NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AdoTube, the Exponential-owned in-stream advertising specialist, today announced the release of its 2012 Global Format Index, which showcases data from more than 9,500 campaigns and nearly 13.5 billion impressions. The research shows that interactive pre-rolls not only drove the highest click-through rates (CTR), but also demonstrated a significant increase in engagement rates over the previous year, growing by 80% from 2011 to 2012. The highest growth by region was found in Russia at 8.2%, followed by 7.7% in Southeast Asia and 5.6% in the Middle East.
“This tremendous increase in consumer engagement makes sense. The industry has really evolved over the past year, providing new and innovative ways for consumers to interact with brands while watching video,” said Steve Jones, chief of strategy and operations of AdoTube.
The index also revealed that marketers should vary their in-stream video length depending on brand goals. To drive video completions, brands should consider 15-second spots instead of 30. These shorter spots achieved a 20% higher viewing completion rate. However, for brands looking to drive traffic or engagement, the 30-second spot proved more effective with 19% percent and 24% higher rates than 15-second ads, respectively.
AdoTube found that including a “dismiss option” within the ad creative yields higher user engagement. Only 11% of users elect to dismiss AdoTube full-stream units, compared to 55% to 85% for YouTube TrueView ads, and an average of 1.1% of users opted to re-engage with the unit via AdoTube’s leave behind reminder unit, Sniper. AdoTube discovered that including the dismiss button can reduce page abandonment by as much as 8%.
Jones commented: “Historically, AdoTube has provided innovative and dynamic ways to engage audiences. We were thrilled that the study showed AdoTube exceeding industry engagement and CTR benchmarks across all markets globally.”
Index highlights and global insights:
- Increase in global adaption of standard pre-roll attributed to in-stream advertisement rates similar to what U.S. experienced when the market first started testing video formats
- CPG delivered the most impressions globally, followed closely by Retail and Auto
- CPG and auto have a large presence year-round, while mobile and travel focus on Q2 and Q3, respectively
- AdoTube exceeded industry CTR benchmarks across all markets, with particularly high growth in SE Asia, the United Kingdom and Canada
- Canada has shown strong growth for in-stream video, running twice as many campaigns in Q4’ 2012 as the previous quarter and more than five times as many as in Q1
- Q4 proved to be the most active across all global markets for video, potentially an indicator of continued growth for the sector
Demographic differences
Younger demographics, ages 18-34 and 35-54 are more engaged with in-stream ads overall, with a 17% higher average click-through and engagement rate and 8% higher video completion rate compared to the 55+ demographic. In particular, the index showed people between the ages of 18-34 are most likely to click on content for real estate (83%) and consumer packages goods (38%) when compared to older demographics. Click-through rates for ages 35-54 are higher for food services (62%) and government (12%) for the 55+ demographic.
Top verticals by gender include consumer packaged goods and fashion, with 28% and 19% higher click-through rates for females, while web services and gaming have 52% higher click-through rates for males. Sports and electronics secure higher engagement rates for males (56% and 17%, respectively), while retail verticals secure 11% higher video completion rates for females.
The index findings include data from more than 9,500 AdoTube campaigns running from Q1’2010 through Q4’2012, which provide an understanding for the increased success of interactive pre-roll and consumer engagement rates by demographic and market globally.
Past reports can be found at http://adotube.com/site/insights/research.
About AdoTube
AdoTube is a global in-stream video advertising solution. We provide publishers and advertisers with easy and efficient access to in-stream video advertising and the solutions to target and optimize across multiple devices and video formats.
AdoTube is a division of Exponential Interactive, Inc., a global digital advertising company headquartered in Emeryville, California, which offers its solution to brand advertisers in 26 countries worldwide.