How long should an online advert be?
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Research Manger at Agency.com
28 February 2005 16:31pm
Hello
Has anyone come across figure for a benchmark on how long an online advert should be, for maximum impact
Either by seconds or number for frames? Is there a point after which the consumer has lost interest?
many thanks
Lucy
Editor in Chief at Econsultancy
28 February 2005 18:01pm
Horses for courses I think Lucy - a consumer’s interest is most likely to be determined by the targeting (or lack of it) and placement. Is the ad in context with the surrounding content?
Some rich ads delay the message, to allow the user to settle on a loaded page, rather than bombarding the user to begin with (alongside all that other content, images, navigation elements, logo etc). Think about where the ad appears on the page. Will the user instantly see your message? Yes to a banner, but what if your ad is below the dreaded fold?
In terms of length, I reckon 10 seconds is too short and 30 seconds is too long unless I have asked for it. They are meant to be interactive after all. On-demand content is the way to go, rather than forcing uninterested consumers to sit through heavy ads that they don't wish to see. Think about functionality, as well as content/creative.
There is no fixed rule though. The format is important, but more than anything the ads need to be contextually placed and targeted. How much the publisher knows about its user base is likely to impact on your ability to do this.
Let us know how you get on / your findings.
Cheers,
c.
Digital Director / Managing Director respectively at Aqueduct
01 March 2005 14:18pm
Hi Lucy
As Chris has said there are no set rules in this domain, but you should consider the placement of the ad & the context.
Before you place an ad on any site you should know what kind of content already exists, any other media that is likely be there, and get actual statistics on how long average page views are. If the content for example is an article with an average page view time of 25 seconds then this should allow you to extend the timeline of your ad. For search result pages for example you may find you only have 5 seconds to attract the user, and you will need to adjust the ad accordingly.
Cheers.
Matthew O'Riordan
Lemon Foundation
On 16:31:20 28 February 2005 Lucyf wrote:
Principal Consultant at Experian Integrated Marketing
01 March 2005 15:39pm
Lucy,
I think a benchmark is a good thing for measuring performance outputs (ie like click through rate, etc) but you shouldn't try to find a benchmark for one of a large number of inputs. Does that make sense? In motherhood terms: I'm wurried about baby as I don't think he's growing at the right rate. Hmmm, ok, well how many apples do you feed him? The point is that the apples fed is meaningless unless you normalise for the number of oranges and bananas fed too. So let me know when you've normalised for graphical impact, number of impressions, copy, call to action, offer, placement, prevailing competition's ads, etc. Explain this to whoever asked you the question. Sometimes 'it depends' is the right answer and they shouldn't be asking the question again 5 months later ;-)
On 16:31:20 28 February 2005 Lucyf wrote:
Head of IA at Dare
02 March 2005 11:12am
The maximum length for rich media is usually determined by the publisher. It can be anywhere between 10 and 30 seconds. The 30 second spot is the de facto TV standard. But online, the length can be driven by the idea. BMW film and Volvo Mystery are examples of campaigns where the potential unlimited length of online has been exploited. I've seen many TV ideas pitched around playing with the length of the spot - usually around breaking the 30 second limit. These nearly always get canned because it makes the media spend so costly. But longer spots have worked with interactive TV e.g. 'Wilkinson meets Beckham' because the space is more affordable. There are no rules because advertising length is driven by the distribution limits of the medium and the idea behind the content.