You May Hate Pre-Roll Ads, But Advertisers Love Them
Aug 12th, 2008 | By James Lewin | Category: Internet TV, VideoIf you’re like me, you probably think that sitting through pre-roll ads – online video ads that you have to sit through before you can watch what you really want to see – is up there with getting your teeth drilled.
In fact, a lot of people won’t sit through pre-roll ads. Three quarters of the people in a recent survey said that in-stream advertising is intrusive. Half (49.7%) of those surveyed will not sit through a pre-roll ad, and said the presence of in-stream advertising in online video content makes them less likely to view other video content they may encounter online.
Unfortunately, advertisers love pre-roll ads, so they won’t be going away anytime soon.
For example, TVWeek reports that online video ad network BrightRoll has signed a new $1 million month-long ad deal for pre-roll ads across 30 branded media publishers. According to BrightRoll, the $1 million pre-roll campaign is the first buy of that size. BrightRoll CEO Tod Sacerdoti said the size of the buy shows the importance of the pre-roll format for online video advertising.
Pre-rolls appeal to advertisers because they interrupt your attention, like television ads, and are more of a known quantity than other formats.
There’s a big downside to pre-roll ads: a lot of people won’t sit through them. But until someone comes up with something that’s less intrusive and more effective, expect to be seeing more pre-roll ads.
Update: More discussion at Clickz, Silicon Valley Insider
[...] like James Lewin over at Podcasting News continue to rail against the pre-roll as the most annoying form of ad there is, but as I discussed following the news of YouTube adopting [...]
[...] like James Lewin over at Podcasting News continue to rail against the pre-roll as the most annoying form of ad there is, but as I discussed following the news of YouTube adopting [...]
[...] Podcasting News breaks down the love-hate relationship of these controversial online ads. [...]
I have been thinking about pre roll ads for my Vancouver Moving Company, http://www.fergusonmoving.com.
However, I can’t decide who to approach with this. When people are trying to find container storage in vancouver, BC I want to be top of mind. The yellow pages are dying a fast death these days.
I don’t know if I agree that 50% of people won’t sit through them. If I want to watch something 10 seconds of sitting through a preroll ad is nothing. Do I want to? No. But I’d sit through it. and I know plenty of people who do. Which explains why HULU is still going strong.
I will give out a free tip to advertisers. This is how the preroll ad works with most consumers: See preroll ad, mute preroll ad, open new tab and do something else for 15-30 seconds, return to streaming video and unmute. Keep wasting your money on ads nobody watches. Most people on the internet won’t sit through a preroll ad that pisses them off in two different ways. First, it is interrupting them from watching them from watching the video they want. Strike one. Next, every single preroll ad starts at maximum volume making them stop what they are doing to lower the volume. Strike two.
-Have fun spending all of your money on marketing research for the perfect ad that consumers aren’t even watching-