Native Video Ads More Effective Than Pre-Roll Ads

A recent study by Sharethrough and Nielsen shows that native video ads are more effective at increasing brand lift than pre-roll ads.

The study compared pre-roll ads to native video ads in five marketing campaigns. According to the research, native ads were more effective at increasing brand reach in all the cases studied.

For its study Sharethrough defines native video ads as user-initiated videos that do not have a limit on length. Pre-roll ads were defined as auto-played video on user-selected content that is no longer than 30 seconds in length.

According to the study, consumers were less likely to respond positively to brand surveys featured after a pre-roll video ad. Sharethrough VP of Marketing and Communications Chris Schreiber says the data shows that consumers prefer choice.

“While we’ve always considered it to be self-evident that choice beats interruption, sometimes you just need data to help hammer home the case,” said Schreiber in a blog post.

“This report helps illustrate the positive impact that native ads can have for brand advertisers and why they should be careful about the use of interruptive advertising mediums.”

Sharethrough’s research found that native ads create about 82 percent brand lift among consumers who see the ads. In comparison, it was found that pre-roll ads only offered about a 2 percent brand lift among consumers who were exposed to the forced advertisement.

The study’s data comes as consumers began watching online video in growing numbers. Over 24 billion videos streamed online in the U.S. in December of last year, according to the study. Sharethrough and Nielsen’s study also found that U.S. consumers spent 360 billion minutes online last December.

Study results come from five campaigns run by Sharethrough. The company worked with brands to offer the same message in both native and pre-roll advertisements. Following the campaigns, Nielsen used its Online Brand Effect platform to measure brand lift and other metrics.

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