Viewers pay more attention to online video ads than to TV commercials, and have better product recall, according to a new study.
The research, from video ad network YuMe and IPG Media Lab, measured the reactions of 48 viewers watching one hour of programming.
Using facial tracking algorithms and biometric monitoring, a second-by-second monitoring of cognition, excitement, and stress found that despite constant distractions in both mediums, online video commands higher attention and recall from viewers.
Online video ads received 18.3% more viewer attention in the study than TV commercials, a much higher disparity than the 8.5% greater viewer attention garnered by online video content over TV content.
Key findings include:
– Viewer distractions, most commonly in the form of smartphones—which are “a persistent companion to video content”—reduce attention to ads for both TV and online video
– Versus online video, TV has 3x the drop in attention from content to ad
– 63 percent of TV impressions were ignored
– Online video content gets 8.5 percent more attention than TV and online video ads have 18.3 percent more fully attentive viewers than TV ads
– Online ads have 1.8x the aided recall and 1.5x the unaided recall of TV ads
– TV viewers are exposed to nearly twice as many video ads as online viewers.
Read the full report (PDF) here.
