Online Video Viewers Want Less Intrusive Ads

With strong audience preferences against intrusive video ads, less is more

NEW YORK (Oct. 6, 2009)—The less intrusive advertising is, the more people accept it. For example, an MTV Networks/InsightExpress study found their audience liked how short preroll and overlay ad combinations appeared and then disappeared, making them lower-impact and less intrusive—but with higher awareness metrics, too.

To surmount negative audience attitudes towards online video ads, marketers will need to develop a mix of ad formats that suits the increasingly varied content consumed. Therefore, a less intrusive mix of preroll and other ad delivery formats, such as overlays, could help reduce audience resistance. Video ads attached to traditional content, for example, TV programs, will evoke more positive audience attitudes than other types of online video.

“It will mean making the length of video ads suitable to the length of content, so that they are not too pushy, and devoting resources to develop high-quality video creative that is well-targeted to the intended online audience,” said David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the report “Marketing to the Online Video Audience.”

Marketers still generally shun user-generated video, but the proliferation of short professional content gives them more opportunities for video advertising. Choosing an appropriate amount of advertising for the content and its audience will be key.

TV and online video are not one and the same—the Internet audience does not necessarily respond to the same ads in the same way they would after viewing them on TV. Therefore, developing ad creative just for Internet video will give marketers a competitive edge.

Source: eMarketer