Millennials Are Tuning Into Live Online Video—and Live Video Ads

With New York Advertising Week right around the corner, Yahoo wants marketers and advertisers to consider the growing area of live video advertising. In case you need convincing, the company has released a study with some impressive stats.

First off, live video viewing online is growing faster than other areas: Live is growing by 113 percent, long-form by 30 percent, and short-form by 9 percent, Yahoo says, citing a FreeWheel report. Compare that to standard TV viewing, where people spend more time than ever on time-shifted content: In Q3 2013, viewers averaged 11 hours 30 minutes of time shifted-content per month, but by Q3 2015 that number grew to 24 hours 23 minutes.

So people are watching live video online, but what does that mean for advertisers? Yahoo wanted to find out if live represented the same opportunity online as on TV. To find out, it surveyed 2,000 people online in December. Half of those were live online video viewers, while the rest were prospective viewers.

Watching live online video makes people feel up-to-date, involved, and connected, Yahoo found. Mobility is a key advantage for live online video viewers. They can take part in whatever experience they want, and take the video with them. Compared to other demographics, millennials are much more likely to watch live online video on a phone or tablet.

As for ad effectiveness, Yahoo found that live video viewers show a 75 percent increase in emotional engagement when watching ads, and were far more likely (700 percent) to show positive emotions while viewing an ad. That results in a halo effect for the brand, with a 481 percent rise in brand favorability, a 77 percent rise in purchase likelihood, and a 10 percent rise in aided awareness.

"Brands aligning with live video content online are tapping into new viewing opportunities and the strong positive emotional reactions that come with it. More than one-third of consumers actually pay more attention to live ads compared to those around on-demand content," writes David Iudica, Yahoo's senior director for strategic insights and research, in a blog post.

For more results, download The Live Video Opportunity for free (registration required).

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net