Pre-roll ads are the least interruptive, finds IPG study

Of all video ad formats, pre-roll ads are not only the most memorable and engaging, but also the least interruptive, finds a new Magna study.

The IPG Mediabrands agency partnered with video advertising company YuMe to examine the impact various ad formats have on the user experience. The study tracked the behavioral metrics of 6,864 participants who viewed non-skippable pre-roll, mid-roll and the newer outstream ads (videos that play automatically when in full view) from either H&M or Ghirardelli Chocolate across mobile and desktop screens.

The results, released on Monday in the report "The New Digital Video Landscape," show that while users find all of the ad formats intrusive, pre-roll ads were the least interruptive. Only 17 percent of participants said they felt disrupted by pre-roll when watching content. However, the numbers surged for outstream ads: 60 percent of mobile users and 46 percent of desktop users said the format was disturbing. Still, mid-roll ads saw the most pushback, with 72 percent of mobile users and 53 percent of desktop users criticizing the format.

Ad recall was also the strongest for pre-roll ads. On mobile, 65 percent of participants were able to remember the brands they had seen in pre-rolls ads, compared to 39 percent of viewers of mid-roll ads and 28 percent of viewers of outstream ads. On desktop, the results were similar.

Pre-roll ads were found to be more engaging than other formats On mobile, 54 percent of consumers said pre-roll was engaging, while 44 percent said mid-roll and 37 percent said outstream. The results were similar on desktop.

The findings reveal that consumers are most critical when viewing ads on their personal mobile devices. "To take advantage of higher purchase intent for all ad formats," the study notes, "ads must be less intrusive and more engaging to keep attention."