Even in the age of ad-skipping, it seems that many people are still willing to sit through increasing numbers of video ads online. Video ad completion rates are at an all-time high across all content lengths in spite of the fact that more ads, according to a report published by Freewheel, a sell-side video ad management platform. For long- form content (20+ minutes), 93% of ads were completed, 81% for mid-form content (5- 20 minutes), and 68% for short-form content (<5 minutes).
Ads are now also more likely to be longer, with TV-style 30 second spots are taking over from 15-second video format which Freewheel say dominated in 2011. However, long-form video still hasn’t caught up with TV in the US in terms of commercial breaks: long-form Web videos of 20+ minutes now have 9.4 video ads per video view, while the standard 30-minute TV show in the US has anywhere from 16-20 commercials.
Video viewing on non-desktop devices (smartphones, tablets, game consoles, etc.) continues to rise, representing 12% of total video viewing. That mightn’t sound like too much until you consider that mobile and console consumption represented just 2% of video viewing in Q4 2011. Freewheel also says Apple devices are dominating the mobile and tablet market, with 60% watching video on iOS devices and 32% on Android.
Unsurprisingly, the amount of professional, rights-managed video content being consumed online continues to rise, with total video views up 23% year over year. Video ad volume spiked 47% year over year, fueled by holiday spending and increased ad loads; long-form content (20+ minutes) has an average of 9.4 video ads per video view – up from 6.9 in the same quarter last year; pre-roll volume rose 45% and mid-roll volume rose 60%. In 2012, the standard 30-second TV ad became the format most used on the Web as well.
