According to the MRC, a video is considered 'viewable', if 50% is visible on the user's screen for at least two seconds. Many argue that this is too short an exposure for their to be meaningful brand impact. The study with Millward Brown evaluated the viewability of outstream and instream formats, concluding that different video formats play a direct role in influencing the users' willingness to watch and engage with the ad.

Teads aimed to test how the visible surface, audibility, completion and control given to the user impact ad recall and brand associations and how the major video formats perform.

Respondents were recruited via a panel and randomly assigned to one of the 4 test ad platforms those which were instream (Skippable-Pre-roll and Unskippable Pre-roll) and outstream (Teads' inRead and Autoplay in Social Feeds). They were exposed to a 30 second Volkswagen ad within a live video player via content replacement. Viewablity and behavioural metrics were captured during their exposure timeframe. The key metrics included brand metrics (ad recall, brand association, brand favourability, purchase intent), visible surface, completion and audible time.

Video formats that encouraged increased viewing time produce greater lifts in brand and message awareness, favourability and message association. Outstream ad formats drove a 25% greater visible duration than instream ad formats and outperformed instream in building unaided brand awareness over viewing duration, with a 36% vs. a 23% build respectively. While both formats drove lifts in message association of viewing duration, outstream generated a 29% increase compared to a 26% increase for instream.

This study revealed that viewing time and advertising format are crucial to a video campaign's successful execution. Opt in video formats drive higher impact and engagement, providing a more impactful advertising experience and higher returns across ad awareness, message association, brand favourability and purchase intent. Audibility, when combined with enhanced viewability, increases the effectiveness of advertising messaging. Ad platforms like inRead, that encourage increased exposure to a brand's messaging promote larger lifts in key brand metrics.