Dave’s Take

Since the inception of the Internet, pop-up ads have been the bane of surfers. Reacting to their customer demands, most IPs instituted apps that precluded pop-ups from ever loading on most computers. Problem solved? Not quite. As anyone who uses the web on regular basis knows, a new form of pop-up has slowly infiltrated the net, especially on video-laden sites. What is this new source of viewer frustration? The dreaded invention known as the pre-roll video ad.

The video pre-roll ad is the latest effort to monetize the deluge of short video clips loaded millions of times daily from people around the globe. As anyone who has watched the cute piano playing cat or the evolution of dance guy knows, the pre-roll ad is mandatory and annoying. How annoying do viewers find these intrusions? According to a new study by the online analytics firm, TubeMogul, almost 16% of video viewers will abandon a site rather than sit through a thirty-second video ad. Even the shorter fifteen-second ads are turned off by almost 10% of potential viewers. Clearly, consumers do not see the value of wasting even a half a minute for the chance to see the latest darling video on the web.

Personally, I not only resent the fact that I am forced to watch a commercial for a product I may or may not ever use, but I really hate pre-rolls because the majority of them are technically unwatchable. I cannot count the number of times I have waited for a pre-roll spot to load, only to discover the final version jerky and loaded with audio that never syncs. Is this the best that top advertisers and their agencies can produce? It’s like the TV networks deciding that to increase viewership, they are going back to broadcasting in black and white.

I especially resent mandatory pre-rolls on news and magazine sites, where I have been forced to turn to other sources for information ruined by pre-rolls. Apparently, I am not alone in this belief, as the TubeMogul study discovered a full 25% of news and magazine viewers will not suffer through an imbedded spot. Apparently the beleaguered mag biz will need to keep trying other revenue streams to continue operations.