Consumers prefer to choose which ad they want to watch from multiple brands ahead of video-on-demand content, rather than traditional pre-roll formats, according to research from VivaKi.

Heineken, O2, and Samsung became the first UK brands to launch trials of a three-slate ad selector format called ASq last November (nma.co.uk 17 November 2012).

The campaigns were run across publisher platforms Channel 4, Microsoft, and YouTube during a two-month period, tracking 10m impressions. VivaKi then worked with ComScore and Vindico to examine consumer response to the ads, including metrics such as brand recall, view-through rates and intent-to-purchase.

The ASq format saw higher interaction rates than traditional pre-rolls, with a 20.5% surge in purchase intent, while overall brand awareness rose 12% compared to regular pre-roll ads.

Completion rates also jumped 10% compared to regular pre-rolls, while click-through rates were 12% higher.

The format, developed by VivaKi as part of The Pool, its global research project, was kick-started to identify the best ad format for the online industry.

VivaKi Nerve Center EMEA executive and MD Marco Bertozzi said The Pool initiative lets advertisers and publishers work towards a common goal. 

“The US had carried out millions of dollars of research establishing ASq as the most effective ad format in the US, backed up by tens of publishers now running it live in market. In the UK, we wanted to validate that work and pit the winning US format against the pre-roll benchmark here,” he said “Results have shown considerable improvement across all criteria for ASq and confirm the premise that providing consumers with choice is a winning formula. We are excited about rolling this format out to market, which will be available to all buyers in the industry through a number of major publishers.”

More to follow