Online advertising has become the most effective tool for marketing. It may include anything from text and display advertisements. Online display advertisements, online video advertisements in particular, have more impact on the customers when compared to others. However, the online video ad completion is not only based on the length of the video but also on the length of the content surrounding it.
A study was conducted by the content delivery network, Limelight Networks, on video ads which were served during the first half of 2010. It was found that the online video ad completion rate was about 76.6% for 15-second ads and 54.8% for 30-second ads.
However, another study was conducted by the FreeWheel which is an ad management technology provider. It was conducted to find the video ad tolerance of videos with different lengths of content. The study revealed that both 15-second and 30-second ads were completely viewed at identical and higher rates when they were supported by long-form content. The completion rate for 15-second online video ads from the first quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2011 was found to be 91% when supported with longer content. The completion rate for the 30-second was almost similar and was 90%.
Apart from the length of the video and length of content, the position of the ad also affects the video ad completions. It was found that mid-roll ads cannot be skipped mostly and were viewed completely more than 90% of the time between Q1 2010 and Q1 2011.