1.44% Video CTR: What that means

BBE published its first average click-through rate for in-stream video this week — 1.44%. Not bad in any book. But the reason we published that number was to inform the market on two important things. First, it’s performance versus the in-banner video execution (.1%) and second, to compel the marketplace to strive for better. Yes, better. In-stream video or pre-roll video is the most valuable inventory in all of media today. No where can an advertiser get an engaged and growing audience leaning in and acting on their emotive video message. The engaged audience, though, comes as a result of the content the viewer is seeking that sits on the backside of that message. That is what in-stream video is, and it’s a direct opposite of the in-banner execution of video that is prevalent on the internet today. The resulting CTRs for both executions bare out the differences and the 1400% difference in CTR was BBE’s way of informing the marketplace. The second reason for BBE’s release of this data was to send this message: 1.44% is great but we haven’t even scratched the surface. To think we earned such a high click-through without real customized pre-roll is a statement. Can you imagine if a fraction of the resources that went into the creation of TV commercials went into the creative of pre-roll. What would the CTR be then? What if there was a powerful message that asked viewers to actually click and get something? 4, 5, maybe 10%? Why not? That is the opportunity for our industry. Better creative, better results. 1.44% is just a start and it’s not so bad considering that’s 1.44% better than TV will ever be.