Report: Incentivized video ups engagement, awareness, purchasing

First, some video numbers. comScore reports 183 million US consumers watched online video content in October 2012; more than 37 billion clips were served with video ad units reaching a record 11 billion. Video ads now accounted for just over 22% of total videos viewed but for only about 1% of the total video minutes. Still, it can be hard for video advertisers to engage because of the interruptions.

According to new data out from Jun Group the key to engaging video is to make the transition seamless - in other words to give the viewer a reason to remain engaged. I.E. to incentivize the content.

"Gripes about pre-roll are nothing new, but until recently most marketers haven't realized that there is an alternative," explains Jun Group CEO, Mitchell Reichgut. "At Jun Group, we've long held that opt-in units are a better, more respectful way to reach consumers, and now the data speaks for itself. Incentivized ads outperform pre-roll on nearly every significant metric and deliver vastly better results for advertisers."

The report shows:

• Twice as many viewers interacted with a brand after viewing an incentivized clip
• Viewers are 50% more likely to complete an incentivized video ad (98% completion rate)
• Viewers are three times more likely to share incentivized clips, upping the reach of the brand through the social space
• Pre-roll ads top incentivized ads for driving brand awareness
• Incentivized units push high brand favorability than pre-roll units

Researchers sampled 7.7 million incentivized video ad views between May and August (2012) to come to their results.

Tags: comScore, Jun Group, online video, video ads, video trends, viral marketing