For eons, it seems, advertisers have harnessed the power of online video ads to boost brand awareness. And to no one’s surprise, these videos delivered – viewers knew all about your products and services thanks to the unstoppable force of online exposure. What many marketers didn’t know, however, is that online brand videos contained many hidden powers. These often went untapped as brands directed all their energies at awareness-building. This is throwing away opportunity by the truckload.

Opportunities Emerge

Probe a little deeper, and you’ll discover that digital vids are more than awareness-builders. Indeed, they can impact viewers during every phase of the customer journey. Moreover, these digital advertisements can dramatically increase a brand’s chances for getting a positive return on ad spend (ROAS).

Not surprisingly, YouTube has taken the lead in the quest to unleash the full power of video ads. Two studies in particular showcase the influence of brand videos seen on the massively popular site. Researchers placed much of their attention on TrueView, YouTube’s ad format that offers skippable advertisements and other user-friendly options. As the studies demonstrated, TrueView had a positive impact on virtually every brand metric of the customer journey, including consideration, favorability, purchase intent, and sales.

One important discovery made by researchers is this — TrueView has the greatest impact on consumers after about thirty seconds of video have elapsed. Conventional online video ads require multiple exposures before consumers are noticeably affected. TrueView, however, hit the bulls eye after only one exposure. Video ads seen via this format saw a positive impact on viewer consideration in 57% of campaigns, a positive impact on favorability in 24% of campaigns, and a positive impact on purchase intent in 35% of campaigns.

Of course, exposures are not the key to TrueView. The real advantage here is the format’s skippability. By allowing viewers to choose their video ads, YouTube invariably boosts engagement levels. It’s a natural outcome — people are much more likely to engage with content they’ve personally selected.

Among research subjects who elected to watch 30 or more seconds of a video ad vs. subjects who didn’t, all metrics were positively impacted. Consideration was 45% higher, favorability, 14% higher, and purchase intent, 19% higher. Clearly, the longer viewers engage with your brand, the better the outcomes.

Creativity as Influencer

Given this correlation between viewing time and impact on key consumer metrics, it behooves video marketers to step up their efforts to keep eyeballs glued to the screen. Interestingly, creative choices can and often do influence viewing time. Let’s consider logo placement, for instance. On the surface, logos don’t appear to have much impact on long-term engagement. Yes, they capture attention and reinforce brand image. But that’s the extent of it, right? Not in the online video world. Here, at least, logo placement can make a big difference if a brand is shown within the first five seconds of a video. As has been demonstrated, viewers have a stronger response to logos clearly attached to their respective products than to those that are disconnected, hovering in open space.

Studies also have show that entertainment value boosts engagement – ads that offer humorous content or feature celebrities are skipped far less often than conventional online video ads.

The takeaway from findings such as these is crystal clear – video marketers should do everything possible to increase viewing time. Whether that means focusing on proper logo placement, incorporating entertainment elements, or implementing other available solutions, the goal is higher engagement. This is critical. As previously noted, viewer engagement has a direct bearing on consumer metrics such as consideration, favorability, purchase intent, and sales.

Would you like to learn more about increasing viewer engagement with video ads, or about any other video topic? Reach out to IDR for additional information and answers to all your questions. You’ll discover why we’re Orange County’s premier producer of TV commercials, infomercials, and online videos for a wide range of businesses, organizations, and brands.