Online Video Ad Completion Rates Top 90% For Authenticated Viewers

While the IAB was tracking digital video advertising revenue, FreeWheel was figuring out the trends behind the viewership of online video advertising. The ad technology and monetization company released its Q3 Video Monetization Report for 2014, noting the substantial 368% growth in authenticated video ad views over 2013.

FreeWheel arrived at the 368% year-over-year number after counting ad views on content from behind authentication walls (where users need to provide their login credentials for their programming distributor, like Comcast or DirectTV, to access the content). The ad monetization company noted authenticated views were evenly split between both live and on-demand content, and accounted for 46% of all ad views on long-form content (20+ minutes) on all online video platforms.

Interestingly enough, FreeWheel’s Video Monetization Report revealed how the quantity of ads on long-form content grew by 41% year-over-year while completion rates remained high at over 90% for both 15 and 30-second ads. This is important to note because even though some viewers have complained about the number of ads displayed during TV shows or films, FreeWheel’s stats prove users are still willing to sit through TV-like advertising on their digital platforms to watch their favorite content.

Finally, FreeWheel wanted to see on what devices marketers were investing their advertising and monetization efforts. The company found ad monetization hit double digit growth for all devices, including desktop/laptops, smartphones, tablets and over-the-top (OTT). But the biggest growth in 2014 happened on OTT devices with a 208% year-over-year increase in spend from 2013 (jumping from only 2% of total ad views by device to 6%). It’s likely OTT advertising and monetization will increase over the next few years, especially with companies like CBS and HBO creating their own subscription services.

“The paramount importance of digital video to the future of TV and entertainment has become indisputable,” writes FreeWheel’s Brian Dutt in the report. “New digital-only offerings by TV networks, a dramatic increase of streaming device sales, ever-expanding screen sizes, media conglomerates purchasing digital-first Publishers, and a new generation of platform-agnostic millennial viewers coming of age – all continue to drive advertising dollars to digital channels.”

You can view the rest of the report by downloading it from FreeWheel’s site (but you’ll need to register first).