Impact of scroll speed on video ad engagement

Using HD mobile eye trackers Teads was able to analyse the engagement of 115 participants with video advertising across a variety of website environments. Eye tracking sessions were then followed up with interviews to ascertain relevant ad effectiveness KPIs.

“With the rise of mobile, there are an endless number of content environments for marketers to reach their target audiences in, which inevitably calls into question which ones are the most effective in engaging consumers,” said Bertrand Quesada, CEO of Teads.

The results reveal that the speed at which users scroll on a website greatly affects engagement. Social media users scroll 50% more when viewing their social feeds. As might be expected, this faster pace leads to less engagement with advertising. Of course, it may also be that users are purposefully scrolling faster past what they perceive to be non-social interactions, to avoid exposure to advertising.

Meanwhile, on premium publisher sites, user scroll far slower and scroll less, and are therefore far more likely to absorb and give attention to content on those sites. It follows, therefore, that “videos embedded in a slower, more concentrated environment have a higher chance of attracting attention than one embedded in a fast-paced, social feed context”.

Furthermore, the study found that content environments impact on ad viewership. While nearly 9 in 10 users view in-article video ads within premium content, just 6 in 10 view video ads within social feeds. Users were also found to look 24% longer at in-article video ads compared with video ads appearing in social feeds.