Smart video ads top for engagement while ads in apps lead to higher video play rates
Ad expansion rate, ad engagement rate and time spent looking at mobile ads has increased over the past quarter, research from Celtra has found, but smart video ads are still top for engagement.
In all for Q3 of 2014, ad engagement rate rose by 16 per cent since Q2 for standard format ads, while it remained roughly the same for other format types.
The technology and entertainment verticals saw the highest unit engagement rates for expandable banners, at 18.2 per cent and 17.4 per cent, effectively.
Time spent on standard expandable banner ads were noted to have increased by almost four seconds since Q2, but it was smart video ad formats that continued to keep the users engaged the longest (23.7 seconds).
It was also found that ads placed within apps see longer time spent on ad unit and higher video play rates than ads placed in web browsers.
Of all the campaigns examined as part of the research, 97 per cent fell under the standard ad format, while one per cent was of the native ad format, and one per cent fell under smart video ad format. The final one per cent was the IAB mobile rising star format.
The average ad expansion rate was 1.05 per cent, with 0.66 per cent expansion rate for a standard ad compared to 2.06 per cent for a native ad and 0.68 per cent for a smart video ad.