Key metrics for measuring video ad performance

Video is one of the most popular ad formats. Why so? The thing is that videos attract more attention than textual content, as it involves both visual and auditory receptors. At that, it doesn’t matter what is being advertised – visibility does its job. Video advertising is a great tool that helps marketers promote the brand and publishers monetize their mobile apps and websites efficiently by selling their inventory to place digital videos.

Digital video metrics: what you should know

How can you measure the effectiveness of video ads? It’s very simple – just take into account the following metrics:

1. Number of views;
2. Playback coefficient;
3. View coefficient;
4. Conversion rate;
5. CTR (Click-through rate) – for videos on external resources.

Number of views

This is the most understandable number that shows how many times the viewers have seen the ad. Different platforms have different ways to calculate it, e.g. YouTube considers the video watched after 30 seconds, whereas Facebook – after 3 seconds. Regardless of the method, the total number of views provides advertisers with the needed numbers. This index is critical in commercials aimed at increasing brand awareness, as it helps to understand how popular a video is. However, if there are other goals (for example, conversion) this number alone is not enough.

Playback coefficient

This index is also calculated differently on different platforms. For instance, it can be the proportion of viewers who have watched the embedded video on a specific media, or the number of viewers having watched the clip divided by the total amount of showings. To put it in a nutshell, the playback coefficient is the ratio of people having viewed the ad to the number of people who could have watched it. When this coefficient is low, it makes sense to review your creatives and try to make them more engaging to the audience.

View coefficient

This index shows the number of real video views. How long do the viewers watch your ad? Do they pause the playback right after it starts? The view coefficient lets you get this information. To make this ratio higher, your videos need to be engaging from the very beginning without any lengthy intros, etc. Long videos are also not very popular, so pay attention to the timing. Does your audience stop watching ads after the ratio has reached 15-20%? It may have something to do with the video content, so you might want to check it as well.

Conversion rate

This is one of the most important metrics – it shows the percentage of video viewers that have become your clients, i.e. have converted. This number is often calculated via A/B testing when the web resource audience is shown two different creatives on the same subject, with a further comparison of the results.?

CTR (Click-through rate)

We mention this index separately from all the rest, as it doesn’t work for all video formats. In particular, it is calculated for the videos displayed outside your website – on resources purchased by advertisers. CTR is important for videos placed on external web resources that aim to attract the audience to the advertiser’s website. CTR is the ratio of the number of clicks on a banner or ad to the number of showings, and it is measured in percentages.

Videos are one of the most effective ad types. For advertisers, they are a good way to cover as large an audience as possible by using the visuality and catchiness of a video clip. For publishers, it is probably the most convenient monetization format, especially for app owners. Advertising videos are shown only to the target audience; they are organically embedded into the interface and do not interfere with the user experience.

With Adsgard SSP, you can start monetizing your inventory with the help of various video ad formats – all you need to do is quickly register on our website.