Social Users Turn Away From 'Interruptive' Ads

As Twitter demonstrated earlier this week, social networks have not given up on in-stream video ads, and similarly “interruptive” brand experiences. 

But as new research shows, people are far less likely to view, like or share a video on social media when faced with these types of ads.

More than half of viewers say interruptive pre- and mid-roll ads impact the likelihood that they will engage with content on social media, according to a survey of 1,018 U.S. adults by ORC International, in conjunction with ad-tech firm Mirriad.

In addition, 57% of respondents said they have abandoned -- or have been tempted to abandon -- a social platform as a result of this sort of advertising.

More than half of viewers said they would skip a video in its entirety when faced with pre-roll ads, while 60% said they would abandon a video upon encountering a mid-roll ad.

Nearly half of people said a pre-roll ad on social media made them less likely to "like" the video (44%) or share the video (46%), while over half of people said a mid-roll ad on social media made them less likely to "like" the video (57%) or share the video (59%).

By contrast, nearly half as many people (24%) are likely to skip a video if faced with less intrusive ads like a native unit, while only 32% of people said less intrusive ads would impact the likelihood of them sharing a video.

Luckily for Twitter and similar platforms, 67% of users say "social" video ads -- the ones that appear in their feeds -- do not disturb their browsing experience, according to a recent report from IPG Mediabrands and video ad firm YuMe.

That’s significantly more than the 53% of consumers who said pre-roll video ads don’t interrupt their experience, IPG and YuMe found.

That said, relative to other video ad formats, mobile users are most likely to find pre-rolls ads engaging.

In fact, 54% of consumers found pre-roll ads on mobile “engaging,” while 44% of said they prefer mid-roll video ads, and 37% prefer “out-stream” video ads -- or those that play outside of video content, according to IPG and YuMe.
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