Study: Selectable pre-roll ads show better recall, click throughs

A new study on monetizing online video says customizable pre-roll ads are more likely to be effective at holding a viewer's attention than traditional pre-roll ads. The study, by an industry coalition brought together by digital ad agency network Vivaki, looked at nearly 30 available ad formats over 16 months on trialing.

According to the study, the "Ad Selector" model, a Hulu innovation, allows users to pick a pre-roll ad from several options before watching online video content.

The report said Ad Selector showed higher click-through rates (106 percent), and significantly higher ad recall rates--as high as 290 percent--than traditional pre-roll ads. The study will be presented at this month's Interactive Adverting Bureau's Annual Leadership Conference.

The report seemed to stir little excitement in the industry.

"[With Ad Selector], we've given the user control over which ad they see, but...they still see a pre-roll," said Corey Kronengold, author of the OnlineVideoWatch.com blog and and VP, communications, at video platform Twistage. "Pre-roll still dominates, and is going to continue to be the king of the online video ad hill until something dramatically and fundamentally changes."

For more:
- see this ClickZ report

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