Swimming Upstream: Ads in Videos Don’t Always Make a Good Impression
Not sure whether to put in-stream ads in your online video content?
Consider this: a recent survey by Burst Media reports that over half (50.7%) of respondents stop watching an online video once they encounter an in-stream advertisement. And worse, 15.3% reported they immediately leave the site once they encounter such an ad in a video.
The research found that in-stream ads don’t always make a lasting impression. Two-thirds (69.1%) of respondents said they pay about the same or less attention to in-stream video advertisements than they do to standard creative units on the same page.
Burst conducted the survey of 2,600 Web users 18 years or older in Dec. 2007.
Nearly three out of five (58.8%) respondents view online video at least once a week. Men are more likely than women to view watch – 67.6% versus 49.4%, respectively. Men age 18-24 years are the most likely to watch, with a third reporting watching online video daily.
Overall, survey respondents cited news clips (44.4%) as their most popular content to view, followed by music (37.5%), comedy (35.5%), movie trailers/advertising (33.7%), TV shows/clips (33.1%), entertainment news/reviews (29.9%) sports (21.8%), instructional/how-to videos (19.2%), user generated content (15.4%) political videos (15.3%) and cooking videos (9%).
Age does make a difference in what users like to watch. Music was the top choice for respondents 18-24, with over half (53.1%) saying they watched it online. Comedy was next with this segment (46.9%), followed by TV shows/clips (44.4%) and movie trailers/ads (43%). For 25-34 year olds, entertainment was also the most popular. But beyond age 35, news was the leading choice.
