Video Advertising Report Reveals Completion Rates at New Highs, Fraud Rates at New Lows

By Sudipto Ghosh On May 22, 2018

Video Advertising Report Reveals Completion Rates at New Highs, Fraud Rates at New Lows

Performance Benchmarks from Extreme Reach Show Positive Trends for Campaign Metrics That Matter for Brands and Agencies in Video Advertising

Video advertising technology provider, Extreme Reach has released its Q1 2018 Video Advertising Benchmark Report, bringing brands and agencies fresh insights into performance trends and comparisons for judging campaign success. The report found that the Desktop campaigns have experienced its fourth consecutive quarter of decline. Dropping 41.6 percent compared to Q1 2017, desktop impressions are now just 24.0 percent of the total.

The quarterly report from Extreme Reach examines trends in click-through, completion and viewability rates as well as invalid traffic and time spent, with breakdowns according to purchase method (i.e., premium media sites vs. media aggregators) and device used (i.e., desktop, mobile, tablet and Connected Television [CTV]).

Advertiser Demand for Accountability Driving Increased Vigilance Among Ad Tech Vendor

*Mary Vestewig, Senior Director, Video Account Management, Extreme Reach*

At the time of this announcement, Mary Vestewig, Senior Director, Video Account Management at Extreme Reach, said, “The way consumers interact with media is almost completely different than it was just a few short years ago, and as ‘lean back’ is supplanted by ‘on-the-go,’ brands are learning quickly that their campaigns must also adapt – and that means more video.”

Mary continued, “With these most recent metrics, the trends are unmistakably positive. As a result, we expect to see accelerated growth in cross-platform video advertising in the months and years ahead.”

The Average Completion Rate for 6-Second Ads Is 74%

Among the report’s key findings on top issues are —

Ad Fraud

Video continues to prove powerful in the fight against ad fraud, with filtered general invalid traffic reaching a new low of 3.7 percent, a reduction of 32.3 percent compared to Q1 2017. Premium media sites experienced even greater declines, dropping 45.9 percent year over year to reach just 2.2 percent. Extreme Reach attributes the declines to advertiser demand for accountability driving increased vigilance among ad tech vendors.

Viewability

Viewable completion rates (percentage of impressions that are both viewable and completed), remain on an upward trajectory, achieving modest gains over Q1 2017. On average, the percent of video ads that are both viewable and played in their entirety is an unprecedented 88 percent for premium media sites and 69 percent for aggregators.

Ad Lengths

After generating considerable buzz in the advertising world in the second half of 2017, 6-second ads picked up steam in Q1 2018. Extreme Reach saw the number of vendors running 6-second ads increase over 300 percent versus Q1 2017. The new format currently accounts for 2.8 percent of all video ads served by Extreme Reach, up from .04 percent in Q1 2017.

The video benchmarks report shows the average completion rate for 6-second ads is 74%, but when removing any impressions where 3rd party measurement was not also available for completion, the rate jumps to 90%. These numbers are likely to drive exponential increases in the quarters ahead.

Engagement

After several quarters of declining click-through rates (CTR), Q1 2018 featured a reversal of the trend, with both premium media and aggregators showing increases. Mobile continues to prove the most effective channel for advertisers driving user action from video advertising, as indicated by an increase in CTR of 79.2 percent from the prior quarter.

Still, this remains 20.4 percent lower than the peak seen in Q1 2017. Tablets also showed gains for the first time in 3 consecutive quarters, increasing 40.0 percent from the previous high in Q1 2017 and 90 percent over Q4 figures.

Devices

Responsible for one-third of all video ad impressions, mobile is solidifying its position at the head of the media-consumption pack. CTV/OTT is also growing quickly, largely driven by the increasing number of consumers who are “cutting the cord.” In Q1 2018, these platforms realized a 47.6 percent increase in impressions year over year.

Desktop, on the other hand, experienced its fourth consecutive quarter of decline. Dropping 41.6 percent compared to Q1 2017, desktop impressions are now just 24.0 percent of the total.

For the next benchmark report, Extreme Reach will continue to monitor trends and insights in order to provide agencies and brands with the video advertising metrics that matter for their business.

Currently, Extreme Reach offers the only enterprise technology designed distinctly to bring together the TV and video ad workflow and all aspects of Talent & Rights management in a single, easy-to-use cloud platform.