Video advertisement study

The research question

A 2019 preliminary study had identified ad length and the presence of a skip button as the two factors that most affect how disruptive a video ad feels. This study placed the least disruptive of those formats alongside Standard-compliant ads, an animated skyscraper, a video overlay and a no-ad experience, in two contexts: a news site and a video streaming site.

Method and sample

4,008 ad-blocking participants from the US, Germany and France, on desktop. Each participant rated four mock experiences on disruptiveness, intrusiveness, annoyance, enjoyment and overall satisfaction, then compared pairs of experiences directly.

Main findings

• —Video ads longer than six seconds were rated clearly more annoying, intrusive and disruptive than Acceptable Ads formats. Results for the shortest tested format — a six-second, non-skippable video ad — and for the Animated Skyscraper were inconclusive: in most creative and context combinations both exceeded the disruptiveness threshold, though for one specific creative the six-second ad stayed just below it. The report does not describe either format as clearly acceptable or unacceptable.
• —The static video overlay was the worst-performing format on every measure.
• —A skip button consistently improved ratings — the report attributes this to the sense of control it gives users.
• —Pages using Acceptable Ads formats were rated about as well as pages with no advertising; only 7.2% rated the static top leaderboard very or extremely disruptive, against 57.4% for the video overlay.
• —Ad format, not the website or the creative, was what participants said drove their ratings most — though the creative measurably shifted ratings for formats that sat in the middle of the range.

These conclusions are limited to the specific formats, creatives, and contexts tested in this study.

Limitations and context

• —Self-reported ratings on mock pages rather than tracked behaviour on live sites.
• —Three markets only (US, Germany, France).
• —The study did not investigate why users find particular formats more annoying than others.