The importance of site environment in determining video advertising success is a highlight of the Online Publisher's Association (OPA) "Eyes on the Internet" tour. OPA's new study, "Frames of Reference," which is being released during the tour, found that consumers on media sites are far more likely than those on portals or user-generated content sites to act on video ads.


The study also looked at online video usage and found that the frequency with which consumers are watching videos has made huge gains since last year. And while jokes/funny videos are often perceived as the most popular video content, the study actually found that news/current events videos are viewed most often on a daily basis. The research, which was conducted in partnership with OTX, included surveying and concept testing 1,422 online video users.

Media Sites Drive Video Ad Response

The study shows the value of video ads on quality content sites, finding that consumers are more likely to act on ads they see on media sites, versus portals or user-generated content (UGC) sites.

Over one-third of consumers on magazine (38%), newspaper (37%), and online-only news (35%) sites say they have searched for more information after watching a video ad, while about one-quarter did so after watching an ad on a portal (27%) or UGC (24%) site. About one-quarter of consumers on magazine (29%) and online-only news (26%) sites went into a store to check out a product after viewing a video ad, while only 17% on portal sites and 14% on UGC sites did so. About one-in-five consumers on local broadcast TV (21%), national broadcast TV (19%) and cable TV (19%) sites requested more information after viewing a video ad, while only 16% on portal and 14% on UGC sites did so.

Overall, 80% of all video viewers have watched a video ad online, and 52% have taken some sort of action, whether it's checking out a website (31%), searching for more info (22%), going into a store (15%), or making a purchase (16%).

The importance of environment was reinforced by concept testing video ads. The study found that if a consumer has a positive attitude toward an advertised brand, and likes the video content that the ad appeared within, brand consideration jumps 61%. If the consumer's initial attitude toward the brand is neutral or even negative, brand consideration still rises 21% if they like the adjacent video content.

Video Watching Frequency Jumps

The study found that the online video viewers are watching videos far more often than they did a year ago. When OPA released "From Early Adoption to Common Practice: A Primer on Online Video Viewing" in March of 2006, 5% of online video viewers watched once a day and 24% watched at least once a month. "Frames of Reference" shows that weekly viewership has jumped more than 80% since last year - with 44% watching weekly - while those watching daily climbed to 8%.

The study also looked at the most popular video content and, while humorous videos may appear to be omnipresent, Frames of Reference found that the leading video content category is news/current events (14% watch daily). Weather ranks second (11% watch daily), followed by jokes/funny clips (9% watch daily).