The majority of ad views gained by online video broadcasters are performed while watching clips lasting 20 minutes or over, according to new research.
Figures from a report on video monetisation for Q1 2014 show ad views on long-form video growing 29% year on year. This was just above the 23% achieved by clips lasting five minutes and under.
Mid-form videos on the other hand found themselves to be in a state of flux. Views of placements on clips lasting 5-20 minutes grew by the smallest margin over the last year, rising by just 0.4% during Q1 compared to readings in the same period from 2013.
Analysts from video marketing firm FreeWheel, the company behind the study, claim that publishers are still struggling to find ways of monetising these formats.
Long-form on top
Long-form clips have experienced no such issues, driving 53% of all ad views for authenticated content. Short-form clips weigh in with a respectable 40%, with mid-form making up the remaining 7% share.
Part of this success has been attributed to the popularity of live video, which is now said to be synonymous with digital as broadcasters continue to plough investment into the format.
This has been aided by online broadcasts for live events such as the Super Bowl XLVIII and the Sochi Olympics, as ad views on live video saw a 176% rise in Q1 compared to the same period last year.
US v UK
The report says long-form video dominates viewing in the UK across desktop and mobile, although the US is said to be making serious progress in this area.
It is thought that 73% of all online video ad views in the UK come from long-form video content, with 23% deriving from short-form. The landscape is slightly more balanced in the US, where long-form accounts for 53%, followed by 40% on short-form.
Freewheel believes this is evidence of UK broadcasters being aggressive in advertising “TV Everywhere” offerings, or “authenticated streaming” channels, which allow web users to subscribe to receive content from professional networks.