
by Mark Walsh, Wednesday, September 4, 2013
People are more likely to click on ads while watching video on smartphones and tablets than on the desktop, according to new findings from video ad provider TubeMogul.
Click-through rates for pre-roll ads shown on mobile devices were 4.9%, on average, compared to 0.6% on PCs, based on second-quarter data from the company’s media-buying platform spanning millions of mobile ad views in the U.S.
David Burch, communications director at TubeMogul, suggested the higher engagement rate in mobile stems from people being in more of a casual mind-set than on the desktop, since they’re less likely to be at work when seeing the ads, especially on a tablet. TubeMogul’s research showed tablet ad viewing peaks during prime time (8 p.m. to midnight), while the pattern for phones was steadier throughout the day.
Looking at tablets by operating system, viewing on Android and iOS was similar, reaching highs during morning and prime-time hours. The absolute peak for iPad users, however, was a bit later—from 10 p.m. to midnight—when Android tablet owners tailed off. There was more of a contrast between mobile platforms on the phone side.
Ad viewing among iPhone users peaked from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., while Android phone users tend to come alive at night, watching ads mainly during prime-time hours. The lone exception for iPhone owners is at midnight, when they switch back on to watch videos before going to bed.
The TubeMogul data also showed most mobile video ads viewing takes place late in the week, with nearly half (49%) of ads watched between Thursday and Saturday. The peak is Thursday, when 17% of views take place, followed closely by Saturday, at 16.7%.
Similarly, ad completion rates are highest on the weekend, likely reflecting the greater amount of leisure time people have. That rate averages 52.2% on the weekend, compared to 44.4% during the week. Completion rates tend to spike during the morning and afternoon hours on the weekend rather than the in the evening.
Comparing interaction by country, completion rates were highest in Canada, at 64.1%, followed by the U.K. (56.3%), the U.S. (53.2%), Singapore (46.9%), and New Zealand (34.4%). TubeMogul said the U.S. rate has gone up 7.1% on a monthly basis. Singapore had the highest mobile click-through rate, at 7.6%), trailed by the U.S. (4.9%), Canada (3.4%), New Zealand (3.1%), and the U.K. (1.5%).
In its latest cross-platform report, Nielsen said 45.3 million people watched video on a mobile phone in the first quarter, up from 36 million in the year-earlier period. Time spent viewing mobile video also increased, to five hours, one minute a month, from four hours, 29 minutes a year ago.