium publishers, who are running more on mobile devices and connected TVs, saw a 37 percent decrease in CTR. Mobile could have a larger impact in the future, as small video players—less than 400x300 in pixels—saw a jump in usage.

Other statistics from this Q2 2017 report showed that General Invalid Traffic is down 33 percent from last year and that there was a 17 percent drop in video in-banner ads as well.