YouTube’s Overlay Ads –Â September 2007.
A flash-based ad overlay that appears across the lower 20% of the screen shortly after a YouTube video launches has been introduced. It stays for about 10 seconds and, if a viewer doesn’t choose to click on it and enable a longer-form video ad, it goes away.
The new format lets viewers decide whether they want to see the longer-form ad, rather than forcing it upon them.
YouTube executives said they went with a smaller overlay because they believed it would be less intrusive. The new format lets viewers decide whether they want to see the longer-form ad, rather than forcing it upon them. Should a user choose to click through to a video ad, the content they were originally watching automatically pauses. The company’s tests found viewer “abandonment of the video is much higher, greater than 50% in some cases, with typical pre-roll.
Early test results indicate less than 10% of users close the overlays. Also click-through rates are five to 10 times a typical standard display ad (meaning the ads on YouTube are getting a click-through rate of 2.5% to 5%). Three-quarters of those who clicked on an overlay watched the ad.
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Global Digital Media
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