Online ads need to be viewable for 14 secs to be seen: Report
An online ad needs to be on the screen for 14 seconds to have any chance of being looked at, according to a new study on the relationship between viewability, gaze time, ad clutter and people’s ability to remember ads. This was highlighted in a study by InSkin Media.
Ads achieving at least one second of gaze time are viewable for an average of 26 seconds. For at least two seconds gaze time the average viewability is 33 seconds, while for 3+ seconds gaze time, average viewability is 37 seconds.
The study which employed eye-tracking reveals that 25 per cent of ads defined as viewable – i.e. meeting minimum industry guidelines of 50 per cent of the pixels being on screen for least one second – are never looked at. One third achieve a gaze time (time spent actually looking at the ad) of less than a second, while only 42 per cent are looked at for at least a second. The median time a viewable ad is actually gazed at is 0.7 seconds.
The gaze time people spend looking at ads differs significantly across four key formats covered – led by page takeovers at 7.5 seconds down to MPUs at 0.7 seconds.
“A campaign should be assessed in three stages: did the ad have the opportunity to be seen, was it actually looked at and what was the impact. It should be judged and optimised against the last stage (impact) but the focus on viewability means campaigns are increasingly optimised against the first stage (the opportunity) which can be counter-productive to maximising impact. Why? Smaller formats have higher ‘opportunity to be seen’ rates as their size means it’s easier to hit viewability thresholds – but gaze time is very low. Thus, it’s optimising on low engagement and low impact,” said Steve Doyle, InSkin Media’s CCO.
According to the report, ad clutter also impacts how long people look at ads and their ability to remember them. In cluttered scenarios, ad gaze time decreases by 37 per cent on average across the formats.
Although page takeover formats aren’t affected, clutter means ad recall drops by an average of 20 per cent across the other three formats – billboards, half-page’s and MPU’s – with billboards being most affected (-26 per cent).
“Ad clutter significantly reduces the attention each ad receives. This translates into weaker recall and lower ad effectiveness. Publishers must tread the fine line between more ads which drives more revenue, on a CPM basis, or less ads which mean stronger results for advertisers and a better user experience. It’s obvious which one is most conducive to long-term loyalty from clients and readers,” adds Mr Doyle.
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