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Why do people skip online video ads?

Author's avatar By Robert Jones 24 Jul, 2017
Essential Essential topic

Chart of the day: People skip video ads because the content doesn't resonate with them

It's a familiar sight now, when watching online videos there is either a video ad before or during. Research carried out by MarketingSherpa found what we'd expect: people just want to watch videos without interruption. But in a world where we need advertising to fund content, there has to be a balance. The next highest answer was that the content doesn't resonate. We've talked before in our guides and blogs about personalisation and how the more personalized the content the more it resonates with customers. Perhaps video ads should be relevant to the specific video content?

The research shows people don't want their videos to be interrupted. Facebook recently changed their video advertising to show ads throughout the videos. This research suggests that it may cause more frustration. Respondents also say they don't have time to watch the videos, assumingly users may think they are usually time-consuming. The key findings from the research suggest that people want personalized video - they want to see relevant ads. People accept advertising but find it less frustrating when it's relevant to them.

Author's avatar

By Robert Jones

Robert Jones is a specialist in CRO, UX Research, insight and digital Marketing. He is CRO Analyst at Enjoy Digital. He has a Psychology Masters of Research, has run large digital marketing campaigns to build research panels and worked in insight roles for Vision Critical, ASDA and WhatUsersDo. He also managed all of Smart Insights member resources and published several guides including "How to conduct Persona Research" as well as contributing over 100 blog posts to the Smart Insights blog. When he isn’t working on marketing campaigns he is most likely eating authentic Italian food or planning his next short trip. You can connect with Robert on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.

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