There a number of things that can be attributed to unseemly mobile video ads, however slow loading times is the biggest of these things when it comes to mobile ad viewability according to senior agencies executives.
Many online users view their content using their mobile phones, as a matter of fact, it’s estimated that 64% of all online videos are going to be viewed on a mobile phone come next year according to Zenith’s Online Video Forecasts 2016 report. That being said, viewability is still a growing concern for many brands. While ad blocking and ad fraud have contributed to diminished viewability, slow loading times is the number one reason as to why most users don’t get to see video ads. 62% of users stop watching videos if the load time is very high; 53% of mobile site visitors abandon the video when it takes longer than three seconds to load.
“The biggest challenge that we see today is that ads are loading really slow compared to the content itself,” said Vinay Uttamchandani, InMobi’s Director of Products – Brand & Programmatic, in a recent webinar hosted by Mobile Marketing Association APAC. “If it (the video) doesn’t load within two seconds, it’s not viable. Users just drop off,” he reported.
Too much ad clutter including visual clutter from publishers is another problem “There are too many trackers on ad servers … slowing down the process for the ad itself to load,” he added. “There are too many ads packed in by the publisher on the screen which makes it extremely difficult for any of the advertisers to make their brand propositions aware to end users, “ Uttamchandani said.
To negate this problem, it’s important to consider the technology of the connected device when creating a native ad experience, he advices.
“In a true native in-app environment … pre-cached and buffer-free experience can result in a much more better performance. That is what we see the industry moving towards,” he said.
“You don’t have to choose performance over individual measurability. You can get both for the same method.”
