Online video ads work better than TV commercials

This just in from the department of obvious research: Viewers are more engaged with ads in online videos than traditional television commercials. A recent study by Simmons indicates that viewers are 47% more engaged in commercials that run when watching TV shows online than when you're sitting in front of a TV.

We won't get into what exactly constitutes "engagement," but in a nutshell this is a marketing study that suggests advertisers will get some bang for their buck if they spend money to support online video.

I can think of plenty of reasons why people would be more receptive to online video ads. While most of us have learned to ignore the banner ads and pop ups that we see on web sites, there's no way to ignore a 30 second interruption when you're watching House. And unlike traditional TV, most of the services that let you watch TV shows online, whether they be network web pages, Hulu, Joost, or some other service, only include a handful of short commercials in each episode.

So while you might get up and go to the bathroom or kitchen during a 3 minute TV break, you don't have time to walk around the house when a commercial comes on during your online video viewing session. Watching online videos also isn't quite as passive an experience as TV for most viewers. You can't just hit the power button and then start hitting the channel flip buttons mindlessly. You still need to actively seek out the programs you want to watch, which means there's a better chance you're paying attention in the first place.

Still, I suppose it's nice to have a research company confirm something that should be obvious. Hopefully it will help convince networks to put more of their content libraries online.

[via TechCrunch]