Ad Lengths Deliver on Different Objectives

With Google TV Ads, you can choose to air a 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, or 120-second ad. But which length is right for your message?

We analyzed data from millions of anonymized set-top boxes to compare how different ad lengths impact the number of impressions (views) an ad receives. The chart below shows four different ad lengths along the horizontal x-axis (15-, 30-, 45- and 60-second) with the corresponding level of impressions on the vertical y-axis ("Baseline Impressions" represents the number of impressions received by a 15-second ad):

(Click on the image for a full-size version)

This analysis shows that a 60-second ad reaches only about 4% more viewers than a 15-second ad. Therefore, a longer ad doesn't necessarily buy more viewers -- it buys roughly the same viewers, but for more time.

If you have a complex message, you can use longer ads to engage viewers for a greater period of time. But if you want to maximize reach with a less complex message, you'll benefit from spreading out more frequent, shorter ads.

Posted by Dan Zigmond, Technical Lead for Google TV Ads