DO 6-SECOND ADS WORK?

A new study says they do, at least on video sites where longer ads are skippable

 

By Garett Sloane. Published by Ad Age on 10 December 2020.

 

IPG Media Lab and Magna helped Snapchat study the effectiveness of shorter ads.

When it comes to ad lengths, size doesn’t matter. In fact, six-second ads carry as much punch as 15-second ads, if not more, according to a new study that could benefit Snapchat.

The study, from IPG Media Lab and Magna, was released this week and tests the short-video format, which has proliferated online. Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter all have some version of a 6-second spot, but the format has typically been considered an after-thought for creatives working on major campaigns.

Kara Manatt, SVP of intelligence and solutions at Magna, says that the six-second spot has finally come into its own though. The research showed that shorter ads persuaded more consumers to consider purchasing the products in the commercials than 15-second ads, particularly on Snapchat. The social media app cooperated with IPG Media Lab and Magna on the study.

“What we found was that shorter ads actually are much more effective than they used to be,” Manatt says. “We actually see a lot of persuasion happening.”

The study will be sure to meet some skepticism among advertising purists, with creatives at agencies still very much committed to longer ads with more cinematic qualities. TV networks have tried to adopt the six-second ad, too, but it’s still mostly found in social media and internet video sites.

Six-second ads have mostly been used as secondary components in campaigns, and are typically just shorter cuts of longer ads. But they perform better when they are conceived with the brevity baked into the concept, Manatt says.

Snapchat developed the six-second ad in 2018 as a way to offer an unskippable ad that was still short enough to pacify impatient viewers. For years, digital platforms have tried to prove that six seconds could offer a new kind of creative canvas for brands while also managing to satisfy the audience, which has been known to skip ads quickly when the option is there. “Consumers really like short ads right,” Manatt says.

Snapchat runs six-second commercials in its media section, which showcases high-production video programming from partners like BuzzFeed, Vice, Vox, CNN and others. Last quarter, Snapchat had its best performance yet selling ads with $679 million in revenue, an increase of 52 percent year over year.

“We’ve seen that shorter ad lengths, like our non-skip six-second Commercials, drive major outcomes,” said David Roter, Snap’s VP of global agency partnerships, in an e-mail statement about the study. “Snap internal data showed our immersive six-second ad format is effective at achieving both upper- and lower-funnel [objectives] for advertisers, and we wanted to test this hypothesis.”

The study compared six-second and 15-second ads on Snapchat. The 15-second ads are skippable on Snapchat. The study also looked at two other types of platforms, one was an unnamed “video aggregator” and the other was an unnamed “full-episode player.” A full-episode player is more like a TV network’s website, where viewers watch longer shows, and a video aggregator is closer to Snapchat’s style of video.

IPG Media Lab and Magna ran the study with four brands—Lego, Mini, Clinique and an unnamed consumer products brand. The result seemed to show that six-seconds performed better than 15-second ads on Snapchat in categories like “purchase intent” and “brand favorability.”

The results showed that nothing beats a 15-second ad that is unskippable on a full-episode player. In that setting, the longer ads were more effective. Still, the study emphasized that was only within the context of full-episode player video inventory. “With more traditional video, 15-second ads work best,” the study said.

Read the Article on Ad Age
Read the Press Release 
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NEW STUDY BY SNAP INC., MAGNA & IPG MEDIA LAB DEBUNKS MYTHS ABOUT VIDEO AD LENGTH EFFICACY

Large Scale Testing Across a Range of Industry Verticals Shows Ad Length is Not a Proxy for Ad Effectiveness Driving ROI

 

NEW YORK – December 9, 2020 – Marketers are creating larger sets of video assets for deployment to better deal with short attention spans of consumers and to align with the way in which video is viewed. Findings from a new study by MAGNA, IPG Media Lab, and Snap Inc., “Does Every Second Count? Planning Ad Lengths Across Platforms,” demonstrate that some old “truths” about the effectiveness of video ad length performance are no longer accurate. In the early days of short video ads, they were primarily effective at generating awareness and less so when it comes to persuasiveness. Today, however, both short and long video ads have the ability to impact metrics across the purchase funnel. The change can be attributed to the rise of short form premium content, creative tailored for short form viewing, and advertisers simply getting better at communicating in short ads.

 

Additional key findings of the study include:

  • :06 Seconds Ads 2.0: While shorter video ads are often leveraged to drive awareness, today they can be just as persuasive as their traditional counterpart – the :15 second ad. Controlling for brand, :06 and :15 second ads drove nearly identical lifts in both brand preference (+9% and +10% respectively) and purchase intent (+5% and +4% respectively)
  • Age and Device Agnostic: Ad length performance was very consistent by device, testing the premise that ad lengths should be planned based on screen size. Similarly, short ads were persuasive among both younger and older audiences.
  • Fitting in to Stand Out: Performance of video ad lengths varied most by platform, primarily because of the way video is being consumed on each. 
  • On Snapchat, :15 second ads benefited from low skipping, allowing them to be more memorable. However, :06 ads were able to quickly get their point across to maximize persuasion. Regardless of length, the full screen vertical ads on Snapchat drove more than 2x the lift in awareness than the other platforms tested.
  • On a video aggregator, where skipping is the norm, :06 ads were appreciated by consumers and generally more effective.
  • On an FEP, where skipping is not allowed, and content is more linear TV-like, :15 second ads worked harder.

 

“As short form premium content has grown, advertisers are evolving their creative mix, so it’s better tailored for short form viewing experiences, which leads to more effective communication in less time and at less cost,” said Jon Stimmel, Chief Investment Officer, UM. “The priority must be for the industry to enable compelling and persuasive ad supported environments for a healthy marketing ecosystem. Understanding the impact of ad length in relation to varying platforms and media types will further propel a brand’s mix in short form premium content and drive improved business outcomes on their plans.”

“This research confirms our hypothesis that upper and lower funnel impact can be achieved in mere seconds via video ads,” said Snap’s VP of Global Agency Partnerships, David Roter. “We were thrilled to validate that Snap’s fullscreen, vertical, immersive video format delivers full funnel efficacy for advertisers.”

In conducting the research, 32 different ad scenarios were tested across three industry verticals, including ads from Estée Lauder, LEGO Systems, Inc., MINI, and a major CPG brand. Experimental design was used across 4 platforms, where consumers were exposed to either a control ad (public service announcement) or a brand ad. Their online behaviors were tracked, and traditional branding metrics assessed via survey after ad exposure. Over 7,700 consumers were interviewed in total.

 

Download the full report

 

About MAGNA

MAGNA is the centralized IPG Mediabrands resource that provides strategic investment and media intelligence for agency teams and clients. We utilize our insights, forecasts and strategic relationships to provide clients with a competitive marketplace advantage.

MAGNA harnesses the aggregate power of all IPG media investments to develop go-to-market strategies, designing unique partnerships to drive maximum value for our clients. MAGNA has set the industry standard for more than 60 years by predicting the future of media value. We publish more than 40 annual reports on audience trends, media spend and market demand as well as ad effectiveness.

MAGNA infuses the organization with knowledge that empowers better decision-making. We are a team of experts across five key competencies who support IPG cross-functional teams through: Partnership, Enablement, Accountability and Connectivity. Follow us on Twitter @MAGNAGLOBAL.

 

About IPG Media Lab

Part of the Interpublic network, the IPG Media Lab identifies and researches innovations and trends that will change the media landscape and how brands engage with their audiences. Since 2006, the Lab has worked with our clients and with industry partners who can help them best adapt to disruptive change. Its expertise, resources and consulting services also help to inform the learnings, strategies and business outcomes of all Interpublic agencies. For more information, please visit www.ipglab.com or follow @ipglab.

 

About Snap Inc.

Snap Inc. is a camera company. We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. We contribute to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together. For more information, visit snap.com.

 

 

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Media Contact:

Zinnia Gill

Mediabrands

Director, Global Corporate Communications

(646) 965-4271

[email protected]

Brand Safety Is Not the Only Factor Determining the Effectiveness of Video Ads

Study from IPG Media Lab, Magna, Twitter focuses on quality of adjacent content

 

The Influence of Context examines how the context in which video ads are viewed affects how viewers perceive them

Brand safety is an important factor in determining which content to run video ads adjacent to, but having that content be seen as high-quality and trustworthy is a key factor, as well, according to a new study from IPG Media Lab, Magna and Twitter.

The Influence of Context, released Wednesday, examines how the context in which video ads are viewed affects how viewers perceive them and how they perform, and it analyzed both the type of content the ads appeared next to and the way those ads were consumed.

The three companies said in a statement, “The study was set-up to test pre-roll video ads before various types of content across in-feed and non-feed environments. Content types included premium publisher content, user-generated content from established creators and UGC from everyday people. Participants were exposed to different combinations of content and ads across three different environments: in-feed on Twitter, non-feed on a video aggregator and non-feed on publisher sites.”

The study tapped 52 clips from nine content genres and three brands, which were shown to a representative panel of 4,776 mobile users.

Key findings included:

  • Content adjacency is a powerful driver for brand key performance indicators: When pre-roll video ads were placed beside content perceived as high-quality and highly trustworthy, the study found a 12% increase in purchase intent based on trust and a 9% uptick in purchase intent based on quality.
  • There’s a halo over premium: Participants had a more positive opinion of premium content than they did of UGC, and brands with ads that appeared in front of premium content were rated as more favorable and interesting.
  • All UGC is not created equally: Ads appearing adjacent to UGC created by verified content creators were perceived as more relevant and trustworthy. Conversely, the study found that UGC created by average users can actually stifle the impact of video ads.
  • The power of choice: Participants felt less forced to watch pre-roll ads that appeared in-feed than in a non-feed environment, and in-feed pre-roll ads felt more relevant than non-feed ads and had greater impacts on brand favorability (11% versus 5%) and purchase intent (10% versus 6%) when compared with the control.

 

IPG Media Lab/Magna/Twitter

Twitter head of global business partners Stephanie Prager said in a statement, “As digital video ad spend continues to rise, leading to a projected cost of $24.9 billion by 2025, it is crucial for marketers to understand how to enable deeper connections between people and the things that they love and care about. We hope this study shines a light on the areas of opportunity and the range of video ad experiences marketers can explore to build high impact, performance driving strategies.”

Magna senior vice president of intelligence solutions Kara Manatt added, “People often don’t realize just how powerful context is in advertising effectiveness. It’s not just about the platform or device—it’s also about content adjacency. The importance of the content extends well beyond brand safety alone. Premium in particular can have a powerful brand favorability halo.”

Read the article on Adweek
Read the press release
Download the full report

NEW STUDY: CONSUMERS MORE LIKELY TO PURCHASE FROM A BRAND WHOSE VIDEO AD APPEARS NEXT TO CONTENT THEY TRUST

From Twitter, MAGNA & IPG Media Lab, the study looks at the importance of context in advertising 

 

NEW YORK – December 9, 2020 – “The Influence of Context” – a new study unveiled by Twitter, MAGNA & IPG Media Lab today – measures how the context in which video ads are viewed affects how consumers perceive them and how they perform. The U.S. study looks at context through the lens of content adjacency – the type of content an ad appears next to – and video experience – the way an ad is consumed (i.e. in-feed, non-feed, etc.).

The study was set-up to test pre-roll video ads before various types of content across in-feed and non-feed environments. Content types included premium publisher content, user generated content (UGC) from established creators and UGC from everyday people. Participants were exposed to different combinations of content and ads across three different environments: in-feed on Twitter, non-feed on a video aggregator and non-feed on publisher sites.

Here are the key findings on how different content types and environments drove different results:

  • Content adjacency is a powerful driver for brand KPIs. The importance of the environment in which ads appear extends far beyond brand safety alone. Even within brand safe content, content adjacency proves key in driving traditional metrics, such as brand favorability and purchase intent. The study revealed that when pre-roll is placed beside content that is perceived as high quality and highly trustworthy, we see a +12% increase in purchase intent based on trust and a +9% increase in purchase intent based on quality.
  • There’s a halo of premium. Consumers have an overall more positive opinion of premium content compared to UGC. Brands whose ads appear in front of premium are rated as more favorable and interesting.
  • All UGC is not created equally. There are benefits to appearing next to UGC created by verified content creators such as the ad being perceived as more relevant and trustworthy to the consumer. However, there is a big difference between content created by established creators and the average user. UGC created by the average user can actually stifle ad impact compared to high production UGC.
  • The power of choice. In-feed and non-feed environments offer different consumer experiences and therefore, different brand benefits. People felt less forced to watch pre-roll ads that appeared in a feed versus pre-roll in a non-feed environment. Also, in-feed pre-roll ads feel more relevant and have a greater impact on brand favorability (+11% for in-feed and +5% for non-feed) and purchase intent (+10% for in-feed vs. +6% for non-feed) versus the control.

 

Stephanie Prager, Twitter’s Head of Global Business Partners, said, “As digital video ad spend continues to rise, leading to a projected cost of $24.9 Billion by 2025, it is crucial for marketers to understand how to enable deeper connections between people and the things that they love and care about. We hope this study shines a light on the areas of opportunity and the range of video ad experiences marketers can explore to build high impact, performance driving strategies.”

“People often don’t realize just how powerful context is in advertising effectiveness. It’s not just about the platform or device – it’s also about content adjacency”, said Kara Manatt, SVP, Intelligence Solutions at MAGNA. “The importance of the content extends well beyond brand safety alone.  Premium in particular can have a powerful brand favorability halo.”

Download the full report

Twitter, MAGNA and IPG Media Lab conducted the same study in the UK, which you can find here. Similar studies for Brazil and Saudi Arabia will launch in 2021.

 

About Twitter

Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) is what’s happening in the world and what people are talking about right now. On Twitter, live comes to life as conversations unfold, showing you all sides of the story. From breaking news and entertainment to sports, politics and everyday interests, when things happen in the world, they happen first on Twitter. Twitter is available in more than 40 languages around the world. The service can be accessed at twitter.com, on a variety of mobile devices and via SMS. For more information, visit about.twitter.com or follow @twitter. For information on how to download the Twitter and Periscope apps, visit twitter.com/download and periscope.tv.

 

About MAGNA

MAGNA is the centralized IPG Mediabrands resource that provides strategic investment and media intelligence for agency teams and clients. We utilize our insights, forecasts and strategic relationships to provide clients with a competitive marketplace advantage.

MAGNA harnesses the aggregate power of all IPG media investments to develop go-to-market strategies, designing unique partnerships to drive maximum value for our clients. MAGNA has set the industry standard for more than 60 years by predicting the future of media value. We publish more than 40 annual reports on audience trends, media spend and market demand as well as ad effectiveness.

MAGNA infuses the organization with knowledge that empowers better decision-making. We are a team of experts across five key competencies who support IPG cross-functional teams through: Partnership, Enablement, Accountability and Connectivity. Follow us on Twitter @MAGNAGLOBAL.

 

About IPG Media Lab

Part of the Interpublic network, the IPG Media Lab identifies and researches innovations and trends that will change the media landscape and how brands engage with their audiences. Since 2006, the Lab has worked with our clients and with industry partners who can help them best adapt to disruptive change. Its expertise, resources and consulting services also help to inform the learnings, strategies and business outcomes of all Interpublic agencies. For more information, please visit www.ipglab.com or follow @ipglab.

 

# # #

 

Media Contact:

Zinnia Gill

Mediabrands

Director, Global Corporate Communications

(646) 965-4271

[email protected]